CHANGE OF SCENE

Helen Cartwright's converted cowshed proved the perfect place to embrace a new outdoor lifestyle and enjoy the wide country vistas from every room

- 

Helen Cartwright’s converted cowshed proved the perfect place to embrace a new outdoor lifestyle and enjoy the wide country vistas from every room Retiring to the countryside had long been the dream for Helen Cartwright and her husband Simon Skinner. The pair had worked in Edinburgh for years but they were looking for a change of lifestyle. ‘We were ready to make the move away from the city and we wanted to spend much more time outdoors,’ says Helen. Weekends saw the couple travelling from Scotland to Devon then Wiltshire to view properties. Then a barn conversion near Tetbury captured their imagination and they bought it in 2022. ‘Simon wasn’t too keen until he saw the setting: a tiny hamlet of 17 houses and farm buildings. It was so pretty with a beautiful outlook. We fell in love with it before we even opened the front door,’ says Helen.