Browpath Farm

Browpath Farm sits within a wider 55.4-hectare mixed agricultural holding, farmed by the same family for more than thirty years and run on regenerative lines: pastured cattle and sheep, sixteen hectares of species-rich hay meadow, new woodland and hedge planting, and roughly 80% of the land under Mid Tier Countryside Stewardship.

Full planning permission (case ref. 3/31/20/017) was granted in October 2020 for the conversion of a redundant agricultural barn to a single dwelling under Class C3(a), with associated works. Squirrels Architecture was appointed once this permission was secured and rather than redesigning the approved scheme from scratch, worked with the owners to refine it - reworking the ground floor to create a utility room and an office/store in place of a third bedroom, adding a lean-to porch and a new back door to the south elevation, replacing an existing stone wall on the south side with a new timber-framed, timber-clad wall, and flipping the kitchen and living room so the kitchen faces south. Planning conditions attached to the consent required a bat-sensitive lighting scheme, glazing to the south-facing elevations designed to limit upward-light spillage and reduce the risk of bird strike, and an ecological check ahead of any demolition between 1st March and 31st August to protect nesting birds - conditions worked through alongside the technical design.

The house is arranged largely as a single-storey courtyard around a west-facing yard, with a two-storey, dual-pitched wing to the north, and a footprint of around 225 square metres. Rather than build the second, larger garage building included in the permission, the owners built a smaller four-bay timber store instead - three enclosed bays and one open bay, set against an existing blockwork wall - for log storage, the boiler room and general storage, keeping cost and scale in proportion to what the site actually needed. Materials throughout favour natural, breathable build-ups: timber frame construction combining high thermal insulation with high thermal mass, wood fibre insulation and OSB lining boards, together with reclaimed and salvaged materials - including re-appropriated fittings from other buildings on the farm - a green flat roof over the single-storey ranges, and black corrugated metal sheeting to the pitched roof of the north wing. The owners project-managed and self-built much of the house themselves, acting as their own principal contractor under CDM 2015 with an independent CDM advisor and principal designer appointed to oversee health and safety, and sourcing free and reclaimed materials where they could deliver a bespoke, ecologically considered home against a genuinely modest construction budget.

Operating fully off-grid was a core requirement from the outset. Heating and hot water come from a log-fired biomass boiler with a thermal store to feed a wet underfloor heating system; potable water is drawn from a new private borehole, with rainwater harvested separately for external use; and electricity comes from an off-grid photovoltaic array with battery storage, mounted on its own small timber-framed structure built from locally sourced timber. Foul drainage runs to a private septic tank/packaged treatment system, and ventilation is entirely passive and mechanical - natural stack ventilation with purge and trickle ventilation through windows and doors, and no MVHR - keeping the building simple to run and maintain. While the owners chose not to pursue formal Passivhaus certification, the brief and specification were shaped around the same underlying aim: a highly insulated, thermally efficient, low-energy building capable of reaching net-zero-carbon operation.

Because the site sits entirely within its own screened valley - hidden from the wider Central West Somerset landscape by topography, woodland and hedges on every side - the practice was later able to secure planning consent (November 2023) confirming the access track, wildlife pond and PV installation already in place. The access track is surfaced in stone and earth recovered from the demolition of redundant modern barns on the holding; the pond, reinstated as part of the same works, slows the movement of water down the valley, helps reduce flood risk downstream, and provides a potential water source in times of drought. The PV installation supplies 100% of the site's power needs. New native woodland, hedgerows, wildflower meadow and agroforestry planting - fruit and nut trees, supplemented by  a small flock of chickens - sit alongside bat and bird boxes as part of the same biodiversity strategy. The site lies in Flood Zone 1, with the natural fall of the land routing surface water away from the buildings.

The second phase, consented under a further planning application for sustainable tourism submitted in November 2023, diversifies the adjoining 3.5-acre field into a nature-based agri-tourism business: six off-grid glamping cabins, each sleeping two adults and built as lightweight, genuinely temporary structures on fully removable timber bases. Reflecting the home's material character, the cabins feature locally sourced timber frames and cladding, alongside steeply pitched black corrugated metal roofs. Each unit is equipped with high-performance glazing, wood fibre or sheep's wool insulation, and a mini wood cook-stove, as well as an en-suite shower room and WC. Utilities are integrated directly into the site's existing infrastructure, taking power from the solar array, water from the borehole, and drainage via the private system.

Landscape character shaped both phases of the development. The holding lies within the Central West Somerset character area, specifically, the Doniford Stream and Quantock Fringe character area. The brief was to keep every element - the dwelling, the PV structure, the pond, the access track and the cabins - screened from any long view by the valley's own topography and hedgerows, so the working farm continues to read as such from the surrounding lanes. Central to the planning proposal is a sustainable travel strategy that prompts guests to travel by bus into Taunton or by train via the West Somerset Railway, supported by on-site EV charging and minibus transfers for those who need to drive.