It's country, but not as we know it

It can be tricky to get permission to do anything contemporary in rural areas. So how did a Devon GP get the go-ahead for striking additions to a listed farmhouse? Cheryl Markosky finds out

From the front, Beer Farm is a pretty white thatched farmhouse nestling at the end of a curved lane about half a mile from the village of Monkokehampton in the River Okement valley, West Devon. The back view is equally arresting, but for different reasons. The owner, local GP Paul Nielson, has cleverly extended the Grade II-listed 14th-century farmhouse by an amazing 70 per cent, mixing contemporary architecture with traditional period features.

A massive mullioned and transomed window forms the gable end to this rather brave, but sympathetic, extension. It weighed three tons, says Nielson, and needed a crane to lift it into position. In his opinion, the substantial additions haven't changed the aesthetics of the main house at all. "The extension is massive, but it is a trick of the eye only being able to view it from the back. It took me a long time to design it and three or four attempts to get it completely right."

Nielson adds that, unlike some of the horror stories you hear about planning departments turning down innovative design concepts, he found the opposite with West Devon Borough Council. In particular, he describes planning officer John Milverton as "most encouraging and enlightened".

Nielson and his wife Jill bought the farmhouse four years ago. It had been empty for three years after having been used as a summerhouse for 35 years. "It was a sad house and in a pretty rough state with mice and a lot of damp," recalls Nielson. Coincidentally, the house was owned by another GP. Nielson did a bit of detective work, tracking down the 90-year-old owner on the electoral roll and then locating him in the medical version of Who's Who. His son was happy to sell the house to the Nielson family.

The renovation of Beer Farm turned into a real labour of love and perseverance. "We had to re-wire, re-plumb, re-thatch and do lots of work on the roof," says Nielson. "The kitchen ceiling fell down one day while we were all sitting there." The Nielsons converted the dairy barn first, using local materials including chestnut, oak and beech for skirting, architraves and doors. The family - with children Clara, 10, Charlie, 8, and Jamie, 7 - lived in the two-bedroom barn, which has an open-plan kitchen/dining and sitting room with galleried landing, while builders tackled the main house.

Nielson is a great supporter of skills and materials from the community. "I employed local tradesmen and craftsmen who all live within five miles of here." He also designed the house with local architect Dan Franklin - "who is a genius with oak" - and bought 200 cubic feet of trees at a wood auction to use for the building work. But now, after all the hard work, it is time to move on. The imaginative doctor, who is originally from Surrey (he first moved to Devon in 1987), says he has two dreams he wants to fulfil. "I want to reduce my workload in my practice and promote affordable and sustainable buildings."

Already Nielson has been responsible for producing a brief to build a "green" hospital in nearby Okehampton. "I have just finished the healing Japanese garden," he adds. "I am very interested in the links between architecture and healing. You need to produce the buildings for the people, not the other way round."

It's difficult to believe that Nielson has any spare time but he is already considering his next project. He wants to build a "care village" with special housing for the elderly. He also has been talking to the local authority about how to build sustainable developments in rural areas. "My average patient only earns £10,000 a year. The kids cannot get on to the housing ladder."

Dream number two is to build a house from scratch, using "eco" principles. Nielson is searching for a suitable plot now and is putting Beer Farm on the market at a guide price of £1.2 million. The sale includes the two-storey farmhouse with a reception hall, open plan living/dining room and kitchen, utility room, study, drawing and sitting rooms on the ground floor, while the first floor boasts two large bedroom suites, a galleried bedroom with en suite and four further bedrooms, two of which are in the attic.

As well as the renovated Dairy Barn, what Nielson describes as his "folly" - Dan's Barn (named after the architect who helped with the project) - is part of the package. An imaginative replacement of a former outbuilding, the oak-framed building with cedar cladding beneath a slate roof was constructed in the architect's workshop and completed within a month. It only cost £33,000 to build and is the model that Nielson is using to promote sustainable and cost-effective housing for local people.

The other outbuildings on site - which include a stable - are set in just under eight acres of gardens and grounds. Barn owls breed in the unconverted barn, with help from the Barn Owl Trust, and you can sight kingfishers on the banks of the River Okement while making use of the 500 yards of double-bank fishing rights that come with the house.

As well as leaving a legacy of the best of old period charm blended with creative modern architecture, Nielson has left something else for future generations to enjoy. "On the first of January 2000, I put in 50 old species of Devon apple trees as a millennium project," he says. Surely, the antithesis of the old adage that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Beer Farm is available through Jackson-Stops and Staff's Exeter office (01392 214222). It was commended in the recent 'Daily Telegraph' awards in the recyclable or timber house of the year category