Barn chance; IAN PARRI FINDS A FARM BUILDING RIPE FOR CONVERTING.

BARNS have long held an attraction as a conversion option that allows the purchaser to live in a property with their own idiosyncrasies in-built. Fancy a nook here and a cranny there, then it's very much up to you.

The downside, of course, is all the lengthy palaver involving the planning procedures, often dragged out into near eternity by local authorities.

Ysgubor Hendre in Nantglyn, near Denbigh, offers the best of both worlds: a 250-year-old barn ripe for conversion, with adjoining paddock and grazing land extending to 6.7 acres, that comes complete with detailed planning permission.

Hendre is one of the older properties in Nantglyn, a farm originally part of the Plas Nantglyn estate owned by the Wynne Edwards family. In 1951 it was sold, together with another six farms totalling some 628 acres. All seven farms sold for pounds 11,000!

It was for years the home to the threshing machines for the whole village, and the barn now up for sale forms a part of the main farmcourtyard.

It will however have complete privacy from the main farmbuilding, with its own private entrance and south facing views over to the surrounding hills. The sale also includes an area of broadleaf woodland, where some 11 species of deciduous trees planted over 25 years ago are reaching maturity.

The barn was constructed in 1755, and the upper floor shows evidence of daub and wattle.

This suggests it has been used for human habitation in the past, most probably by farmhands employed on the estate.

For the main part, however, the barn has been used for the housing of livestock, with cattle over-wintered in the main shippon until just 15 years ago.

The barn still retains its original character. The internal oak timbers and the structure of the stone walls give testament to an earlier age where muscle and horse power were the main requisites for construction.

The proposed accommodation agreed to by the planning authorities has been designed to take full advantage of the setting, with all rooms enjoying views in a south easterly direction.

It includes four bedrooms, one of them en-suite, as well as a kitchen/dining room, lounge, bathroom and study.

"It is extremely rare for an opportunity of this calibre to be made available," says David Wynne, partner at sales agents Cavendish Ikin. "Usually when a barn of this type is being sold, it has already been developed before coming to the market."

Sale is by informal tender via Caven dish Ikin's Denbigh office, call 01745 816650.

Offers in excess of pounds 225, 000 should bemade bynoon on May31

CAPTION(S):

Ysgubor Hendre boasts stunning views (above) and already has planning permission