Overview:
The Ancient Moated Farmstead is a manor house with over 1000 years of recorded history. It is located in private gardens and grounds on the edge of the fishing village of Staithes on the Yorkshire Heritage Coast and the heather clad North Yorkshire Moors.
The house is set in a walkers paradise with cliff tops and deeply wooded ravines to explore. The highest cliffs in England, harbour, bays and beaches are just a mile away.
Nearby attractions include Whitby for its abbey and link with the country’s longest steam railway at Grosmont, Saltburn with its Victorian pier, Sandsend for the Mulgrave estate walks and its three castles, Runswick in a glorious sandy bay where fossils can be found on the beach. Major country houses such as Duncombe Park and Castle Howard are within easy travelling distance.
Interior and Grounds:Ancient Moated Farmstead offer a very private, unique spacious and comfortable retreat which can accommodate 3 groups 10/11 guests in the court, 4 guests in the cottage and 7 guests in the hall. These are linked units for up to 22 people. With communal dining in the Great Hall for up to 25 or more.
The Court
The Court is a bespoke conversion of a stable and ancient service/servants cottage which sleeps 11 people, it has three double bedrooms, a twin and a triple room. Three of the bedrooms are en-suite – two have showers over. A separate staircase to one of the doubles and the triple room has a spacious bathroom with a roll top bath. One of the double bedroom suites is at ground level.
The Court also comprises at ground level of an enfilade of reception areas and rooms as follows:
Vaulted Great Hall with stairs rising to galleried landing part panelled walls and large grand piano. Guests are welcome to play but tuning has been irregular since the instrument was rebuilt in 07. There is a Bose music CD system.
The great hall runs into a dining area where several dining tables can be put together to seat 22 + or even up to 30 on occasions. There are French Windows (The curtains here and on other windows are very special handmade and cut velvet curtains with batik inserts made by award wining artist Judith Reece.) that open out onto a private external terrace with outdoor seating. The Court adjoins several acres of grounds with mediaeval stew ponds now a large wildlife pool and many thousands of native English woodland trees planted in 04 abound.
Original paintings adorn most of the available wall space throughout the Hall, Court and Cottage.
The dining area runs into the large Farmhouse style kitchen with dining table seating for 8 plus other seating. There is an electric range cooker, double fridge freezer, micro wave, coffee machine, and full range of china and pots and pans. The kitchen units are handmade Oak and Pine.
Stairs rise from the kitchen up to a galleried landing containing two bedroom suites off with showers over the baths. Bathroom floors are of polished blue limestone. Ceilings in the Court and Cottage are sloping timber with oiled rafters and pine sarking boards. All fully insulated with conservation velux windows.
From the kitchen a sitting room seating 10 or more is furnished with sofas, chairs and antique paintings with a large Tudor brick built fireplace with wood burning stove.
The Cottage
The Cottage is right next door and sleeps 4 people. It has a double bedroom upstairs with it's own bathroom across the landing. The twin room on the ground floor has an en-suite with shower over. There is a hand made fitted kitchen with a large adjoining dining/sitting room. A mixture of antique furniture and modern sprung sofa and armchairs with dining table and chairs. Much original art work on the walls. A French window leads to a terrace.
The Hall
The Hall can sleep 7 people. It has three double bedrooms and one single, two traditional bathrooms. The Hall is a carefully renovated yet old fashioned rambling farmhouse, no fitted carpets but antique tribal rugs and furniture with original paintings. This property is not self catering because it functions as an overflow for the Court which has plenty of space in the dining room to seat up to 25 or so and a large farmhouse style kitchen.
The owner lives on site at one end of the Hall in a self contained suite. There is a resident cat in the Hall.
Outside
The extensive gardens tree avenues and Phormium Cascade Tudor Orchard with Jacobean topiary Garden provide a meandering and colourful backdrop to any visit and guests are welcome to explore the gardens and to remember to keep gates closed due to rabbits. There is a developing sculpture sanctuary and international art blacksmith Adrian Wood is working on a collection of original iron work inspired by Mondrian and Klimt but to his own designs and the ideas of the owner.
Art gates made by Adrian lead from the Court grounds around to the famous disc gates also made by Adrian who has been commissioned once again to design a set of Mondrian Art gates for the drive. Classicist architects Francis Johnson are designing a make over of the stone privy into an outdoor tea room. They have also completed some designs for the house which will be put in hand in 2012.
There are some ongoing works of improvement, conversion and renovation forming a tea shop and event centre due to be completed in December 2012. No works are undertaken which creates noise or dust while guests are in residence.
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