TWO local farming families who lost their homes are soon to be rehoused in converted field barns.

The barns at High Cartmell, Crosthwaite, have been converted to two new affordable houses by rural housing charity the Addington Fund.

The fund specialises in rehousing farmers who lose their homes and helps to keep younger members of the farming fraternity in the countryside.

Cruck Barn is a single-storey, one-bed home, and Frances Mary Barn is a two-storey with three bedrooms.

Originally built in 1909, the barns were offered to Addington in 2013 by the farm owners, Mr and Mrs Peter Cartmell, who generously donated the properties for conversion into homes for local farming families.

The Addington Fund was set up in 2001 after the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, when it distributed grants totalling £10.3 million to more than 22,000 applicants.

Today it focuses more on housing, for farming families living in England and Wales who have to leave the industry through no fault of their own, and by doing so will lose their home.

The High Cartmell properties, which will be rented to two local families, are being finished to a high standard by AM Dixon Builders of Kendal.

Carlisle-based Kingmoor Consulting played a crucial role in the design and planning. The firm, which specialises in civil and structural engineering, worked with Kendal-based HM Architecture on the project. particularly the civil engineering design for a new waste treatment plant.

Kingmoor managing director Colin Aimers said: “This is a very worthwhile project to help rural families. We were proud to be involved with the planning and design of a very fundamental part of the conversion.”

For more, see visit www.addingtonfund.org.uk