Beautiful Harrogate 1920s period house for sale with 1.5 acres of gorgeous gardens - with video

Craigens can be found near the village of Burn Bridge, on a gentle wooded hillside in the Crimple Valley, two miles to the south of Harrogate (the name Craigens is probably Scottish, possibly from Banffshire and derived from the Gaelic word for a rocky hill). Reached via a private road, it feels secluded as soon as you step through the gates and onto the gravelled driveway (with a turning circle, no less). It is wrapped on all sides by 1.5 acres of landscaped grounds, its boundaries edged by tall firs and pines, its several gardens mapped by gravel pathways and mature box hedging.

At the back of the house is a huge lawn bisected by an avenue of ornamental photinia trees and lavish pink roses. Turn a corner and there is a secret garden and a picturesque little shed in its own mini hedged spot, and a tennis court, and then an orchard, sloping up to a hedge-screened top plot, once a large vegetable garden, Sue says, but in later years used as a football pitch by her son, while the orchard was for climbing and trampolining.

They see pheasants, badgers, foxes, owls and the occasional deer, yet the house is less than a 10-minute drive away from the main roads into Leeds and York.

It was a tennis court that sports-loving Sue was looking for 23 years ago when she and husband John, a Yorkshireman, decided to relocate with their two small children from London to the Harrogate area, which they already knew well.

“We came across this house when it was advertised in the Yorkshire Post,” says Sue. “There were so many viewings on the first day, we couldn’t get in until the second day. I didn’t even know this place existed. Being off a private road, you don’t ever come up here.”

There was no tennis court back then, but plenty of room to introduce one without disrupting the carefully planned landscaping.

“The aerial shots show how beautifully all the gardens were planned. All the boxing and the layout is as it was,” Sue says. “I am not a gardener and so I have simplified the planting to keep maintenance to a minimum.”

It is not known who originally built Craigens, but she believes there have been just four owners in its 100-year history. “It’s the sort of home you tend to stay in for a long time. It’s a proper family home,” she says.

Inside the house, over the years, they have made a series of considered alterations. “We did it gradually and lived in the house for about a year before we did anything, because you need to know how it works for you, the lighting and everything else.”

They made the entrance hall larger by punching forward, moving the impressive arched front door outwards, and repositioning the staircase, creating a space more in keeping with the perfectly proportioned rooms and harmonious layout of the villa. To the right of the front door is a small office, a downstairs toilet, cloakroom, and to the left a utility room which was the original kitchen when they moved in. They created their 26ft kitchen from the former breakfast room, extending slightly and commissioning a luxurious hand painted and oak fitted kitchen cabinetry from Summerbridge-based bespoke furniture company Clarity Arts, introducing a central island, black granite worktops, an Aga and travertine flooring. A dining table and chairs in front of the window make sure that family and guests can enjoy leisurely views over the south-facing rear garden.

The kitchen leads through to a garden room and a dining room, which has double doors through to the living room, which again is grand but comfortable, with an open fire and also views out to the rear garden through huge mullioned windows.

There is also a cosy library/snug to the downstairs with more Clarity Arts units – a lovely spot, says Sue, for hunkering down with a book.

Upstairs is the master main bedroom suite with a dressing room and bathroom, plus a guest bedroom with ensuite shower room, the main family bathroom and two further bedrooms. Both the main bathroom and the master ensuite feature striking period bathtubs which Sue simply could not bear to rip out and replace, although she did have them resurfaced, turning them from their original pink colour into white.

On the landing is another impressive example of bespoke cabinetry, a large linen cupboard with radiator built in so that it airs effectively. There is a third floor too, with a fifth bedroom and lots of boarded storage space.

There is yet more living, working and playing space over in the Coach House, where keen crafter and artist Sue (her paintings feature throughout the house), a retired marketing director, spends much of her time. This was a double garage but was developed to include another Clarity Arts kitchen plus ample living and studio space on the ground floor (there’s a downstairs loo, too), and two bedrooms and a shower room upstairs.

“It’s great for teenagers, and as a work space, or for nanny, granny, a holiday let. When the kids were teenagers, they could have sleepovers here. I’m a light sleeper, so it was perfect,” says Sue.

Craigens, as Sue says, is very much a family home. But now, with children Alex and Alice all grown up and living in London, the time has come to move on, with plans to relocate down south to be closer to them.

Which means that this grand residence is on the market for the first time in 23 years and perhaps only the fifth time in its 100-year history. Of course, Sue is sad to be leaving, but it is a very large house. She will miss everything about it, but especially the light and those beautiful enveloping gardens that give Craigens such privacy and seclusion. She says: “It feels as if you are deep in the countryside.”

· Craigens, Dawcross Rise, Pannal, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, is for sale with Strutt & Parker for offers over £2.1 million.