The area is very rural, little country roads winding between the hedges and villages, and the term 'barn' is well understood in those parts.

With the area being green belt as well anyone deciding to invest a wad of money into building a recording studio there without the necessary planning permissions in place has to be a chancer or brain damaged.

There are loads of programs on TV about the trials and tribulations of people wishing to build on rural sites and having to wait for the meeting to get the go ahead, or going ahead and then going through all sorts of anguish, with a real danger of being told to demolish due to their disregard of the rules.
Admittedly, the ones in the programs are the ones which succeed - otherwise the rest of the program could never have been made, but surely no one could claim they were ignorant of the pitfalls - not with a straight face.