Water tower proved ideal home for couple with thirst for a big project

The Water Tower, Moor Monkton, York. Price: £625,000. Contact: Savills: Tel: 01904 617820, www.savills. co.uk IT was love at first sight when Stuart and Victoria Selby-Jerrold clapped eyes on The Water Tower.

“We walked round the corner and gasped. It’s the sort of property that makes you go ‘wow’, like something from Grand Designs,” says Victoria.

When they bought the property two-and-a-half years ago it was suffering from a bad case of style over substance. Although it was newly converted but the developers had gone out of business.

“It had been sold on again and there had been a rush to finish it and so there were a lot of problems, like damp and a leaking bathroom, that we had to fix. In fact, it took us about a year to put everything right and we lived in the house while the work was going on. The heating wasn’t working properly either so we endured one very cold winter,” says Victoria.

“Luckily we had a survey that highlighted most of the issues so we knew what we were buying.”

The couple, who have two children, carried out a noexpense spared makeover, building in family-friendly storage areas and hiring interior designer Natalie Murray-Hurst, of Harrogate-based Murray Hurst Interiors, to help with the décor.

“It was a blank canvas and the rooms are very big, so we weren’t quite sure what to do with them. We aren’t very good at that sort of thing. Natalie was brilliant and she also saved us money by making the right choices,” says Victoria, who adds: “One of the most problematic areas was our bedroom, which is where the old water tank was. It took us ages to decide what to do with the windows in there. In the end we went for shutters, which have worked out really well.”

The property, which comprises of the water tower and adjoining converted stables and barns, is part of a small development in a pretty rural setting.

It has an entrance hall, living room, garden room, play room, kitchen/dining room, utility,

We walked round the corner and gasped. It’s the sort of property that makes you go ‘wow’.

master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and dressing room plus its own bespoke staircase and magnificent views. There is also a guest bedroom with en-suite shower room, two further bedrooms and a house bathroom.

Outside, there is a long, gravelled driveway, a garage with solar PV panels that generate electricity, a half-acre garden laid mainly to lawn and paddocks that extend to around four acres.

Victoria and Stuart are selling to move to York.

“This is a fabulous house and we will be sad to leave it, but our children are at school in York so we want to move closer to the city,” she says.

Moor Monkton is six miles from York and close to the A59. It sits on the confluence of the Rivers Nidd and Ouse and has a village hall and an historic church. The neighbouring village of Poppleton has a railway station with links to York, Harrogate and Leeds.