Our Story
BUILDING HARPERS BARNS 2007-2023
As a family we had been visiting Cornwall for all of our married life, coming down here with our children most years. We had always dreamed of escaping the rat race and moving here one day.
We were finally able to sell up and relocate in April of 2007.
Harpers Cottage was sold to us with full planning permission already in place to re-roof the house and to convert both barns.
Situated literally 5 minutes from the A30 and yet tucked away in an idyllic spot “out in the wilds”, surrounded on three sides by our own 13-acres of pasture – it was ideal as a project for us to do.
The main house was in a terrible state and needed totally gutting. That took over a year, with us living in rented accommodation just outside Truro while the work was done by Dave and a local builder.
So our final move-in date to Harpers Cottage was December 2008!
The real work began in earnest with the underpinning of the two-storey barn.
Then total disaster struck!!!
Due to a bad miscalculation by the Structural Engineer, we had a major collapse along almost the whole length of one wall. The wall collapsed slowly over a 5-hour period, subsequently bringing down the roof and even threatening to bring down the opposite wall at one point!
The amount of granite that collapsed into the barn was simply incredible. We have to be philosophical about it – we were lucky it didn’t collapse with us inside. Prior to this we had been working inside with a JCB digger for several weeks, taking the floor levels down etc.
Dave was running his design business all this time, and fitting the renovation work alongside it. The collapse was devastating and really took its toll – not only in time and cost, but emotionally it was devastating. For a while, it was touch-and-go as to whether we would actually give up.
Forward to now – it has been a long, long haul. Along the way Dave has become quite an expert in Building Regulations, acquired new skills – lime pointing, dry stone walling, trusses, rag-slating and drainage to name just a few!
We now have Freedom Camping Accreditation, allowing us to run as a Glamping Site alongside the self-catering barn business when that is ready.
We hope that the photographs here give you an indication of what a mammoth task it has been. We are extremely proud of what we have created here at Harpers Barns.
Dave has finally been able to retire from his day job as a graphic designer to focus solely on our holiday business.
Hazel has been amazingly supportive all the way through this adventure and we feel it has made us even stronger as a couple. One of our sons, Adam is also an integral part of the business and will often be on hand to make sure you enjoy your stay with us.
We absolutely adore where we live and Cornwall is such an amazing place, we just want to spend our time now helping all our guests have an incredible time during their stay with us.
Welcome!
Dave, Hazel & Adam
