When Richard Lendon was searching online for a new home for him and his wife Jenny, he found a Cumbrian farmhouse with bags of potential.

Not only did Truss Gap House, in the Swindale Valley about four miles west of Shap, have the views that they both wanted but it also had immediate access to the fells where he could train for ultra-marathons.

He didn’t show the house to Jenny because he thought it would be too remote but in the meantime she had also spotted the property: “I thought no, Jenny will never like that, she would never want to live where there weren’t any neighbours. Then Jenny saw it and showed it to me.”

They arranged a viewing and despite seeing the house in very poor weather they both immediately wanted the three-bedroom property, which sits above Swindale Beck and has uninterrupted fell views including the expanse of Gouther Crag and Truss Buttress, which is a popular destination for climbers.

Jenny says: “I fell in love straight away with the house: I could see what potential it had. I’m quite good at visualising what it could look like if I got my hands on it.”

The former farmhouse had been empty for about two years and although habitable, it needed extensive work. The attached barn was dark and semi-derelict with no internal access to the undercroft, which had been used as a shippon and still had the original animal stalls.

Because they were moving from Lincoln to Cumbira, the Lendons used the Federation of Master Builders website to search for a builder and found Jim Troughton of Troughton Home Improvements (THI), based in Kendal.

They were due to meet Jim on site and were staying in a cottage in Kentmere where they particularly admired the kitchen. They decided it was a good omen when the owner told them it had been fitted by a builder called Jim Troughton, about whom she was very complimentary.

They bought the property in February 2015 and gave the keys to Jim, who started work on the main farmhouse with his son, Paul and their team, completing it on schedule in October that year. The Lendons moved into the house in February 2016 and Jim and Paul set to work on converting the barn into a family room and kitchen that summer, finishing in January this year. The design drawings were provided by architect Martin Boyd of Kendal.

Jenny, who is a chartered accountant and works as a corporate auditor, and Richard, who is a GP by background, have four children between them and had long planned to move either to the Peak District or the Lake District - which they knew from family holidays - once their children had left home.

Although there are only two other properties in the valley, they have already made friends, Jenny has joined the WI and they’ve become involved with Bampton church.

Jenny says: “We lived in a really big city previously and we hardly knew anybody but here, living out in the middle of nowhere, we know so many people.”

Richard says that people often assume the house is a second home or that they’ve retired to the valley: “That’s really important to people round here - that we’re part of the community.”

It’s thought that the farmhouse and barn were built in 1680. The property was listed as Truss Gap Farm in the 1831 census and as far as Richard and Jenny know it was still being run as a farm until the 1960s.

The barn has been transformed into a light, open space with a large family room at mezzanine level above the kitchen. Jenny and Richard chose the kitchen after seeing it displayed in the same colour - Farrow & Ball Stiffkey Blue - at the Webbs of Kendal showroom. The wall cupboards and island have been painted in Farrow & Ball Shaded White for contrast. The black velvet granite worktops are from The Stone Workshop in Ulverston and the floor tiles were from Smart Tiles in Kendal. The walls are Farrow & Ball All White.

A light oak staircase and banisters with glass panelling for the mezzanine family room were made by LB Joinery in Kendal and the oak flooring was from Smart Tiles.

The aluminium windows in the barn, supplied by SBS in Kendal, were chosen because the planning consent stipulated that the barn should look as much in keeping with its original agricultural use as possible. The former barn doors have been replaced with a large window where a built-in seat provides views straight up the fell.

Roof windows allow light to flood in. “It’s really warm in here,” says Jenny. “We’ve got underfloor heating throughout but we’ve not really used it because of the light that comes through, even on a cold day.”

Newly installed stone steps lead down to the undercroft and former shippon where the old cattle stalls have been retained. Jim Troughton sourced local reclaimed flagstones for the steps which look original to the house.

In the main farmhouse, Jenny and Richard chose a 100 per cent wool carpet for the sitting room, which is designed to be a cosy place to sit. They are delighted with a new log burner and fireplace which blends in with the original features.

Jenny says: “I said Jim, I want you to build us a really old looking fireplace, big enough to put logs either side. He was just so good at turning my ideas into reality. Not once did we come up here and say, oh God what has he done.”

Richard and Jenny moved from a modern house in Lincoln and found that they needed to replace a lot of their existing furniture which older pieces. The antique sideboard in the sitting room was bought from Hemswell Antique Centres in Lincoln, a corner cupboard once belonged to Richard’s grandmother and a corner table was found for £10 at a car boot sale. Jenny chose a traditional style Parker Knoll sofa and chairs. The walls are painted throughout the house in Dulux White Linen and the replacement wooden sash windows were made by LB Joinery. Ceiling beams have been uncovered and replaced, sanded and distressed and the original doors throughout have been stripped, repainted and rehung.

The couple both work from home and now have a large study/library with original pine floorboards. Paul Troughton built fitted shelves and cupboards which have been painted in Valspar Princeton Blue.

When Jenny and Richard found the carpet that they wanted for the stairs and landing was going to cost £4,000, they looked for a more affordable alternative.

Jenny says: “I thought if I can’t afford what I really want, what can I find that will be a talking point?”

She heard about an idea for wallpapering stair risers and looked on the Pinterest website for inspiration, spotting some risers which been decorated to resemble book spines. A supplier in the States was able to reproduce the spines of the Lendons’ favourite books as stickers which could be applied over paintwork. The whole effect was achieved for about £200.

In the main bedroom, Paul Troughton made fitted wardrobes and the antique-style bed was bought at DFS. One set of drawers belonged to Richard when he was a child and he bought the other set, which are Georgian, as a birthday present for Jenny.

A long wall which runs down the side of the first floor corridor would once have been the exterior wall of the farmhouse, prior to an extension being added. Jim opened up the spaces in the wall where there would have originally been windows which has made the dark corridor a much lighter space.

Jenny used a Laura Ashley antique-style cabinet and a jug and basin from Hemswell Antiques as starting points for planning the bathroom decor. The traditional bathroom suite is by Burlington Bathrooms and Paul Troughton made panelling for the walls.

There is a second bathroom on the ground floor which is ideal for Richard to use when he gets back from training runs on the fells. A small kitchen which the family used until the barn was completed was supplied by a firm in Lincoln and is now used as a utility room.

Jenny and Richard both love the finished house. Richard says that he felt at home even when he was camped out on an inflatable bed: “It feels like we’ve lived here forever; it feels like we belong here.”

Jenny says she doesn’t mind at all when curious walkers peer in their windows: “It had been on the market for two years. If we hadn’t bought it, it could have been one of those properties in the Lake District that just fell into disrepair. The valley used to have 13 houses and now it’s got three. I feel like we’ve saved a bit of the Lake District.”

* This article first appeared in the award-winning Cumbria Life