Gorgeous Georgian home for sale in York with a Harry Enfield claim to fame

Patsy and Peter are blessed with a great sense of humour so saw the funny side when Enfield described his student digs, aka a room in what became their house, as dilapidated, not to mention dangerous.

He went on to tell of his experiences of falling through a rotten floor in his bedroom and a friend having the roof collapse on him while he was on the loo.

No-one was hurt and Enfield managed to make do and mend by placing an old door over the hole in the floor so he could safely navigate his way to the bed.

“He certainly wouldn’t recognise the house now,” says Patsy, who is steeling herself to say “goodbye” to the much-loved family home, which is on the market for £880,000 with Prime Residential.

Set over three floors it has entrance hall, sitting room, kitchen/dining room, utility, drawing room/bedroom four, three double bedrooms and two bathrooms

Outside, there are gardens front and rear, residents parking and secure off-street parking

Unsurprisingly, interest is in the sale is high, which means leaving may come much sooner rather than later

“We will be sad to move because we have loved living here. When our two daughters were young, we lived in a village outside York and that was perfect but when they were heading towards their teenage years we thought they would be happier in the city, plus I was working in central York so it made sense,” says Patsy.

“Now our daughters have grown up, we have entered another phase of our lives and we are downsizing to a smaller Georgian house.”

The initial renovation of the property took a year, during which time the family stayed at Patsy’s father’s home in a nearby village.

They began by hiring an architect who helped with planning permission to put a wall back between the kitchen and sitting room and to make what was a dining room, a lean-to kitchen and a bathroom into one large space.

They also had to get planning consent to turn two rooms upstairs back into the original drawing room.

Now, the heart of the house is a stunning bespoke kitchen with flooring by Lapicida and a gas Aga. This leads into a splendid, light-filled dining/family area with a glazed roof lantern by Amedga .

One of the standout pieces of furniture here is a large antique dresser that was originally from a chemist shop in Leeds and was later used for display in Harrods before the owner of Penhaligon’s perfumery bought it for her York store.

“I worked at Penhaligon’s and had always loved that dresser and when the shop closed the owner allowed me to buy it,” says Patsy. “It took five men to get it into the house by taking the front bay window out and one of them ended up with a hernia.”

Whoever buys the property will inherit the dresser and will no doubt be thrilled with it.

When decorating, the Fauldings were influenced by the property’s Georgian roots but this is no museum. The old and the new sit beautifully together and all of the rooms have been regularly redecorated with design changes made to keep them up to date.

One of the latest is a bedroom featuring fashionable panelling made by Peter.

“Your home is your biggest investment and so it helps to keep abreast of changing styles and keep it fresh,” says Patsy, who is also a fan of lamps to add atmosphere.

“I’ve bought the odd Christopher Wray lamp but I’ve also found some great ones at Homesense and TK Maxx,” she adds.

Looks aren’t everything, of course, and so attention has been paid to how the property works.

While its original wooden shutters had long gone, the Fauldings commissioned replicas, which perform far better than curtains at keeping the heat in and the light out.

The gas Aga they installed is a family favourite, creating cosiness while cooking to perfection.

The old vinyl Marley tiles in the hall have been swapped for stone flags from an old mill in Halifax and, in homage to the building’s Georgian roots, when it was fashionable for women to collect prints and paper embellishments to decorate walls with, Patsy and Peter have done a version for the hall.

Hunting grounds for antique finds include Wombles auctions in York and when the BBC closed its Pebble Mill studio and sold everything off, the couple managed to buy a 7ft high picture of Sherlock Holmes, now in the sitting room.

Leaving the house will be hard but says Patsy: “It has been such a wonderful home but it needs a family again. We are leaving with heavy hearts but we have many happy memories.”

The Fauldings home on Holgate Road, York, is for sale with www.prime-resi.com​​​​​​​​​​​​​, priced at £880,000.​