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£1m for one of grandest youth hostels in country
For more than 60 years this country house near Settle has been a stopover for backpackers and walkers, who have stayed in the magnificent period property for just £15 a night.
Now, Taitlands, one of the grandest youth hostels in the country, is up for sale with a price tag of 1m.
The elegant Grade II listed house was built in the mid 1800s in Greek Revival style for Thomas Redmayne as a gentleman's residence.
It was sold to the Youth Hostel Association in 1944 by the widow of army officer Captain John Hall Stackhouse. Her husband died at the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, which could be why she insisted on a quirky covenant.
"It was requested that we build and maintain a fence on the southerly boundary of the house within a year of cessation of hostilities between Britain and Germany.
"No one seems to know why, but we did it and made it into a ha-ha," says Simon Ainley, the YHA's regional manager for Yorkshire and the North East.
Other features in the 3.3 acre grounds include rare bee boles, which are recesses in a wall used to house coiled hives, a walled vegetable garden, dove cote and pigsty. These are thought to have been installed by self-sufficient Victorian owners.
A little known fact is that the property also sits inches away from the Settle-Carlisle railway, which runs through a tunnel next to the house.
Inside, the hostel has an impressive hallway with Ionian columns, and also boasts ornate ceilings, sash windows and period fireplaces.
There are eight bedrooms, three reception rooms and two kitchens, and the 1m price includes a host of outbuildings, including a three- bedroom manager's house, a two-bedroom cottage and a stable block.
According to Savills estate agents in York, which is marketing the property, prospective buyers could be wealthy individuals looking for a prestige country home or developers who may want to turn the house into a hotel or conference centre.
Oliver Stones, from Savills, says: "It's a fantastic building and the structure and fabric is superb. It just needs some updating."
Whoever buys Taitlands, which will close as a hostel in October, will have to seek planning approval from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
Simon Ainley says: "It's unlikely that the authority will give permission for a private residence because the house has had business use for so long, but you never know. It is more likely to be used as a hotel or a retirement home."
He adds: "Taitlands is one of our most elegant properties in a stunning location.
"Unfortunately its low occupancy meant we
couldn't afford to keep running it. The money we get for it will be invested in our other properties in the Dales."
The sale is part of a YHA plan to sell off 32 underperforming hostels over three years and it aims to use the proceeds to refurbish the remainder of its stock.
It has a host of amazing properties including a Norman Castle in Gloucestershire and Hartington House in Derbyshire
Yorkshire youth hostels include Beverley Friary, which was mentioned in the Canterbury Tales, a shooting lodge in Swaledale and the new jewel in its crown: grade one listed Abbey House on the cliff top at Whitby, which is about to reopen after a 3.3m restoration project.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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