It took 200 skips, almost £700,000 and three years for a designer to transform a ruin into his perfect home and office.

Guy Goodfellow, who runs an interior and architectural design company, bought Grade II-listed The Granary Barn in Watlington three years ago.

The two-bedroom, 18th-century cottage was a virtual wreck when he took it over and needed underpinning to stabilise it.

He said: “It was an absolutely charming property but some of the structure was completely rotten underneath.

“It has taken a long time to finish because the building is complicated and we had to wait for planning permission. We have had builders here for more than two years, on and off.”

Mr Goodfellow, who moved to Oxfordshire from London, uses part of the property as an office and transformed a barn into a showroom. Agents say it has potential to be converted into three more bedrooms, subject to planning permission.

Features of the £1.3m property include oak flooring on the ground floor of the cottage and the barn, under-floor heating, open fireplaces and a landscaped central courtyard with a water feature.

At the back is a south-facing, walled garden with box hedging, trees and several paved seating areas.

Mr Goodfellow added: “We put an enormous effort into refurbishing the barn because we wanted it to be a showcase of what we are capable of.

“We really went to town and spent about £680,000 on the whole property. We poured a huge amount of energy and cash into it and it shows.

“The lovely thing is that when clients come here, they thoroughly enjoy seeing it and it reflects our ingenuity and skill.”

Mr Goodfellow, a qualified architect, started his business nine years ago and before that worked for a firm of interior designers.

His company specialises in refurbishing listed buildings and one recent project involved giving a mansion in Devon a £3m makeover.

As he has taken on a major project in Connecticut, he will be partly based in New York but plans to move back to London where he has a new project — transforming a run-down, four-storey town house into a new home and showroom.

He pointed out: “I am not daunted by the thought of doing it all over again because we are used to far bigger projects for our clients. But when it is your own property it tends to fall fairly low down the list of priorities, so I am not sure how long it will take to complete.”

For more information about The Granary Barn, contact Savills on 01491 843001 or visit savills.com