We have installed a grab handle in the shower for safety.
repairs
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Shower safety
shower before grab bar fitted shower with grab bar fitted -
Wall and window sill painting
The west wall of the Barn has been repainted as some areas of paint were peeling off. Also the window sill around the west-facing ground floor picture window has been redecorated.
Wall repainted 
Picture window redecorated 
Wall repainted -
Plinth, drain covers and godfathers
A concrete ‘plinth’ has been added to the rear of the patio wall to stabilise the wall as gaps were appearing at the base. Also the rear of the adjacent pigsty wall was repointed. New drain covers replace old cracked ones beside the driveway. And concrete ‘godfathers’ have been added to reinforce the fence posts of the fence between the Barn’s little wildflower meadow and the Hanley Swan road.
Concrete plinth base rear of patio wall 
New drain covers 
‘Godfathers’ reinforcing fence by Hanley Swan road -
Water butts
We have replaced an old leaking water butt behind the Barn with a new one. Also the water butt beside the pigsty needed a new connection fitting to the downpipe which has been done.
New water butt behind the Barn 
New connection to pigsty water butt -
Maintenance at Rhydd Barn
I stayed at the Barn during the first week of September and was able to take a lot of photographs. Paint was peeling off the walls inside the converted pigsty—it has now been redecorated. Also the pigsty exterior brickwork on the side wall and the back of the pigpens was repointed in places. The gravel drive has to be weeded regularly and the grass in the field mowed and strimmed along the edge. Grass in the sewage tank area in the field also has to be kept short. The sewage tank is inspected regularly—most recently in August when it was found to be in excellent order.
Here are some photographs:
Pigsty repointing 
Pigsty interior repainted 
Driveway weeding 
Grass cut by fence 
Sewage tank area grass cut -
Maintenance, August 2023
We have carried out some necessary maintenance and repair work on Rhydd Barn:
- Re-pointing work on the lower part of the south exterior wall and converted pigsty.
- The inside of the south entrance door has been treated to prevent water entering.
- Wood surfaces at the end of the converted stable block have been painted.
- The metal gate to the grassy area behind the barn has been painted.
- The wooden entrance gate to Rhydd Barn has been treated to prevent algae and coated with a preservative.
- Fridge doorknob tightened—which was a much trickier job than it appeared to be!
Main entrance door treated against damp 
Converted pigsty repointing 
Metal gate painted 
Fridge doorknob tightened up -
New balcony doors
The wood in the original balcony doors was going rotten at the bottom. We have now replaced these wooden doors with two new double-glazed plastic French doors. They are rosewood (a dark brown) on the outside to match the rest of Barn windows and white inside to match the internal decoration and new handles. See photos below.
New balcony doors – outside 01 
New balcony doors – outside 02 
New balcony doors – inside -
Ditch clearing
Worcester County Council Highways insisted that I had to clear the ditch along Hanley Swan Lane by the side of my field. Apparently I was the ‘Riparian owner’ of the ditch under the Land Drainage Act 1991. I was told that flooding issues were apparent though no flooding could be seen. I managed to get the ditch cleared by my cousin’s son, Richard, who rents our fields. He used a hedge cutter and digger with a shovel putting the excess soil into a trailer for removal. As the before and after pictures below, the ditch is now beautifully clear! My field is to the right of the hedge.
Ditch – May 2022 – before clearing 
Ditch – October 2022 – after clearing -
Repairs to stile and gate
The stile across the fence to access the field by the barn has been replaced and all the timbers treated with wood preservative. Also, ‘godfathers’ have been added to the gate posts of the gate into the field to strengthen them and the gate latch adjusted. See photos below.
New stile 
‘Godfather’ to strengthen gatepost -01 
‘Godfather’ to strengthen gatepost -02 -
More work on the Barn
The back wall of Rhydd Barn has been repainted. This was a difficult project because of the height of the barn plus the steep slope behind it adding to the height. The photo shows the end result. Unfortunately, after this photograph was taken the beautiful Malvern stone below the main barn wall was also painted white—which was not my intention.
Also, the converted pigsty gates have been reinforced with new wood as they were starting to deteriorate.
Rhydd Barn – back wall repainted 
Pigsty gates repaired -02 
Pigsty gates repaired -01 -
Repairs to wall of converted pigsty
Pigsty wall – before repair – 01 
Pigsty wall – before repair – 02 Before repairs Parts of the south wall of the converted pigsty have been gradually deteriorating as you can see from the above photos. So we had the damaged areas re-pointed including the replacement of a damaged or missing brick. The final result can be seen in the two photos below.
Pigsty wall – after repair – 01 
Pigsty wall – after repair – 02 After repairs An electrical socket on the inside of that wall needed to be replaced and our builder also added some ventilation. See photo below.
Pigsty interior – after repair Pigsty interior wall – new electrical socket installed -
Gate and fence repairs
The gate from the Barn to the fields has been repaired with new wooden bars to replace those that were beginnning to rot. Also a lead cap fitted across the top bar of the gate to protect it from moisture.
The fence around the sewage tank was weakening and lambs grazing the field managed to get inside! So the fence posts were reset in the ground and extra horizontal bars added at lower level.
See the photos below:
Fence around sewage tank 
Gate to field -
Maintenance work on Rhydd Barn
Much of the scheduled maintenance work has been completed on Rhydd Barn. Recent sunny weather allowed the paintwork repairs on the exterior walls to be carried out. Also the old wooden bench on the patio has been treated with preservative. Some minor repairs inside the barn have also been done.
Spring-cleaning of the barn interior is now under way as we prepare to welcome guests once again after the current restrictions are relaxed on 12 April.
Below are a few photos taken by our wonderful maintenance man, Max, showing his work on the exterior.
South-facing exterior wall paint touched up 
Patio bench wood preservative 
West-facing exterior wall paint touched up -
Rhydd Barn maintenance
This is the time of year when we can get any less urgent and ongoing maintenance jobs done on the Barn. For example, some of our current works include:
- The clearwater sewage treatment plant has been serviced and is aerating well—a new compressor was fitted last summer
- Two fire extinguishers have been replaced: one foam and one powder extinguisher
- Paintwork, both inside and outside, will be touched up when the weather conditions improve plus exterior wall repointing in places
- Our latest round of Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) has been done on all electrical appliances in the Barn
- The annual gas boiler and gas cooking hob service has been booked for early March 2021
- we acquired two new outdoor chairs for the patio last summer
A few photos below showing repairs needed and a nice sunny one of our new outdoor chairs:
Barn paintwork defects 
Barn brickwork defects 
new outdoor chairs We hope to post a few ‘after’ photos later to show the Barn restored to its full glory!
