The sales brochure showed a forlorn shell of a building, with dark, empty holes for windows and a small tree growing out of one unstable wall. The disused barn was in three acres of East Sussex land, and Darren and Sara Hall knew the moment they saw it that their dreams had come true.
The couple's first viewing did not disappoint. "It looked even worse from the inside," says Darren. They bought the property six months ago, but it hasn't changed much. "You can see the sky through the holes in the roof. There's a huge crack running up one side of the building, the floor joists are rotten and the rafters are about to go." It would be tempting, he admits, to knock the whole thing down and start from scratch. But Bivelham Oast is protected by a Grade II listing; the work involved in restoring the building will be expensive and time-consuming.
"We've got a three-year plan," says Darren cheerfully. "We're not even starting work until next spring."
The Halls bought the property for £175,000 before selling their home in Worthing and moving with their four children into three Portakabins on site. Thanks to an expensive bit of forward planning, their temporary home now has running water, electricity and proper drainage. Even so, why camp in a field for a year for the sake of saving a derelict farm building? Why buy a wreck at all? Surely the money they're spending could have bought a proper home with floors, doors and solid walls?
The property's three acres was one of the main attractions, says Darren. Full planning permission to convert it into a three-bedroom house was another. The couple also discovered that the barn originally had a pair of "roundels" (those circular brick hop kilns, common to this part of the world), and have since applied for consent to rebuild them, thereby providing the space for two extra bedrooms.
The asking price was important, too: "Our previous attempts to buy similar buildings have ended in bidding wars," says Darren. "We've seen properties marketed for £175,000 selling for nearly twice that amount." The problem, he adds, is that derelict buildings with land tend to attract developers and cash-rich investors as well as wannabe self-builders.
And it's easy to see why when you look at the sums. Darren estimates that the conversion will cost at least £100,000. If all goes to plan, the Halls will end up with a property worth up to £800,000. But profit, they insist, is not the point.
"We're not doing this as an investment," says Darren. "We want to stay here forever. We didn't want to live in an urban cul-de-sac - we want the kids to grow up in the country."
How do I look for a wreck?
The Halls found Bivelham Oast through a rural estate agent, thereby tapping into the countryside's seemingly endless supply of redundant agricultural buildings. Another route is to contact Save Britain's Heritage (020-7253 3500), a charity dedicated to "finding new owners and new uses for buildings at risk", many of which are for sale. Another useful contact is SPAB, the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (020-7247 5296).
What about funding?
Buying wrecks is not for first-time buyers or big borrowers. You will need to raise a hefty chunk of the purchase price and have enough additional working capital to fund restoration costs. Some building societies will only lend the plot value; others won't lend anything at all. The Ecology Building Society (0845 674 5566) is one of the few to look kindly on proposals to renovate derelict buildings, providing that borrowers can raise at least 20% of the finance. There are tax incentives: the cost of converting a non-residential building into a home is exempt from VAT spent on materials and services.
What about planners?
Don't buy an uninhabitable wreck without outline or detailed planning permission for conversion. Once in place, you can reapply with a revised plan, preferably drawn up by a chartered architect. If it's a listed wreck, you will also need listed building consent, and you will be expected to use appropriate building materials. Again, SPAB (see above) is a useful point of reference. Some at-risk listed buildings, incidentally, are eligible for restoration grants from English Heritage (www.english-heritage.org.uk).
No water? No power?
Try not to move too far away from essential utilities: installing services from inconvenient distances could add up to £100,000 to the building costs.
Where do I live in the meantime?
Unless you can afford to run two properties, the only option is to live on site in a caravan or mobile home. The Halls spent £6,000 on three second-hand Portakabins and another £4,000 on doing them up. If that sounds expensive, compare it to the cost of a year's rent and remember the healthy resale market in mobile homes.