We have lived at Manor Farm since 1991, and Pat's parents and family had lived and worked here, prior to that since 1947.

It was a huge undertaking to convert some of the stone barns to accommodation, demolish many other attached buildings, and change farming practices and it was a real wrench to leave the big farmhouse for a smaller barn conversion, but we've got used to it now. We have renamed the farmhouse to The Stone House and have now rented it out.

The farmhouse has an interesting history, and was home to the Bailiff of Much Wenlock in the 17th Century. There is a plaque on the wall dedicated to Richard and Jane Littlehales who lived here in 1688. Richard Littlehales was the Bailiff of Much Wenlock and other members of his family had also held this office. It was quite a prestigious role and held a lot of resonsibility, including law and order for the area.

There is a room in the cellar of the farmhouse that could have been used as a cell during the time that the various Manor Houses around the district were used to hold courts, as it has a catch on the outside and a grill in the door.

The oldest part of the house dates back to the 1300s, and the barn conversion that we are living in, now called Manor Farm, is also medieval.

Legend has it that there is a tunnel from the farm here to the Priory in Much Wenlock, but Pat has spent many childhood years looking for the entrance without success. A book written in the 1940s suggests that a room with no windows in the cellar of the farm house could be the entrance..........

The barns that we converted to the holiday accommodation are probably dated around the same time as part of the farm house, mid 17th Century, although the cottage called Barley was probably added at a slightly later date.

The holiday barns were once a threshing barn and the slits which we have turned into windows would have been ventilation slits - not arrow slits like in a castle.

The downstairs bedroom in Wheat was once a cart shed, and housed Pat's car until 2008. The sitting room in Wheat used to have a small loft, hence the current height of the ceiling.

All of the buildings are Grade II listed, so we had a lot of input from the local Conservation Officer during our building project.

We finally finished the holiday accommodation in May 2010, and had our first guests in at the end of May.

It was a sad day when we had to bid farewell to the builders as they had been here for three years and had become like members of the family, but we hope we will meet lots of lovely people who come on holiday to share this marvelous part of Shropshire.

Andrew has changed his farming practices over the past 3 years and currently has sheep and cattle. We used to have pigs as well but some of the demolished buildings, the downstairs of Barley and the kitchen of Oats were where they lived, so unfortunately they had to go.

Manor Farm is still very much a working farm so you will hear the noises of cattle and sheep, Andrew on his Quad bike and Millie's dogs barking, plus the sheds will be full of sheep during the lambing season.