Welcome to the modern party barn, where disco balls are 'non-negotiable'

Disco balls, insists David Henderson, head of Savills’s Stow-on-the-Wold office, are non-negotiable items when it comes to finishing a party barn. There are those with kitchens where caterers can effortlessly beaver, ones with nightclub-worthy sound systems, a mezzanine to accommodate overflowing overnight guests and sprawling windows to let light flood in.

Nonetheless, it’s the disco balls that set the tone. Welcome to the modern party barn: the ultimate good-time utopia, devoid of the toil of a home gym or the practicalities of a home office — and a world away from the draughty, hay-bales-and-a-hi-fi set-up of yesteryear.

‘Entertaining spaces have always been a key part of the English country house, but, in recent years, party barns have become increasingly versatile and sophisticated,’ says interior designer Emma Sims-Hilditch. ‘Traditionally, these spaces might have been used as billiard rooms or shoot-lunch venues, but, today, they are designed to host everything from intimate gatherings to large-scale celebrations.’

Although some agents might not be able to estimate the premium buyers are willing to pay for one, Mr Henderson apportions ‘really good additional value’. He continues: ‘I’d put a strong £1 per square foot on them, because they’re such versatile buildings—they’re a place to host small family gatherings and large events. If you have a guest room above one and a kitchen in it, your friends can stay and enjoy their own private space, too.’

For Oliver Custance Baker, head of Strutt & Parker’s country department, the value comes down to how the barn works with the rest of the house’s set-up. ‘If you have a tennis court, swimming pool and party barn all linked together, then you can see clearly how that would be used over the summer,’ he explains.

‘Buyers like the idea of them, because it gives a separate space if they’re hosting different age groups at once. Larger families see it as a really good investment, because if they have three or four children, they know that it’s going to be used an awful lot. A party barn can be closed off and forgotten about until you have a houseful, rather than living with an empty room that you find yourself walking past. When they’re separate, they can be filled with all the toys and fun that people want, because the space is dedicated to exactly that.’

When Minette Palmer and her late husband bought the barn next to their Burhunt Farm in the South Downs more than 40 years ago — now on the market with Knight Frank — keeping a roof on it was the priority for years. It wasn’t until 2010, with the help of an inheritance, that a 20-month project with a conservation architect from ADAM Architecture in Winchester to turn it into something more sophisticated began.

‘The University of Oxford kindly came and dated it — it was built between 1513 and 1523 and the wood used would have been saplings in 1377,’ explains Mrs Palmer. ‘I wouldn’t have been allowed to divide it up and quite right, too, because it would have destroyed its character.

The first thing we did was have a party for my mother’s 90th birthday and then, for my 70th, Pavilion Opera performed Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda in it, which was terrific. It’s also a grand playroom: I have teenage grandchildren who go around on their hoverboards and, equally, you can host Christmas lunch for as many as we like; 26 sitting down in the house is rather a squash…’

There might be a romantic lure to the aesthetics of an untouched barn, but, with soaring building costs, they garner the most value when converted, say agents. At Tod-hunter Earle Interiors, designers are working on a listed building that can be used as a private dining room and then turned into a nightclub with a working bar and DJ booth.

Meanwhile, Mrs Sims-Hilditch’s team once designed a party barn with an indoor swimming pool that transforms into a dance floor. ‘The pool had a retractable floor that, within minutes, would rise and lock into place,’ she marvels. ‘It was a feat of engineering and design, but the result was magical and exemplified what we love most about party barns: their ability to evolve and surprise, offering an experience that is both practical and utterly enchanting.