Such a great life down on the farm

2:31pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

After 17 years at the charmingly characterful and child-friendly Lower Park House Farm, the owners are on the move.

"It was a great place for the children to play out, and lovely to see the children in other houses playing out in their gardens, knowing they were completely safe," the owner says.

Now the children are grown and the difficult decision to downsize has been made, so that another family can enjoy the fruits of the current owners' labour.

"We used to live just up the road and when it came up for sale we looked round and fell in love with the location. It feels just like you're in the countryside, but everything you need is close by. We just knew that it could be a great family house, with a lovely garden surrounded by fields."

Built in the 1800s, this five bedroom detached farmhouse with garden, orchard and paddock is full of character.

"It was sold as a farmhouse with adjoining cottage, although at one time the cottage must have been part of the farmhouse. But the doors into it were blocked off and it was a few years before this space was incorporated back into the farmhouse.

"We lived in a caravan in the yard for three months while all the work was carried out, like having gas supplied to the house for the central heating, re-roofing and re-wiring.

"All the doors were covered in plywood, painted brown, so we stripped them down. Paint stripping is a horrible job, but it was worth it. There's such a feeling of achievement as the layers of paint came off.

"We wanted to go back to the original features. It was all there - it was just a case of revealing it again."

A new entrance porch which harmonises with the farmhouse has replaced the old glass one, and treasures like the fireplaces in many of the rooms were brought back into use. In the sitting room the fire surround is stone, with a gas stove, there's an exposed brick fire surround in the lounge, while the dining room is fitted with a period fireplace.

Character in the reception rooms is also provided by the beamed ceiling in the sitting room and a charming window seat in the dining room.

"We put a range of hand-crafted units in the kitchen in pine, with tiled worktops, and a feature brick surround for the oven, with tiled splashbacks and a tiled floor," the owner says.

Also on the ground floor is a fourth reception room with fitted cupboards and beamed ceiling, inner hallway with laminate floor and access to the cellar, fully-tiled shower room and laundry room.

"Upstairs, the ceilings were flat in three of the bedrooms, so we opened them up to expose the old trusses. There were original cast iron fireplaces and old Belfast sinks, which are now out in the garden, planted up.

"The sitting room is one of my favourite rooms with its lovely fire and beams, and the dining room for its open stone wall."

The accommodation in the farmhouse is very versatile: "We use one of the downstairs rooms as a bedroom and one of the bedrooms as a games room, but it would be a simple matter to change it back. You could even separate the cottage again from the main house if you had a dependent relative."

Lower Park House Farm is surrounded by mature gardens with bushes, shrubs, trees and feature pond, plus a separate field.

"Originally there was an old rose garden and a rockery, so we took them out to make it all lawn.

"We've loved living here, waking up to a cockerel crowing, and there are ducks that live up the lane and have right of way to cross the road!

"There's a field that would be great if you had a horse, and the orchard provides plenty of plums, rhubarb and gooseberries. In the summer we sometimes swap fruit for eggs with a neighbour.

"East Bierley is a lovely village and this has been a wonderful family home. We're going to miss where it is, the space and the quietness, which you can have without a feeling of isolation."

Lower Park House Farm in Lower Lane, East Bierley, is on the market for offers over £700,000 with Robert Watts, Birkenshaw (01274)689589

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