Yorkshire House Histories: A 16th-century farmhouse in the North York Moors with a colourful past as a 1960s nightclub and a link to the Profumo Scandal

Built between 1530-70, it was originally part of a flax farm in the Ampleforth Valley and owned by the Newburgh Priory estate, the seat of the Earls of Fauconberg at Coxwold.

Anna can trace her maternal relatives’ presence at Carr House back to the 1700s, when her grandfather’s grandparents, the Atkinsons, lived there – pillowcases they had woven survived until quite recently.

Seven generations of her family have farmed the land – firstly as tenants of the estate before her grandfather purchased the acreage in the 1950s. The house itself, however, passed through various owners, including an eccentric teacher at Ryedale School who slept with a robin in his bedroom and a family who kept a pack of hounds there. The last owners before Anna arrived and it returned to Lupton ownership were a couple who owned diamond mines in South Africa.

It was in the 1960s, however, that Carr House Farm became notorious during its brief but colourful period as The Saddle Club, a private, members-only drinking and gambling club that attracted the great and good of Leeds and even London once the pubs had closed.

"It was an extension to the local pub, and popular with businessmen, surgeons and politicians. It closed in 1967, but I remember it as a child; there was a tilly lamp outside that was painted red, and my father remembered seeing people arriving when he was bringing his cows in!

"It was really tucked away, and the pubs shut early back then. It was about 10 shillings a year to be a member. When we lifted the carpet after we moved in, we found seepage from the beer pipes, and piles of old gin bottles outside.”

The couple who owned and ran the nightclub were keen riders, and kept around a dozen horses named after alcoholic drinks on their land, which then included around 40 acres, as well as a Bentley.

It was only recently that Anna’s father, who died last year aged 100, revealed an intriguing link to one of the 20th century’s greatest British scandals when he told her that Christine Keeler has once been a groom at the farm, tending the horses.

"He said she was a bonny little thing! I wanted to invite her back to see how much it has changed, but by the time I found out about the connection she had passed away.”

Christine later moved to London and became caught up in the Profumo Scandal after her affair with politician John Profumo while working as an model. The relationship ended in a high-profile court case.

The farmhouse today has a wealth of original features, including a brick bread oven that Anna and her husband, a gundog breeder, discovered by chance in the 1980s.

"We were doing the dining room floor in about 1985, and we found the original black bricks – it had been filled in. We never knew it was there, but we have tried to restore it.

"There are flagstone floors, the house is heavily beamed and we have oak doors of different sizes. We have Mouseman furniture too, as we are very much in Critter Country here and the Robert Thompson workshop is nearby.

"There are also challenges in maintaining a house this old. We got a new roof about 40 years ago and you just have to be sympathetic to it really. The house had no foundations and grass used to come up, so we had to get a damp course put in. The windows all need proper joiners and the doors are handmade oak. The walls are 2ft thick and the rooms are low and dark, with a lot of shadows.

"The room that used to be the bar of the nightclub has whitewashed walls. When I first went inside, it felt like stepping back in time.”

Soon after buying the house, Anna started offering bed and breakfast, and was one of the first in the area to fit en-suite bathrooms. Her guests include royalty and aristocrats, many connected to nearby Ampleforth College.

"I’ve cooked for three princes at once – but I’m not saying who! The aristocrats still like their bacon and eggs, same as everyone else, and they’re just people – often easier to deal with because they have nothing to prove. I’ve had guests from all over the globe, even from Timbuktu – I like to say the world comes to me.

"We have the deeds to the house, and found out that in the 1700s it was owned by the same family who had the Feathers Hotel in Helmsley. My uncle used to drive his cows to Byland Abbey, to graze on the abbey’s land. There is a lot of history here.”