Finally, we can give you a long-awaited update for our guest rooms in the barn.
We opened our doors to guests on the 28th of January and welcomed our first guests that night. We were delighted to have Jill and Simon Foxley staying in the Kent Room named after Jill’s Mother’s Family from Chrishall. It was a very moving occasion for us all. The rooms are all named after Chrishall farmers and landowners. Four of the five still have family members living in the village and who use the pub regularly, as their families have for hundreds of years. We have some historical photographs provided by Paul and Bruce Drury which have now been put up in the barn foyer.

Although the rooms opened in January, the thatch hadn’t gone on, and we had some insulation panels in place temporarily. The thatch started going on in April and is very well underway. The thatcher depends very much on the weather to carry on but we’re almost there, the thatch being tidied prior to the ridge going on.
We are very happy with the final product – the rooms are really well finished, with luxurious fixtures and fittings in the rooms and the en-suite bathrooms. We provide a good range of amenities and are careful to ensure our sustainable credentials are the best they can be. One room has a wet room which is accessible for people with mobility needs. The water pressure and temperature in the showers is controlled by an external switch to prevent that cold/hot wet arm panic when you face a new shower. We are also pleased with the overall court yard feel to the front of the pub, with an enclosed garden which, over time, we will develop and keep maintained according to the seasons.
All our guest reviews are 4 or 5 star and we have plenty of return guests, who we are building great relationships with. we will be working hard to continually tweak what we do so we get things as right as we possibly can for all our customers.

In the pub we’ve recently had a coat of paint to freshen things up and some new curtains for an slightly updated look. Next thing is to replace some of the chairs, so they are more comfortable and at the right height for the tables.

Another thank you to all our lovely customers, old and new who continue to come and support the pub. It really is a social hub at the heart of a wonderful village community.
Best wishes
Toby and Alexis

We are really making great progress with the rooms at the Red Cow. We are presently in the throes of fitting the rooms out with plumbing and electrics as well as choosing our soft furnishings.
The Barn has three rooms, with beautiful vaulted ceilings and plenty of the old oak timber frames exposed. The old post office has 2 rooms, one fully accessible room with a wet room. We have carefully chosen beds to be as comfortable as possible and the colour schemes will be warm, welcoming and relaxing. A range of tea, coffee and biscuits will keep you suitably refreshed. In-room smart televisions with Freeview will keep you entertained. Of course there will be free, high speed Wi-Fi, and plenty of charging points for all your gadgets.  All the rooms will have luxury en-suite bathrooms with high pressure, soft water, underfloor heating and gorgeous White Company bathroom products.  
Toby will be designing a sumptuous breakfast menu for both residents and non-residents alike – so please do watch out for that, join us for a catch up with friends or breakfast meeting or just because you want to treat yourself!
An on-line booking system is in the process of being configured, this will enable you to book via the website or through our Facebook page directly. Of course you can still call us in the old fashioned way and we can take a booking over the phone.
We are very excited to announce that we will be open for bookings in the first week of January –and will be having an official launch later that month. Keep watching the website and social media for further updates.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the pub or via email Facebook Twitter or Instagram with any questions you may have.  Best wishes Alexis  and Toby

The work goes on at The Red Cow developing the five guest rooms in the barn and old post office.
The builders, Woodgrove Developments, have taken care to ensure all the salvageable old oak was retained and new oak is used to replace the areas which were unusable.
In the case of the barn, the old oak frame was tilted into place by slowly ratchetting it up over a period of a couple of weeks. At this point the underpinning took place and the foundations laid with a new base plate of oak on top to support the entire frame.
The work to replace the entire roof was carried out carefully to ensure that a replica shape was achieved. After which the roof was made water tight with layers of board. The internal timers were then sand blasted to clean them all and will be treated with preservative. Then the boards between the roof rafters were put in place ready for the plastering to commence.
Finally, the supporting scaffold was removed. This then allows for the entire floor to be laid. Then things will get very exciting as the first electrical and plumbing fix takes place. Both the barn and the old post office will be fitted in unison.
Toby and I have several detailed meetings with the plumber and electrician who have been great regarding our very specific needs.  We have emphasised the need for plentiful soft, hot and high pressure water.  As well as great Wi-Fi, beautiful lighting schemes and plenty of sockets and charger points.
We spent an initial four and a half hours designing the bathroom suites with the Bath Store in Harlow and with a few tweaks we’re going to have lovely bathrooms with digital showers, underfloor heating, well-lit with good extraction and beautiful mirrors. I’m especially proud of the accessible wet room we have designed for people with limited mobility. I’m sure it’s difficult to find beautiful, period properties that are fully accessible, we really hope will have achieved this, so that anyone can come and stay.
Finally, the landscaping plans are taking shape. We want to create a central courtyard area, much as we have had for many years, but with a few touches that will make the area a really beautiful and tranquil place to sit and relax. We will be providing bike racks for the cyclists who often drop in, seating areas and plenty of new planting. To keep dogs and children safe we will be fully enclosing the area with traditional picket fencing to reflect the cottage garden feel of the pub and the adjacent properties.
Regarding booking our rooms, keep checking the website for updates. We are sourcing an on line booking system which can be used to book rooms through the website, via our Facebook page or by simply calling us and booking directly over the phone.
Next jobs are picking out curtains, bedding and lampshades… watch this space.
Best wishes
Alexis and Toby

​The Red Cow Barn Development is funded with the help of The Rural Development Fund for Europe which is funded by DEFRA and the EU. The European Agricultural Fund for Europe For Rural Development : Europe investing in rural areas.
    
 
 

Work started in earnest on the restoration of the barn and associated old post office building at The Red Cow in early November.
The builders stripped away the old thatch and emptied some junk form inside, we cleared out the old post office and this too was stripped back.
The barn had developed, over the years, a tilt toward the north of the plot. The conservation officer agreed to allow us to correct the tilt to allow the barn frame to be upright, so the builders can restore the existing timber, replace any beyond repair and fill any gaps of missing timber.
The plan is to restore and protect the frame before inserting a brand new structure inside the existing frame and then encasing the old frame into the new interior walls and external finishes. This will preserve the original frame.
During the stripping down process, it came to light that the conservation officer at Uttlesford District Council required more detail about the engineering specifications for the roof, and how the timbers will be constructed in order to support the weight of the new thatch. This has delayed the project for approximately 8 weeks as the proposals will need to be agreed and signed off by the planning committee. So at the time of writing the builder is doing all he can to make the site ready for the real work to begin.
There are winches and pulleys attached at the rear of the barn which have been tightened daily to gradually pull the barn structure to an upright position, thus reversing the tilt.
Other things we have had to do include transferring our banking arrangements to our new finance provider and start thinking about marketing our guest rooms to local businesses and of course for leisure purposes.
Most exciting and stressful of all is the process of deciding furnishes and colour schemes for the rooms. We want to get it to be a place we can all be very proud of, so getting it right is a priority for us.
Watch this space for further up dates.

Fizzy wine has been drunk!
Toby and I are just a little bit excited.
After years of ridiculously hard work, at 4.58pm on the 1st of November we had the news that our finance was secured to begin to restore and develop our “at risk” listed barn on The Red Cow site into 5 boutique guest rooms.
In 2011 we originally got permission for the barn to be converted to a function room, along with the kitchen extension that took place at that time. Sadly, we were not able to secure the required funding to complete the barn restoration at that point. Over the next couple of years, the new village purchased the village hall providing a community facility for weddings and parties, further reducing the viability of using the space for functions.
During this phase Uttlesford conservation department placed the barn on it’s “Buildings at risk register”; this was a particularly stressful time for us as we were desperately trying to achieve funding, without which the project would never go ahead. The Buildings at Risk register allows the district council to, if they deem necessary, take action to enforce the owner of a listed to building to take measures to maintain and preserve the building.
During 2015 and 2016 we employed the services of a local architect to plan and design the buildings to incorporate five guest rooms with en suite facilities, three in the main barn and two in the old post office building. All rooms will be doubles with zip lock beds so they can be twins if required. One of the rooms in the post office will be fully accessible with a wet room and rails for those who need extra support.
This process alone, as many of you will know was very lengthy and expensive. We had to have various inspections and reports written. These included the standard bat and newt reports, but we also had to have an initial engineers report followed by a detailed engineer’s report which along with the archaeologist’s reports have made a complete record of every timber used in the construction. The archaeological report has been filed with Historic England. So it is not only a listed building, but one which is of particular interest to the history of England.
In 2015 we were made aware of a further round of European funding for rural development. Eastern Plateau is the administering authority for these funds in our area, which are provided via DEFRA and the European Development Fund for Europe. Rural projects can apply for funding of up to 40% of projects that will contribute to the rural economy. There are many criteria which have to be strictly adhered to. The application process for these grants is extremely thorough and extensive and was a major piece of the work we had to do to be able to afford the restoration and development. We were delighted when in March this year we were awarded the sum of £123,000 towards the costs of the project.
At the same time we were trying to secure a loan for the match funding from the banks. Sadly, there were many obstacles and nearly all of the traditional sources of finance were declined for a multitude of reasons, financial risk, no appetite for the industry and the nature of the project also turned off the credit risk assessors.
At the end of September I was beginning to think after so many rejections that we would never get this done and we would have to reassess the very viability of our business overall. Despite being a busy and active pub, it is a difficult task to achieve a net profit which provides an income for a small family to live with even a basic standard of living.
I went to church and requested prayer, I had never prayed before for financial support of for materialistic gifts and felt quite sheepish to say the least. But good friends in church prayed for the barriers to finance to be removed and for the sources to be made available so we could continue our work here in Chrishall.
The next Monday I had a call from a new bank manager. He had studied all the business plans and related documents and had discussed it already with the credit department. Pending (another) valuation confirming the value of the business, the answer would be a yes!
We couldn’t quite believe this and I even dared ask “why this time, after so many rejections?” The answer that came was simple “Don’t question it, just go with it”.
The valuation was duly completed and forwarded to the relevant department and by that evening on the 1st of November, we had our definite answer. I did ask “Can we now drink some champagne?” and the definitive answer was “YES!!”
Meanwhile, we had been juggling tenders and builders, whilst continuing the day to day business of running the pub, going out to my other job, and all the usual life events. This, from week to week can be pretty hectic and exhausting with Toby working from 70-80 hours a week.
By the time you read this our builder would have started the works, with the aim to complete by June next year.
We are delighted to be able to restore the barn at last. As well as the aesthetic benefits it will bring to the village, with a good level of occupancy and the addition customers to the restaurant we hope we can secure the financial viability of the pub for many years to come.
We will keep you updated with more information over the coming months.
So despite the development, please do keep coming to support your village pub.
Best wishes
Alexis, Toby and Lottie.