This incredible holiday let is bigger than it looks - and has stunning views of the Yorkshire countryside and a Norman castle

Many of the rooms either overlook the Norman castle ruins or, from the front, top breed racehorses from the nearby racing stables.

Chris Whiteley bought Harmby House a couple of years ago after it had been structurally renovated and extended six or seven years earlier into a holiday let.

“From the outside it doesn’t look very big but on the inside it is huge,” says Chris, an engineer by profession.

“Quirky for me is a word used for small properties, but this is a bit quirky, but big. Kids love it. They play hide-and-seek. There are seven bedrooms and six bathrooms.

"Most of the building work had been done but most of the bathrooms needed replacing and while the building was structurally very interesting, everything was painted pale and grey – all the carpets were grey.”

Chris’s partner Angela and her daughter Charlotte have an eye for interiors and set about adding colour and texture to the property by sourcing tiles and furniture from a variety of different places.

"They were going for a Soho House sort of look,” said Chris. “A lot of time and effort went into tiles.

"I think when people go on holiday they want to stay somewhere different from where they live – bathrooms included...”

And the results are impressive, with the bathrooms becoming real statement pieces within Harmby House.

All the carpets had to come out, he says, the grey carpets were replaced with more natural textured hessians and in some rooms they set about stripping the floorboards back.

“We have tried to make it as hard-wearing as possible as we do allow dogs. We went through the entire property and have just finished,” added Chris.

“There are just a few bits of furniture and some pictures left to do. We wanted the furniture to be quite Victorian looking, but we like to mix that with contemporary art pieces and lighting.”

Starting at the top of the house, there is an attic that had previously been converted into a large children’s room with three single beds, two bunks and a couple of sofas. Chris is busy trying to course a table football game.

“You go up a staircase and at the end of the corridor is what looks like a wooden cupboard door, you then go up a half-spiral staircase into what was the attic of the house and is now a perfect den for the kids,” says Chris.

“We lifted the carpet and saw some wooden flooring, so we decided to sand it all back – what we thought would be a two-day job actually took two weeks but it was worth it.”

The house bathroom has a large jacuzzi-style bath – again popular with the younger visitors – with views of the castle.

One of the king-size bedrooms is known as the Castle Room as it has two full-length windows looking directly at Middleham Castle.

“We do plan to name all the rooms and will stencil them on to the doors,” says Chris. “That room has very high ceilings and the original stone chimney breast and it also has a bath in the bedroom.”

Another of the king-size bedrooms has a small door which is only about five foot high but then opens out into a full-height bedroom with all the ancient beams exposed and an ensuite with distinctive flowered tiles.

On the ground floor, the full-height entrance hall has the original black and white floor tiles which lead to a big sitting room with an open fire that overlooks the front of the house.

"You look out of the sitting room window and there are all these stunning racehorses trotting along the road,” says Chris.

“We reconfigured that room and added new furniture which then lead into the dinning room which I think is one of my favourite rooms."

A huge dining table that comfortably seats 16 is the centrepiece of the room and something Chris is righty proud of. “The dinning table was in the house when we bought it,” he says. “It was an orange type of oak and we had thought about getting rid of it as it didn’t really fit in with the feel of the property that we wanted to create.

"But it was a good, solid, piece of furniture and so I got a sander and decided to sand it back, it took about a week.

“I am really pleased with the end result. I got it back to almost a white oak. We used a dark stain, the same as we used on the floorboards in the top room.

"As an engineer, I love solving problems and I thought, if you just stain a table it will scratch, so we went through a very detailed process of staining and sanding, and found special resins to coat it.”

They then collected a eclectic mix of seating from church pews to antique dining chairs. “We don’t go for everything having to match,” he adds.

“We go to auctions and buy groups of four chairs. We are always hunting for stuff.”

Chris adopted a similar policy with the kitchen, which was very dark when they bought the house. “It was a nice, hand-built, wooden kitchen but it was varnished in brown varnish and was badly scratched,” he said.

“It’s a huge kitchen and so I didn’t want to have to pay for a new one. We sanded the whole thing back and then out came the Farrow and Ball colour chart, then lighting and a new range and it has completely changed the kitchen.”

Chris leaves the art to Angela and she has created a Yorkshire feel throughout the property. There are subtle nods to the horse racing pedigree of the area in ornaments and paintings.

“Middleham is horses,” says Chris. “We are still looking for some bits, including a couple of saddles to put on the beams in the top floor room.

"There is a limit as to how much you can put in a holiday home. You want to make it look nice, but it has to be practical. A property of this size is often used for multi-generational celebrations.”

For more information and to book Harmby House visit: www.yorkshireholidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/86243-harmby-house