A BID has been lodged for funding to transform Droitwich’s historic Willow Court Farmhouse into six new affordable flats.
The funding application for National Lottery Heritage Funding cash has been submitted by the Worcestershire Building Preservation Trust, with the outcome of the bid expected in early 2024.
Over £250,000 of development funding was awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund in March 2020 for the work at the farmhouse, which is historically known as Boycott Farm.
The farmhouse was in poor condition having not been lived in for decades.
The first stage of the project was to ensure the site was secure and develop plans to save the building, with scaffolding, a temporary roof and a side cover erected.
The building was then opened up to make it safe to access for inspection and planning permission was applied for to carry out the main repair and alteration works.
Essential conservation work to stabilise the building has included the preservation of a historic timber frame hidden inside.
It is hoped apprenticeship jobs will be created to enable young people to learn new skills.
And research will be conducted into a possible royal link, as it is thought Boycott Farm was part of the Salwarpe estate lands once owned by the family of King Henry VIII’s wife, Katherine of Aragon.
