A former dairy business now hosts a thriving artistic community – and a spectacular converted barn

Suzanne Blank Redstone and her husband, Peter Redstone, have lived on the same Devon farm, nestled in a tree-fringed valley a mile from the sea, for 50 years. The couple’s current home was once their cowshed, a simple, functional structure that they built in 1979 to shelter their herd of Jerseys over winter.

Today, it’s an architectural statement, albeit a very livable one. It was shortlisted for the Royal Institute of British Architects’ house of the year in 2023 and bagged a prestigious Manser medal, too, while a photograph of the property was selected for this year’s Royal Academy of Arts’ Summer Exhibition, which runs in London until 18 August.