Now we have renovated the old barn, again helped by Countryside Stewardship, building up the cob walls and putting on a new green oak and thatch roof. And when the first juice flows off the press we’ll be throwing a party!
You can read more about how we now use the barn for weddings here.
A BARN STORY
A green sustainable building
A living breathing building
Walls made from clay from our fields
Wood from our woodlands
Thatching straw grown locally
A team of builders who have worked here Longtime
This is the story of a barn, a grade 2 listed barn the kind of which you see all across Devon, with roof of wheat straw and walls of mud and pebble built on top of a broad stone plinth. Occasionally during repair we’d come across some ancient shards of glass embedded in the thick mud wall and stand still for a moment, reflecting on who might have put them there and when.
Because this was a prosperous barn by the standards of the 17th century– not just a storage barn but a threshing barn – with huge doors set opposite each other so the prevailing south westerly winds could blow and the ripe ears of corn be threshed, tossed in the air to separate the chaff and ears.
Serious labour and money must have been needed to build those doors and fashion those walls. Most likely some came from Plymouth where the first ever national navy was being built rather than dependence on privateers. One Moorish raiding party famously invaded the entire congregation of one of Plymouth’s largest churches and took away the celebrants into slavery. Ironically their actions helped create prosperity amongst the farming community further north.
Another sign of the threshing barn’s relative prosperity was the first major change in it’s structure which took place in the early 19th century. A modern belt driven apple crusher – a scrotter- and twin screw press with ratchet and high speed gear were installed. At a time when agricultural wages always contained a proportion of cider the Middle Coombe cider barn was crushing and pressing to such an extent that it fulfilled the complete requirements of Tiverton Constabulary. This mode of payment for case study writing was eventually to be rendered illegal.
Around 1945 instead of the threshing barn a thrashing machine was hauled up to Middle Coombe every Summer – precursor of the combine harvester. This machine was so heavy it needed 2 tractors to haul it. Sometime around this time all of the barn back wall fell out under the weight of a heavy winter snow-fall and part of the end wall was cut down so that a new sloping corrugated iron roof could be accommodated.
My father bought all the woodland at Coombe in 1958 and the farm and buildings in 1960, for the princely sum of £4000! Under government incentives the orchards were grubbed up – only to be replanted when I took over, a telling example of the comings and goings of UK agriculture! Some 130 trees were planted and guarded with financial assistance from Countryside Stewardship and are just now starting to produce apples. The whole farm is now soil association certified organic and grows beef and trees as well as bees and apples and chickens.
And the cider barn? From the moment my father died and I took over I was treated to the sight of this historic building falling apart in front of my eyes. Principally the roof started to collapse. On 23rd August 2000 Peter Child, then Devon County Historic Buildings Advisor wrote to my Countryside Stewardship officer Maggie Savory recommending that the cider barn should receive grant aid of fifty percent to be repaired. The grant was agreed. “Given the importance of the group of buildings at Middle Coombe(both the the house and its gate house are listed at grade 2* and the linhay and staples west of the house are listed at grade2) the restoration of the barn which stands in close proximity to them seems to me to be very desirable.”
Listed Building Consent was also granted. But along this process I had some bad nights asking myself how I could stomp up the other fifty percent. Finally it was the path of true love that saved the day and helped repair the barn. Two dear friends of mine whom I had been partly responsible for bringing together asked if they could be married here, in the cider barn. Yes, of course, where better! Then the next year the son of a dear old friend tied the knot here http://samedayessays.org/buy-essay/, then friends Ben and Rachel – maybe there was something in this, eco weddings perhaps, an ethical green income for myself and my True Love. Once more the barn could generate a wage, at a price.
In August 2005 we went to tender with the specifications for repair with Tim Bucknall as lead builder. Tim has nursed the project for as long as I. The weather was dreadful most of those building years- but eventually the job was finished in autumn 2007, including renovation of the apple press. Most powerful images – Rufus, the cob expert, on the cob wall, stomping it down. He and John Richards, good friend and local farmer, hauled down several tons of sodden clay from our top field before the work began. Then dug a large hole where, with help of an ancient JCB the clay was mixed with water, aggregate and straw. Then came Pete and Bill who crafted the new oak roof timbers and the Douglas Fir doors using Coombe grown and seasoned timbers; Arron and Dick who slapped on all that lime plaster; Simon the Metalworker who repaired the press; Eden who grafted for twice his size; and Mark who thatched it all, suggesting the new roof should resemble runny custard poured over a Christmas pudding – no straight lines! It worked, as did his suggestion that he carve our logo into the thatch – what that? An apple of course.
But all was not over. The building was finished when Mid Devon District Council Planning Department in its infinite wisdom decided I could not use the barn for weddings because it would no longer be an agricultural building, even though we fully planned to use it as such with our apple pressing. They also said traffic numbers would be untenable despite our policy of encouraging visitors to take the train. Where farm diversification?! Every neighbour supported us, and have supported us ever since. We bring much needed work to this area. We have never had a complaint. Eventually the planners granted our planning application, impressed, we were told, by the level of local support. The bats, pipistrelles, long-ears, lesser horseshoes who had been granted their own bespoke entrances at each corner of the barn, squeeked for joy. Chris Langdon, our wonderful Planning Consultant, was equally vocal!
Since then there’s been barn dances, seminars, weddings and wedding receptions, permaculture courses, essay help cider talks, pool and ‘ping pong’ tournaments – the list goes on. And, to top it all, on 25th October 2009 we pressed our first apples on the old press, producing some hundred gallons of sweet juice. Most of the neighbours came, including two farmers who long ago had made cider on a similar press and now could show us youngsters the ropes! For me it was a lifetime’s dream come true. And no, not for one second did I ever want the old barn converted to living accommodation.
Long live the barn – true love and cider!
Tim Malyon
3rd December 2009