Restoring, Repurposing Old & Building New

Building connections to nature and the landscape.
A gateway to wellness, learning & experience.

Restoring the Old:
The Black Barn and Cart Sheds

The magnificent C16th, Grade II listed ‘Black Barn’, with its panoramic views, sits at the heart of the project and currently provides an inspiring setting for education and community events but remains open to the elements.

Part of the project will be to complete its restoration by adding sympathetic glazing to the great door openings. Thus, making it weatherproof whilst allowing light in and retaining the stunning views across the landscape.

Adding these doors will protect The Black Barn into the future, enable all year round to use and increase the number private hire events, in turn generating new income for the farm and it’s financial resilience.

The two cart sheds will be further restored to provide a dry welcome and reception area with boot and hand washing facilities for visitors, guests, educational groups and our ever-growing volunteer force.

Building the New:
The Nature, Community and Education Hub

We will create a brand new flexible, multi-purpose education, meeting and communing space, by demolishing and rebuilding the nearby unsightly modern concrete barn.

The new building will provide a welcome gateway to the surrounding landscape and a warm and inclusive reception for many more, visitors, volunteers & community organisations every year.

The Design Concept & Approach:
(Led by Okra Studio Architects)

Building with our Communities needs at the forefront of design.

Okra were the right team to design Woodoaks’ Education and Community hub. They have an incredible reputation for delivering exceptional rural learning and engagement spaces developed through an extensive co-design process with the local community as key users of the space.

A detailed and inclusive research phase has been completed, consulting with our local communities and their needs for the space. Community groups and organisations have been centre stage of the process engaged with and listened to, with the design of the hub reflecting this. Provision has been made for a separate meeting room, a safe quiet space, a wheelchair accessible kitchen, a well sized disabled toilet together with a Changing Places toilet also located on the farm.

Okra’s Researched Architectural Brief presents a summary of the design process and is available on request to anyone considering a donation to the project.

Please contact: Simon Farley, Head of Fundraising, Soil Association Land Trust. E: sfarley@soilassociation.org for further information.