History
We are a Danish couple who moved to England in 1987 with our young son. We "signed" up for two years but they went very quickly and we felt that we had only just unpacked the last box so decided to stay on for a bit longer …… well so far, nearly 30 years longer. In fact we have now spent more time in the UK than in our home country. We lived 4 years in Abingdon, Oxfordshire before coming to Lincolnshire. We now have three sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren, so we are not going anywhere.
We came to Thorns Farm in 2004 as we were looking for somewhere to run a business from home. We are not farmers, in the true sense, but the farm had so much to offer with the attached land and outbuildings. We have 73 acres - spread over a few fields with ponies, 50 acres of woodland and 6 ponds - enough to keep us busy.
There were also a number of disused outbuildings which were only gathering dust, so ……
Our aim
In 2008 we decided to take a leap into the unknown and convert an old stable block into two self-contained B&B apartments. From day one the idea was to cater for professionals and contractors working in Grantham during the week and then offer the units to families visiting the area during weekends. Plans were drawn up for two units in the old stable block and a year later the first guests arrived in "The Old Horse Box" and "The Old Pig Sty"
Our concept
Our concept is unusual as we are not what people associate with a B&B - a room in someone's house and coming down for breakfast in the morning. Our rooms are built around the thought of making "An Ideal Home from Home". You go through your own front door into a kitchen area, from there either into the en-suite shower room or into the living area. So when you come back after either a day at work, eventing, visiting family…. you can let yourself in, kick off the shoes and relax. If the weather is nice then you can even sit outside with a book and a glass of wine.
What happened next….
After a few years it became clear that our vision was a success and we decided to convert a second outbuilding into two more similar units. This was an old cart shed in which we used to store our hay. Building work started early 2012 and the first visitors stayed 6 months later.
From day 1 they were filled with people working in Grantham Monday - Friday and we regularly had to turn people away, but we had no more suitable outbuildings, so there was nothing else to convert.
That didn't stop us though so in 2014 we decided to build a further 3 deluxe units from scratch. The builders were back. Ove worked alongside our builders whilst I (Grethe) yet again produced lots of cups of tea to get them going and searched the internet for good deals. Once the structure was there the builders left and we took over. We did the wooden ceiling, wall papered, painted, tiled all the floors and walls, fitted the kitchen, the bathrooms…. and whatever else needed doing till the rooms were fitted and ready to welcome guests.
Our Location
We are only a few miles from Grantham and very close to the A1 and the A52, but when you are here it is like being in a little oasis in the English countryside away from all the stress of everyday life. As mentioned earlier we are surrounded by our own woodland in which guests are welcome to take a stroll or sit with a picnic by one of the ponds
Explore our surroundings and see how many rabbits, pheasants, deers etc. you can spot.