Georgian house for sale in Whitby with a Grand Designs style restoration

The other was to take on the immense challenge of restoring the property himself.

He chose the latter and, despite the inevitable setbacks with any project of that magnitude, he has done the 550 sq ft historic building proud.

His reward has been the realisation that he has an aptitude for project management and design and that he can cope with the inevitable hiccups and challenges that run-down property brings and see them as learning curves.

“The house was a wreck when I inherited it in 2006 and it wasn’t realistically habitable,” he says. “At one point you could stand in the basement and see the roof through the holes in every single floor.”

He blames Channel 4’s Grand Designs for encouraging him to have a go. “Once I started had to keep going and at one point there were 16 people working on the house. I project managed, which meant making tea, going to the builders merchants and paying the bills.”

In total, it took him the best part of five years to get Thistle Bank just how he wanted it, blending original architectural features with classic contemporary style and mod cons.

The basement is now a self-contained apartment with a hall, sitting room, kitchen, utility room, bedroom and bathroom. Above is a reception hall, drawing room, sitting room, dining room and living kitchen plus a cloakroom.

The first floor has two bedroom suites with bathrooms, a third bedroom, house bathroom and laundry room.

The second floor has two bedroom suites with bathrooms and outside there is a south-facing terraced garden to the front is a walled courtyard with three private parking spaces and a double garage.

The front of the building, which is thought to have been built for a wealthy merchant, has also been professionally cleaned.

Nathan ran the house as a high end holiday let at Christmas time but for the rest of the year, he let individual rooms, all with bathrooms, via Booking.com.

He says: “I did that because I found that people wanted two or three night stays here rather than a whole week and it was very lucrative.

“It has been very successful as while they had their own rooms and bathrooms, they also had use of the snooker room and the library.”

Nathan is selling to try new adventures after a health scare made him reassess life.

“I am proud of the work done on the house and I enjoyed the renovation process so I might look for another couple of smaller projects.”

Sarah Weston of Croft Residential, which is marketing the house for £925,000, says: “The property is used mainly as a high end holiday let and the basement apartment allows for an owner to live on site.

"Of course, the house would also be perfect as a principle or second home in Whitby.”