Plans to convert Ashwell farm buildings into eight homes

The owners of Kirby Manor Farm in Ashwell have applied to change three single-storey agricultural buildings, which also include a large barn, into 1000 square metres of housing.

If approved, the new homes would range between two and four bedrooms with a “generous” front and rear garden for each property, according to plans submitted to the North Herts Council on July 29.

One of the existing agricultural structures. (Image: Crawshaw Architects) The works would keep the buildings’ structures, but would replace their current “raw and undomesticated” appearance with new external cladding and roof coverings.

A site plan submitted with the application shows how the three converted buildings would each contain between one to four homes each, centred around a central courtyard and car parking.

A CGI of how the new homes could look. (Image: Crawshaw Architects) New timber cladding and a red-brick coloured render on the walls would also aim to keep their “barn-like quality”.

Each home would have two car and bicycle parking spaces each, and would be accessed by two new paved driveways from Northfield Road.