SBH02_03-13 3/19/09 9:20 AM Page 7
Putting the Heart Back
Into Harton
By Heather Dixon
Photography by Dave Burton
shell as best they could.
“We liked it just as much inside,” said
Andrew. “We could certainly see its potential.
In effect, we bought it by candlelight. Everyone
thought we were mad. We didn’t bother with a
surveyors report because we knew it was going
to be a full-scale renovation job and just
expected the worst. It was actually advertised
as a building plot, but we thought it would be
cheaper to renovate the school rather than
knock it down and start again.”
They each secured a mortgage for half the
amount, and as soon as planning permission
was granted to convert it into a family home,
they started work.
“We were going to live in a caravan, but the
people in the village were so supportive of what
we were doing that a neighbour, who was going
away, said we could house sit for her rent-free
for as long as we needed to.”
Lucy and Andrew knew they wouldn’t be able
to do everything themselves, but after working
on community build projects in Scotland they
understood the benefits of many hands making
light work.
“Traditional architecture has become very
divorced from modern building work, so we
thought it would be useful to create a
situation where selfbuilders and architectural
students could learn practical skills,” said
Andrew, who was lecturing at five different
f Andrew and Lucy Yeats hadn’t run out 12 years of neglect, but eco-architects Andrew universities at the time.
I
of milk one morning, another Yorkshire and Lucy took one look at each other and So they launched a series of selfbuild
village landmark might have bitten said, ‘this is the one’. workshops that offered hands-on experience in
the dust. “We had returned to the UK after living return for food and accommodation.
However, when they took a fateful detour abroad for six years. Lucy was working in York “This was in the early 1990s when there was
through Harton on their grocery trip to York, and we wanted a place to buy,” said Andrew. a pioneering spirit among selfbuilders,” said
they noticed a small, dilapidated old school for “We didn’t have much money, but we fell in love Andrew. “There were always 12 people on site
sale on the edge of the village green. with this place the moment we saw it.” at any one time, and people kept coming back
The playground was swamped by The property was completely boarded up for more. It was a great way of working.”
five-foot-high nettles and the long brick and there was no electricity, so they went back Lucy’s friends would also turn up in a group
building was sagging under the weight of with a couple of candles to view the 15m x 5m Continued on page 9
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