Property of the week: 12-bed Victorian manor in Yorkshire

Friday, 25 November 2011 4:00 PM

You get a bit more for your money up North. Anyone for a 19th century mansion?

Highfield is a Victorian Grade II listed property with 12 bedrooms, on the market for £895,000.

Sat on the edge of Driffield in Yorkshire the house boasts seven acres and a huge billiard room. That sounds a pretty good deal, but then we are used to London prices here at AboutProperty.

Approaching from a distance shows Highfield off in all its glory, with the half timbered effect adding grandeur amongst the greenery:

Highfield was originally built in 1865 for Henry Angas. He was a grocer and a pillar of the congressional chapel, which meant he got to have a pretty nice place:

The house was remodelled in the 1880s by the eminent architect Temple Moore. We don't actually know that he is all that eminent, but he does have a Wikipedia page so he must have been doing something right.

It turns out Temple Moore was aptly named, as he spent a lot of his time building churches.

His church style contribution at Highfield is the cavernous and chapel-like billiards room. It is a bit bright for a glowering Ronnie O'Sullivan though and you certainly wouldn't be able to blame a lack of light for potting the wrong ball.

Owning a billiard room is pretty brilliant in itself, although obviously be careful if you spot Colonel Mustard in there with the lead pipe. The rooms are generally pretty big, so you'd need to invest in more than one electric heater. That's a helpful tip brought to you totally free of charge by AboutProperty. Good eh?

The interiors are all rather Downton Abbey (which is already a bit of a cliché). They are genuinely lovely though, in that regal sort of way. A rather fabulous carved chimney piece dominates the grand drawing room:

Following an evening relaxing in the armchair *pipe optional* you can be transported to the 1880s for a bath, although we're not too sure about the wallpaper:

To make up for that (sorry) have a little look at one of the bedrooms. You could wake up and survey the greenery of the grounds from the window, which would certainly make anyone feel rather like the lord or lady of the manor:

The grounds include a generous lawn area surrounded by impressive mature trees. Another helpful AboutProperty tip (we're full of them) is that you'd definitely need to hire a gardener to keep it all looking this neat and tidy:

The woodlands around Highfield are dissected by a cascading stream and large ponds with footpaths to both sides. The stream winds its way under a handsome bridge and down three mini waterfalls, which beats a stroll around a dingy town centre:

It is something of the measure of the house that these water features are an understated added bonus. They are just superb:

If privacy is a concern the grounds are ringed by a high security fence, although Highfield is a fair distance from larger urban areas such as Beverley (13.5 miles), Hull (23 miles) and York (29 miles), so we imagine it's pretty quiet anyway.

So there we are. That's our property of the week. If you're a Southerner with £895,000 burning a hole in your pocket and fancy a move up North we recommend having a cheeky little look at this place.

You'll be a long way from the hustle bustle of London, but then ale is a lot cheaper up North, so swings and roundabouts.

Property provided by Rightmove.

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