Houston’s Historical Homes

There are so many historic properties of this sort for sale, in Suffolk, that it seems hardly worth choosing one over any of the others.  They are the usual sort, beamish boys, with thatched, roofs, wooden framed and infilled construction, oozing charm and chocolate box appeal and demanding one uses the Q word when attempting to describe them.  I think I will put links to half a dozen or so similar ones at the end so you can see how you are spoiled for choice, if this is your thing. This one is considerably more expensive than similar properties, though it as been added to and now has a total of over 4k sq ft. It also has particularly good gardens, though Suffolk, being such a warm and sunny county is full of beautiful gardens.  This one begins with a well clipped knot garden by the front gate. The dining room is a good size with two, striking fireplaces.  The early Suffolk bricks, which one sees in the first picture, look remarkably long to me.  Thi...

I think I like this bastle rather more than Callaly Castle, at least as far as the interior decor goes.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastle_house It is strong and masculine on the outside, though it has rather piggy eyes. It has crow stepped gables on the very steep roof of the tall, central portion.  It is listed grade ii*. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1087069 There are a great many musical people who don’t live in period properties and collect period furniture.  There are a great many people who live in period property who are not musical.  But the best period properties are decorated and furnished by people who own instruments. This house is no exception and the double manual harpsichord could not be better placed. I wonder what the acoustic is like there?   The dining hall is a wonderful room, with its flagged floor and red walls. It is suitably furnished, and  one can imagine how love...

 Hotspur House is the part to the left of the marvelous, early 18th century looking doorway (though the house was actually built in the early 19th century, 1806) with three windows on the ground floor, two bowed, the central one flat and two above, bowed, and the single window to the right of the front door, and those above it.   It is listed grade II.  Strangely the floor plans show the dining room as only having two windows, but the photograph of the dining room definitely shows three. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-44476665.html I don't know what it is about this house that makes me think of coming home from school.  Perhaps the photograph was taken in the first week of September, but it fills me with a nostalgic sense, of being 12 years old and starting secondary school and all those new experiences. And what could be more calming and lovely in those circumstances than coming back to this beautifully decorated and peaceful, pe...

Here's another lovely Leyburn Manor House, this one much more traditional and familiar looking than the one below, but with more assymetry in terms of the fenestration and  much less land, it has a townhouse garden.  What garden there is faces south and would be a welcome suntrap in rainy North Yorkshire. It seems to have been reasonably interestingly planted, and is walled, so one could do much more, despite the general climate of the area.   It is listed Grade II and is situated in front of Middleham Castle, of which it has wonderful views.  For the first year or two of living there one would always be trying to 'capture the castle' with one's camera, in different light at different times of year and with changing cloudscapes. https://www.onthemarket.com/details/5530334/ The creeper seems to be taking over a bit, one would need to keep it well away from the gutters and sashes, but it is nice for nesting birds and even grass snakes, and softens the grey...

Now to whizz down to the expensive south, and visit another rare, early property, decorated and furnished with interesting taste and style. This house is listed Grade II, it dates back to about 1600. It certainly has an ancient charm about it.  Still a house can be a 'Ship of Theseus', or 'Trigger's broom' to some extent and I am not an expert in detecting a good renovation from original work, I suppose its fenestration would have been different originally. The estate agents' brochure gives excellent comprehensive details of the listing and the history of both the house and the town. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70936546.html The first reception room has been done as a print room, which has nothing much to do with the original period of the house, but of course the older a house is, the more periods of interior fashion it has lived through, one is entitled to choose the ones that suit it best.  I love the rose/terracotta bac...

I think if I were going to buy a chunk of castle, I would want it to feel a bit more ancient than this.  One can't imagine Rose and Cassandra pining away in here, or their father going quietly mad, or their step mother wandering about in the nude, communing with nature and dying things green.  Castles, even ones divided into bite sized chunks for easier digestion, shouldn't have beige fitted carpets.  But who would dare to set about, 'roughing it up', once they had bought it, when someone else had gone to all the trouble and expense of making it so bland and unexciting?  I can’t tell which townhouse like piece of castle you are getting, not the middle one, anyway.  The castle is a Grade I listed building, dating from 1619.  Major additions were added to the castle in 1676, by the architect Robert Trollope, so one could perhaps boast that one lived in a Trollope, rather than like one or with one.  Various other a...