Making the most of the views is a natural desire for anyone creating or altering a home by the sea. The refurbishment and alterations to this former barn overlooking the Bristol Channel provided an obvious opportunity to do that. Converted from a stone barn many years ago, part of the property has been used as a holiday cottage but was due for upgrading and improving to meet modern living standards. Aside from making the building perform better from an environmental perspective, we completely redesigned the interior to create a large open plan living / kitchen / dining space, running east to west with a vaulted ceiling and full height glazed openings. This space gives access to both the sheltered sunny cobbled courtyard on the southern side and a new terrace on the seaward, northern side. Elsewhere the attached barn was converted to provide two bedrooms, a bathroom and cloakroom / utility. The interior aims for a stripped back style, with a Scandinavian influence. The project, using a team of young, local craftsmen, started on site in December 2015 and was completed at the end of April 2016 in time for the holiday season. We were pleased to provide full architect’s services from inception to completion, including design and project management.