This country home comes with history and a spectacular location

as a training HQ for the Leeds Pals battalion. Officers lived at the manor, while the soldiers camped in nearby fields.

In the second world war, it was used as a holding facility for German officers. Diaries and papers reveal that although they were captive, they enjoyed their stay and were well cared for and amply fed. It later became a guest house, nursing home and then private dwelling.

Jonathan and Emma WarnerReed bought it two years ago being bowled over by its stunning location.

“It is in secluded valley and scenery is amazing,” says Jonathan. “We were lucky to get it because when we first inquired it had been taken off the market. We managed to contact the owner and left our telephone number with him and 18 months later he called asking if we wanted to buy it.

“We were living in Ripon at the time and we managed to sell our house to buy this and we felt very lucky to get it.”

The property and the cottage in its grounds were in need of some renovation and Jonathan and Emma have also reconfigured the first floor layout. The eight bedrooms have been slimmed down to six to create a large master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite.

“We’ve done a lot of work. The biggest job was the swimming pool building, which we had to rebuild,” says Jonathan.

The house now has a reception hall, drawing room, family room, study, dining kitchen with pantry, utility room, cloakroom and cellars. On the first floor, there is a master suite, five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property also has a leisure suite with swimming pool and changing facilities, a one -bedroom cottage, garage, stable block, gardens and a paddock.

The property also has potential to create extra space. The attic is enormous and has two dormer windows, though only a loft hatch for access at the moment. It also has planning permission to reinstate the balcony that was on the house when it was first built.

“That idea was to put double doors from the master bedroom onto the balcony but we’ll leave that for the next owner,” says Jonathan,.

“We love living here but we are moving back to Ripon to be nearer to the children’s schools. We also want another renovation project as it’s something we really enjoy doing.” THERE is a live-work opportunity on the market in Burythorpe, near Malton.

Burythorpe House is an award-winning boutique hotel and wedding venue with 12 en suite bedrooms and a 35 cover restaurant. The building, which was originally built in the 18th century, sits in 1.4 acres and has a detached leisure facility with heated swimming pool, sauna, gym and tennis court. It is available freehold with an asking price of £800,000.

The nearby Bay Horse Inn pub and eaterie is also on the market for £400,000.

Alastair Jack of Jones Lang LaSalle’s hotels team is handling the sales, visit www. joneslanglasallehotels.com for more details. TAYLOR Wimpey was awarded a trio of industry accolades at the 2012 Housebuilder Awards.

The company was crowned Large Housebuilder of the Year and also achieved joint first place in the Best Product category for its innovative Room in the Roof system, developed in conjunction with Prestoplan.

Taylor Wimpey was also Highly Commended in the Marketing category for its Mortgage Myths and First Time Buyer Guides.

Anne Bagshaw, regional sales and marketing director for Taylor Wimpey Yorkshire, says: “These three awards are testament to the hard work and dedication of our whole team, who can all be justly proud of our success.”