For sale: This Yorkshire farmhouse is a real head turner

Owner Sally Sanderson enlisted the help of her sister to transform what was a large front lawn with 5,000 box hedge plants and 13 tons of gravel bought from York-based Vertigrow.

“I got the idea from next door which has a small knot garden. This is much bigger but it is very low maintenance compared to the lawn that was there previously,” says Sally.

What was a rear garden and paddock have been combined and redesigned to create one large garden with box hedging. It is an impressive makeover and is also easy to maintain thanks to plenty of mulch and dense planting.

“That was huge task but it’s been a labour of love,” says Sally

She and her partner bought the farmhouse in 2004 when he was looking to cut short the commute from Yorkshire to London.

“We lived in Gargrave but taking the train to Leeds and then London took three and half hours and from here it’s a 25 minute drive to York station and the train journey is less than two hours,” she says.

The property, which also comes with a kitchen garden and a 3.5 acres paddock, had belonged to a relocation company and was need of updating when they bought it on 2004.

“It was top heavy so there were six bedrooms but not much space downstairs. We lived in it for three years before we renovated and extended it,” says Sally.

After enlisting the help of an architect who specialised in period properties, they converted the adjoining haybarn into storage space on the ground floor with a first floor bedroom with en-suite and an en-suite shower room in the loft space above. They also added a ground floor extension, which houses a large, light-filled sitting room.

“The architect designed the extension to look like a barn. It’s a lovely room and it is west-facing so we get beautiful sunsets,” says Sally, who is selling to downsize.

Woodholme Farm has a staircase hall, sitting room, dining room, kitchen with Aga, utility room, cloakroom, rear hall, family room and drawing room. Upstairs there is a bedroom with en-suite bathroom and dressing room, two further bedrooms, a study, a house bathroom, a guest bedroom suite, a fifth bedroom. The house also has three store rooms and a carport.

Alne is effectively part of Aldwark, a pretty, rural village known for its strong sense of community. There is a pub, a church, a bus service and the Aldwark Manor Golf Club and Spa Hotel

Woodholme Farm, Alne, York

Price: £1.25m

Contact: Blenkinandco.com

Contact: www.blenkin and co.com