This large and characterful holiday apartment at Skipton Hall near Thirsk has got rave reviews
Regular Saturday auctions were held in the Grain Store in the historic North Yorkshire town and their popularity prompted expansion.
John’s brother Rodney joined the business running the salerooms and a new company, JE&RM Tennants Ltd, was formed and eventually became Tennants of Leyburn, an auction house which thrived and grew thanks to a 40,000 sq ft extension which now houses galleries, auction and event spaces and a restaurant and cafe.
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Hide AdWhen they were young, Lizzie and her cousins grew up helping out at the sales, fetching and carrying. “That’s where my love of antiques and vintage items comes from,” says Lizzie, who recently moved back to God’s Own Country after a lengthy time living and working in London, followed by a shorter spell in Windsor.


“I wanted to come back to Yorkshire and my husband Ed agreed that’s what we should but we were house hunting for a while before we found the one. One of the stipulations was that I wanted to be within half an hour of my parents’ house in Middleham.”
Luck was on their side when they found Skipton Hall, a Georgian house with Victorian additions in Skipton-on-Swale, a small village close to Thirsk in the sought-after Hambleton district of North Yorkshire.
They put in an offer, had it accepted then and the pandemic hit, which brought restrictions on viewings and a host of guidelines to follow. Fortunately, their own home in Windsor sold immediately and they managed to move to Skipton Hall between lockdowns in July 2020.
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Hide AdThe Grade II-listed property had been loved but it was in need of some work to turn it into a home that suited them and their children and so began a long and worthwhile process.


The house, with three storeys and a lower two-storey wing, had been a retirement home at one point and there were 13 toilets to contend with.
“All the rooms had toilets and there were locks on every door,” says Lizzie, who called in an architect to help reconfigure the space and repurpose some of the rooms.
New kitchen cabinetry from Richmond-based Browson Design and Build is a highlight, along with lights from Glow Lighting in Ripon and all in all the main house is sensational and shows off Lizzie’s talent and love for interior design.
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Hide AdShe studied it at the prestigious KLC School of Design at Chelsea Harbour in London and successfully practised it in Berkshire for a while until it was clear that juggling small children along with large projects for other people was not conducive to family life, whereas her job now as a client lawyer dealing with wills and probate is.


While the work on the main house was ongoing, the family lived in the self-contained, three-bedroom apartment that occupies the top floor of the property and has its own entrance.
It was then they realised that it could be a great holiday let/AirBnB, so when they vacated the space, Lizzie began a second renovation to create what is now Upstairs at Skipton Hall.
Self-contained with its own front door, there are two flights of stairs that take you to the top floor of the property where there are lovely rural views in all directions.
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Hide Ad“It is brilliantly located between two National Parks, but it’s only three miles from Thirsk station, which has direct rail links including to York and London, and it’s just a few minutes’ drive from the A1,” says Lizzie, who used a clever and eclectic mix of furniture, colour, furnishings, art, antiques and vintage plus new accessories to make sure the apartment was perfect for guests and had plenty of personality.
There is a large, light-filled kitchen/diner with cabinetry by Brownson Design and Build painted in Farrow & Ball’s Oval Room Blue.
The dining table seating six from Ikea has been upcycled with aubergine coloured paint from Edward Bulmer, the ceramic sink was from Facebook Marketplace and the beautiful copper and brass taps are from Bow Street Interiors. There is also an oven, hob, dishwasher and fridge plus a separate utility cupboard.
What was a solid wall between kitchen and sitting room was partially demolished to create a semi-open plan access between the two spaces.
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Hide AdThe rooms are full of artwork featuring the local area, including a map showing Skipton Hall, along with prints of the White Horse at Kilburn, Byland Abbey, Middleham and Bettys in Harrogate. There are also fabulous photographs of Wensleydale by North Yorkshire based photographer Emma Amsden.
Bedrooms one and two have en-suite shower rooms, while bedroom three is close to the main bathroom. The latter was painted in mustard yellow and blue by McAndrew & Son of Thirsk, the decorators Lizzie hired to decorate the holiday let and who she can’t recommend highly enough.
“I bought a lot of fabric from eBay for cushions, curtains and lining,” she says, adding that another bargain was the welcoming lantern lights at the entrance to the AirBnB property.
“I saw them in the Abbey Inn at Byland and they looked expensive but when I emailed to ask where they were from, it turned out they were only £13 each, which was a nice surprise.”
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Hide AdHer efforts have paid off with rave reviews from those who have stayed in a place that delivers on every level.
You can find Upstairs at Skipton Hall on AirBnB. Pictures by Charlotte Gale, www.charlottegalephotography.com
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