A gatehouse on the Grimston Park estate near Tadcaster that could be the country's smallest detached home is for sale

One of the entrance lodges to a Georgian stately home near Tadcaster has gone on the market - and it's thought to be one of the smallest detached homes in the UK.
The new owners will have access to the gardens and grounds of Grimston ParkThe new owners will have access to the gardens and grounds of Grimston Park
The new owners will have access to the gardens and grounds of Grimston Park

Sunset Lodge is one of an identical pair of 10ft x 8ft gatehouses that flank the main drive leading to Grimston Park, the Grade II-listed country house once home to the Todmorden mill-owning family the Fieldens.

The two-storey property includes a mezzanine bedroom with a double bunk bed and dressing area beneath, a kitchen with an orangery-style roof and a sunken patio. The bathroom is built into the original barrel-ceilinged cellar, meaning much of the accommodation is underground.

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The lodge has its own large garden, but its £250,000 guide price is partly explained by access to the parkland on the Grimston estate. The mansion itself has been converted into luxury homes, and residents enjoy landscaped formal gardens beside the River Wharfe.

The two tiny gatehouses flank the entrance to Grimston ParkThe two tiny gatehouses flank the entrance to Grimston Park
The two tiny gatehouses flank the entrance to Grimston Park

The current owners, a couple who run a machinery company, have lived in the gatehouse for 14 years. Legally, it cannot be purchased as a holiday let, although the buyers would be able to use it as their own second home.

The owners are moving to another property on the estate and have instructed York agents Carter Jonas, who are hoping it will be snapped up by a couple or a single buyer.

The Fieldens still own some of the surrounding farmland. The family's industrial fortune allowed them to enter politics in the 19th century, and they were instrumental in reforming the law to ban young children from working in Victorian factories.