20th June 2023 | IN INTERIOR DESIGN PROJECTS | BY SBID Share Tweet Pinterest LinkedIn Art is at the heart of Rachel McLane Ltd’s interior designs for the new high quality Eden Valley farm barns conversion of the Flakebridge Estate. The major interior design project has an array of traditionally constructed stone and slate barns, cattle byers and dairy into a stone hospitality centre and holiday cottages which are now open at Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria. The main old barn has been transformed into the hospitality centre for the new facility with a drawing-room, bar and breakfast room, shooting/gun room and a large commercial kitchen. An adjacent barn houses a billiards room and wine cellar. Seven stone cottages have also been converted from the former farm buildings and come with their own bespoke kitchens and en-suite bathrooms. Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane Rachel McLane Ltd worked from the architect’s planning drawings at an early stage to incorporate their vision into the internal detailing including all the internal finishes, electrical and lighting positions and spatial arrangements. Rachel McLane Ltd sourced all fixtures and fittings, including bespoke joinery, lighting and furniture. Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane As part of the project Pickering-based Rachel McLane Ltd’s award-winning design team have created a unique and original look for the development after commissioning an abstract acrylic/multi-media painting by fine artist and founder of Red Dog Glass Design, Sally Coulden. Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane “I’m a big admirer of Sally and her art and have wanted to work with her for some time now,” said Rachel, whose business has won and been finalist in numerous awards including the Northern Design Awards Best Hotel Interior Design 2020 for their work on the Bike & Boot Hotel in Scarborough. “The farming history, stone and timber structure of the barn and the cottages with the addition of Sally’s artwork gave us the perfect opportunity to create a unique and beautiful design which compliments the surrounding landscape of the farm. She visited the estate as part of the preparation and to fuel her inspiration for the original painting. Having found a great view which she felt captured the essence of the landscape she spent several days sketching, taking photographs and getting to know the environment before heading back to her studio to start work on the painting.” – Rachel McLane Artwork - Sally Coulden The end result is a 2m x 1.5m abstract painting on canvas, which now hangs in the main barn and reflects the rural, family nature of the estate, with found objects from the surrounding fields, including foliage and pheasant feathers. “It was a leap of faith on Rachel’s part as we hadn’t worked together before but it has been such a brilliant partnership throughout the process. In addition to the original painting, Red Dog Glass Design has created a contemporary art glass panel which sits behind the aga in the main breakfast room, the design for which has taken specific features from the original painting.” – Sally Coulden Artwork - Sally Coulden Rachel McLane Ltd was part of a project team led by LHL Group, architects, quantity and building surveyors, and GEM Construction, both of York. LHL Group’s managing director Richard Hampshire said, “We were able to incorporate Rachel into the full design team at an early stage, so this has made the integration of architectural and interior design so much easier and has avoided any design clashes at the outset, and ensured that we were all working to budgetary constraints. Working in old buildings is always challenging but every project meeting has been well spirited and any problems were countered with solutions in the quest to meet the brief and it is clear to me that we had a team all working to one goal. The unique Rachel McLane Ltd flare shines through.” Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane Giles Bilton, of Morgan Bilton, who acted as land and estate agent on the property for the owner Flakebridge Estate said, “This was a lovely courtyard of old farm buildings which were once part of a tenanted farm within the Flakebrigde Estate. We were able to purchase the land and old farm buildings in the knowledge that the tenant farmer was soon to retire. The seven cottages of this first phase sleep 24 people, with five two-bedroomed and two one-bedroomed cottages, but the eventual plan is to sleep at least 34 including a new as-yet-to-be built five-bedroom home. Low Barn is available to book as individual cottages, or the entire complex.” Low Barn Farm - Rachel McLane About Rachel McLane Limited Rachel McLane Ltd offers a full design service that interprets a client’s brief and delivers their project on time, on budget, and as envisaged. Rachel’s attitude is not to be overly precious; interior design is not about her forcing her ideas onto clients and their customers. Instead, it is about creating something that works for them and enhances their business. It is about producing the best solution they can for the budget – and that does not mean holding back on quality or design. Good design does not have to cost the earth. Visit Profile If you’d like to feature your news or stories on SBID.org, get in touch to find out more. If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here for more information.