The next chapter

Looking for somewhere in the country with the potential to generate an extra income, Luke and Laura Thomas decided to head for Dorset to convert an old flax shop-cum-garage in the grounds of their new home

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Luke, what made you both take on such an interesting project?

My wife Laura and I were living in London five years ago and knew we wanted to start a family and move somewhere a bit greener, where we could generate another income. We thought Dorset would be a nice area to do that so we looked around the Bridport area and found this place. It came with a stone-built annex/garage at the back and it had so much potential.

Originally it was an old flax shop and was being used mainly as a garage. It was very dusty and grubby with big double wooden doors at the front and an old stable floor. As you walked through the main area there was an old worktop with a workbench and old tools. The final room on the ground floor was essentially a log store and upstairs was just a loft with sets of ladders and all sorts of stuff.

What was the first step towards the conversion?

Laura did some Google searches and we found various architects and eventually chose Lydia and Lawrence from Design Storey. They really understood that we wanted to hold onto as much of the character of this place as we could and accentuate the features rather than try to make it something it's not.