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Just installed – Six person hot tub, enjoy a relaxing end to the day.
History
The main barns were constructed in 1840. In its former years the farm was mixed arable and cattle, today the farm is solely arable.
The farm was taken over by the Jefferies family in the 1920s – the arable farm produces wheat (milling and feed) Barley for beer, rape for cooking oils and occasionally linseed and beans.
The Little Gransden Airfield was started by Leonard Jefferies in 1963, today his sons Mark and John farm the land and manage the airfield. The airfield is a base for vintage and classic aircraft, some of which are the only ones of type in Europe, a flying museum with all aircraft privately owned aircraft.
Our four stylishly renovated self catering apartments have been transformed from a historic barn dating back to the 1840s. Fullers Hill Cottages are located on a working farm and airfield in the south Cambridgeshire countryside – 12 miles from Cambridge and 50 miles from London. Two apartments accommodate four people and two apartments can accommodate up to six (using sofa beds). With stylish interior design they have been furnished to a high standard.
Children in Need Airshow and Classic car Show is staged annually on the last Sunday of August, this is a very popular family event.
Restoration of the buildings
The renovation of the 1840 barn was grant aided by the Rural Development Plan for England (RDPE) which is funded by DEFRA and the EU. The project is being delivered through DEFRA.
The buildings stood largely redundant for 30 years. Parts of the Tack Room were used as store rooms and staff rest rooms during the 1970’s. More recently part of the Tack Room was used as a workshop and paint spraying area. The Stables, The Hayloft and The Old Dairy were used to store what was basically junk. In the 1960’s both of the farm’s combine harvesters were kept over winter in The Old Dairy. This seems hard to believe when you see the size of a modern Combine.
The aim of the restoration was to bring the buildings back into use combining modern technology with traditional building techniques to retain the character of the buildings. The Interior design is ultra-modern. The apartments have under floor heating powered by a ground source heat pump which also provides the hot water for the complex. Wood fibre and Hemp-core insulation have been used in the buildings which has resulted in an energy efficiency rating of B. The buildings always had a certain degree of natural ventilation (they were used to house Horse and Livestock). This feature has been retained as the materials used are fully breatheable, such as the insulation materials and the lime plaster. The apartments use as much natural light as possible and add to this by using low energy LED lighting where possible.
Our Apartments feature
Fully equipped kitchen
Flat screen 3D TV with internet access – skype, email, youtube, bbc iPlayer etc.
Free view channels
Blueray DVD player
Free WI-FI in all appartments
Hair dryer
Iron and ironing board
Separate self service laundry facilities and freezer
Under floor heating supplied by ground source heat pump eco friendly
Duck and down pillows and duvets dressed with Egyptian cotton bed linen
Free Parking
Cot bed and high chair available
Strictly non smoking
Cleaning service available
Disabled friendly apartment
Communal garden area with BBQ facilities and Hot Tub!
Local History
The village’s name is derived from ‘valley of a man named Granta or Grante’. It was spelled Grantandene in 973 and Grante(s)dene in the 1086 Domesday book. Woodland was important in the settlement’s early history; there was enough to support 60 pigs in 1086. By 1251, a large area of woodland in the south-east of the parish had been split into Hayley Wood and Littlehound Wood (the latter no longer exists, but the shape can still be seen in field boundaries). Little Gransden village evolved as an offshoot of Great Gransden. The church and manor house of the abbey of Ely face Great Gransden across the low-lying land along Home Dole Brook; the village grew southwards from a street alongside the brook. There were 56 inhabited houses in 1666, but the number had dropped to 38 by 1801. By 1961 there were 84 houses. Due to its isolated location, there were no inns in the village until 1800, though by the 1840s there were four (the Sun in Church Lane, the Chequers, the Double Chequers at Mill Hill and the Hardwicke Arms). In 1834, the overseer of the poor considered that an excess of beer-houses may have been partly responsible for recent problems. Only the Chequers was left after 1967.
Despite the heaviness of the soil, most of the parish land has been used mainly for arable farming. It was cultivated in three open fields until parliamentary enclosure in 1814. High, flat land in the east of the parish was hard to drain before mechanisation and was usually used for pasture and as the village common. In 1940, after the outbreak of World War II, the area was made into an airfield, called Gransden Lodge Airfield. It was in operational use from 1941 to 1946 but was unoccupied after 1948 and then sold off. Since October 1991 it has been the home of the Cambridge Gliding Centre.
