Our Story
Rewind to 1973…
I, Claire, was brought back to Moorside Farm House from hospital, living in a beautiful location but in a house that would have been condemned. When I left to further my education, I sadly had to leave my mum to live in this constantly deteriorating house for a further 23 years.
The kitchen… then and now
With my family; Anne, Jason, Lauren and Connor, we decided to renovate Moorside Farmhouse for my mum (Anne), and also the barn next door; this had no roof, the gable end collapsing and a full on difficult planning application, plus all the groundworks needed attention.
In 2013 my father passed away.
He had farmed here since the 70’s.
As all the physical changes took place, so did our ideas. We pulled all our assets together and with physical and mental strength, we ploughed forwards. I am proud to say that most of the work was undertaken by us. Jason and myself were still working in our full time jobs. Eddie, Jason’s dad, gave me the confidence and skills to believe that I could point all of the outside and inside walls. I added my own style by placing marbles in some of the pointing.
We completed half of Moorside farm with a view to moving into the upstairs part of the property, as we sold our house near Skipton (incidently that we renovated too – clearly we like a challenge!). We moved into Moorside Farmhouse in 2015. Bathrooms were complete, as were the bedrooms but there was no kitchen yet. We loved our slow cooker and camping stove so much!
During Covid we renovated the gardens, this was done sustainably. We used whatever we could find to complete the task – using old plastic pipes and filling them with wood and leaves for the insect house that is made from the wooden palettes that the cement arrived on. We now have a built up ‘wishing well’ (built by Jason and our son, and pointed by me), an insect hotel, a Budlea and some wild berry bushes. Materials such as wood, cement and plaster became difficult to purchase to finish our project.
Our dream to give my mum a beautiful warm and safe home came with lots of challenges. By 2019, the barn (Queens Barn, our home next door to Moorside) was water tight and all windows were in place. We were determined to move into the barn and give my mum her home to herself, when unexpectedly, my mum passed away.
For some time, no more work took place for two reasons; Covid, and we had no motivation to complete the project. We were left with a big hole and a suffocating grief.
My mum and I on the roof
We completed the barn in 2021 after a long break and revised plans. Moorside Farm Holiday Cottage was ready for October 2021. We were a little naive at that time and have learnt a lot about marketing and hospitality. We always knew that Moorside Farmhouse was special to us, mainly as it was my childhood home and we knew others would see how extraordinary Moorside Farm is. The land surrounding the ‘yard’ is managed by me and is in dire need of maintenance; land drainage and walling/fencing. We aim to spend some of the funds from the holiday cottage to make the land beautiful once again.
Moorside Farmhouse has been renovated to a high standard and repurposing materials that came from the house, for e.g.: the patio stone is from the pantry floor, the window cils are Yorkshire stone from the stone tables in the pantry. Wooden beams and doors were painted white and are now taken back to their original state. A retained wall was built to stop water coming into the house, with drip trays above the windows. We put the Velux windows in the roof and a new roof using the original stone. Underfloor heating replaced a damp and wet concrete floor.
Our family work as a team to continue to make Moorside Farm grounds and land fabulous. We know that our guests expect a well earned break with family or friends to make memories. We are here to provide a luxury sociable space for this to happen. We have a lot of pride in what we have achieved and our hearts continue to provide the best for our guests, always looking how we can improve our business and listening to our customers feedback.
In August we repurposed an area to make a secure cycle store at the request of a previous customer. Our gardens are secure to allow children and dogs to have a safe space, and we recently installed a large gate for our customers privacy at the back of the property.
Our future plans started this year with providing the only campsite in Grassington, an affordable accommodation for families to enjoy the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The view overlooking the River Wharfe is breathtaking. www.grassingtoncampsite.co.uk
Thank you for taking the time to read our story!
We look back now and think about whether we would undertake this project again… the hard work, endless planning knock backs and my personal favourite of holding on to a RSJ in a storm while my father in law tied the RSJ to the scaffolding and had to cut the felt from the battens. The answer is …
Absolutely we would do it again!
