WHAT DO you get when you cross a barn conversion with a bungalow? A barngalow.
Yes this fusion of rural-style exteriors with an interior that is designed for lifetime living really does exist and is the invention of Baker Estates, a development firm set up by four directors who previously worked for large companies and wanted to “do things differently and better”.
The barngalows are a case in point, as development director Graham Hutton explains: “Chalet bungalows are real lifetime homes. They’re not just ticking boxes, they have a master bedroom with an ensuite on the ground floor but additional bedrooms upstairs.”
They suit families because of the bedrooms and bathroom upstairs, he says, but the downstairs bedroom can be used as a study or reception room until needed by somebody with mobility problems.
“If you need to live on the ground floor you can and there has been an enormous amount of demand for them,” he says.
“People enjoy the flexibility of the space. I suppose it is a modern take on the house, a re-ordering of a two-storey home. They are enormously flexible but, of course, they do take more land.”
Based in Newton Abbot, south Devon, award-winning Baker Estates is working on seven developments in Devon and Cornwall, with bungalows making up at least 25 per cent of the homes. Hutton quotes recent NHBC research to explain why there is a growing demand for bungalows: “It says next year will be the fIrst year ever in UK homebuyer groups when the age range 55 to 74 will be bigger than 18 to 34,”he explains.
The report, 40 Facts: Homes, Housing And Housebuilding Today, also says that the most rapidly increasing age group for homebuyers will be over-75s, expanding by 3.5 million over the next 20 years to reach 8.9 million in 2037.
This compares to 14.9 million homebuyers aged 18 to 34, a bigger number but only 200,000 more in 2037 than in 2017.
Accepting that bungalows are “arguably a less efficient use of land”, Hutton says: “If you just want to maximise income on a piece of land, bungalows are not the solution but if you want to build a community you are compelled to find a way around, to deliver something that works.” So how does Baker Estates do this?
“The real difference is that we work with local communities and parish councils to develop schemes that work with the community. They want to be listened to.” One of the company’s most popular initiatives has been marketing homes locally for a month before going national and he says: “You can’t satisfy everybody but if you listen you can find a way to come up with a better scheme.”
Barngalows still for sale at Baker Estates’s Totnes development, Great Court Farm, have an open-plan kitchenliving room plus two bedrooms downstairs – one the master bedroom with an ensuite – and two bedrooms upstairs with a bathroom.
These cost from £535,000 (01803 659926; bakerestatesltd.co.uk). New barngalow owners Fraser and Polly Nute were living in a five-bedroom Georgian house in Totnes, their family home for 38 years, when they decided to downsize to reduce maintenance costs.
“We started to watch the Baker Estates development come out of the ground and realised how attractive it was going to be,” says Fraser. “The location was perfect with great views and a short walk to town.
“A simpler home that was less demanding in terms of maintenance really appealed to us both. We wanted to retain our independence and stay in our home town close to our family. “We bought a barn-style bungalow to future proof later-life living, when the stairs become more of a challenge. We have a wonderful kitchen, with bi-fold doors and open plan living space, and despite downsizing we still have as much space as we need to entertain the whole family, including our 10 grandchildren.”
Baker Estates is building 21 bungalows at Totnes, 50 in South Molton and 31 across two sites in Seaton. It has proposed 80 in Callington, and 15 in Malborough.
