About Us

From there and then, to here and now.

Anybody contemplating a conversion, renovation project in France will have arrived at this point in any number of different ways. This is mine.

My background is in Education and Training.
I trained to be a teacher at a college that was as traditional as they come. I actually qualified as a teacher of Handicraft. This was in the days of Woodwork, Metalwork and Technical Drawing. I was fortunate to be, at the start of my career, at the point where the more traditional skill set teaching of these crafts met the newer “problem-solving” ethos of the Craft, Design and Technology subject introduction. I have always loved making things, (as a child of the Airfix age), and, at the start of my teaching life, loved being able to transfer this enjoyment of designing and making, and generally being creative, to students and adults alike. The traditional skills associated with the above subjects, coupled with the research and investigations of C.D.T. was, in my opinion, at the outset a great combination. On my way to Senior Teacher status as Technology co-ordinator at one of the biggest schools in the North West of England this enjoyment waned. I then set up a bespoke design and make furniture business. This enabled me to continue using and developing my existing skills and to learn new ones. The idea of continual learning has always been important to me. At some stage the realisation that the acronym CDT was more and more becoming used for “Can’t Do That”, led me to explore other options.

We were living next door to a caravan, camping site, on which the owner had built two chalets. These were made by pushing two mobile homes together and fitting out the inside. In conversation he asked if I could design, and draw plans for a cabin made from wood that could be built on a limited footprint alongside a wooded path.

We called it Cuckoo,

As an exercise this taught me about the whys and wherefores of plans and quantity surveying. As well as the “black art” of project managing a build. Things seemed to grow from there.
On a holiday in France we met a couple who had converted a stable/barn into a one bed roomed house. They were bemoaning the fact that the process had taken longer than they wanted due to difficulties understanding not only the language of the planning process, but also the process itself. When I looked into it I thought two things;
1. My level of French language skill could just about cope with it, but would improve and
2. The system was quite simple in its application and usage. Further investigation led to plans for our own lifestyle change being made.

I designed and built a further three cabins. These became my means of learning about use of space, production of plans, the organisation of materials , the idea of things being in the right place at the right time and budgetary issues on building projects.

We had already spent several summers in France, tenting and caravanning with the children during the summer holidays. One distinct advantage of teaching is the long period of recuperation known as the summer holiday. Many summers had been spent in the Deux-Sevres region of Poitou Charentes, just below the Loire Valley. This region reminds me very much of a traditional picture of England some twenty five years ago. Speaking as someone born within the sound of Bow Bells and having spent all my formative years living in South London, this place was, and still is, quite special to me as there is a genuine sense of space and openness. This is something I have grown to enjoy.
We spent a long time looking at the options re purchase for holiday home use. The idea then grew into the possibility of transferring the project management skills picked up in the U.K. to the French situation,
This we did in September 2003. We searched for a suitable house that needed converting with outbuildings for use as a workshop and store for any other bits and pieces that we had. During this search, after much debate about the fact that every house we saw needed a complete re-fit, the idea of buying and converting a barn was suggested.

We found our barn just outside Airvault. The idea now is that the experiences gained during the conversion of this barn, coupled with the experiences of other projects, will be of interest and benefit to others.

We hope you find it so.
All the best
Stephen Davies