4 bed semi-detached bungalow for sale

Church Lane, Wigginton, North Yorkshire YO32

This exceptional mid-century house was designed and built by its architect-owners, Stuart and Beryl Sutcliffe, in 1975. Occupying the footprint of an original greenhouse and wing of barns, the house is detailed in a way that honours its agricultural beginnings while embracing mid-century design sensibilities. Planes of the barn’s reclaimed York Clamp bricks, heather brown quarry tiles and rich pine intersect throughout the house’s fluid, open-plan living spaces, and expanses of glazing open to a south facing walled garden. While retaining a feel of remove, this remarkable home lies within easy reach of York’s city centre.

The Architects

The house was designed by Stuart and Beryl Sutcliffe who met as architecture students in London in the late 1940s. After working for Crawley New Town Development Corporation, Stuart, Beryl and their family moved to Cheltenham, where Stuart taught architecture at the Gloucestershire College of Art. In 1970, Stuart was appointed Assistant Director at the University of York's Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies.

A former walled garden belonging to Wigginton's vicarage proved to be an ideal and convenient location for the pair to design their family home. The old coach house and green house were demolished to make way for the new development and the existing barn and stable were converted into a pottery and kiln firing room for Beryl’s pottery-making. Every brick from the demolished barn was painstakingly cleaned and repurposed to construct the large thermal capacity wall along the home's northern perimeter.

The Tour

The house sits at the end of Church Lane, with an understated façade of mottled brick and terracotta-toned clay pantiles.

A pine front door with stainless steel furniture opens to the hallway. The cohesive palette is employed throughout, beginning in the hallway: Heather brown quarry tiles are laid underfoot, while the walls are of York Clamp bricks with red, purple and yellow hues, reclaimed from the site’s original barn, and pine panelling. At the seam between the floor and walls are coved skirting tiles. A high, pitched ceiling overhead is punctuated with rooflights that draw a soft eastern light into the hall.

Opening from the hallway and occupying the central part of the house is an open-plan living, kitchen and dining space. The room extends across the full width of the house, revealing its complex double-pitched section, and a series of distinct volumes are defined by structural columns and changing levels. Angled Velux rooflights and floor-to-ceiling windows with aluminium frames allow for a flood of natural light.

The volumes on one side of the room are currently arranged as a comfortable seating area and a library. The library has an architect’s plan chests and bookshelves, as well as a writing desk and storage fitted along one wall.

In the middle of the room is a sunken living area with a dropped ceiling. Here, a gas fire sits atop a brick and quarry tile hearth. A recessed stretch of the garden-facing façade embeds a covered patio into the living space that can be accessed from both sides. A climbing grapevine and peach tree weave around.

The kitchen and dining areas are on the other side of the room. The kitchen is composed of matching pine cabinets topped with a quarry tiles worksurface, a four-ring gas hob, an integrated oven, and a double stainless-steel sink well placed for views over the walled garden. There is a tall pantry cupboard for storing dry ingredients and spices.

Beyond the main living area, three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a laundry room are arranged around a central hallway. The primary bedroom sits at the end of the hall and extends across the full width of the plan. Expansive glazing faces the garden, and a stable door opens under the branches of a mature beech tree. Built-in wardrobes provide storage.

Two additional bedrooms are the mirror image of each other, both with asymmetric pitched ceilings and corner windows that overlook the garden. Both have hessian-covered and white-painted walls, and there are built-in wardrobes and desks.

A fourth bedroom is accessed via the entrance hall. It has fitted bookshelves, a mezzanine level, and internal glazing to the living area. Across the hallway, there is a bright shower room with a walk-in, quarry-tiled shower.

Outdoor Space

A large, south facing walled garden extends from the house, a wonderfully private space. On one side, there is a lawn surrounded by beds filled with flowering shrubs and a mature beech tree. Paths of flagstones wind between plantings of fruit bushes and trees, and there is a large patio ideal for outdoor dining.

The garden is enclosed on two sides by brick boundary walls, with the low-laying main wing of the house and a stretch of original outbuildings completing the square. Of the outbuildings, one has been used as a pottery by the current owners. The other has barn doors that open to the street and the garden, allowing it to function as a garage. There is also a former stable that can be used to store garden tools.

The Area

Wigginton and the neighbouring town of Haxby are well equipped for daily life. There are several grocery shops, an artisan bakery and a butcher's. The Curious Coffee Company and Willow Farm Café are great for coffee, and there are plenty of local pubs.

Wigginton is approximately 15 minutes' drive from the centre of York and there is a regular bus service to the city centre. The city is arranged around York Minster, an enormous cathedral that was originally built by the Romans around 627 ad and survives in its latest iteration as an enormous Gothic cathedral, completed in 1472.

York is home to the Michelin-starred Roots, Partisan, a restaurant, café, and arts space, and the Bib Gourmand-awarded Skosh. Spark – an outdoor community space – hosts a range of exciting food, retail, arts, and social enterprise start-ups. York is also famed for its magical Christmas market, as well as the year-round Shambles Market.

Located beside the River Ouse is York City Rowing Club, York Pilates Space and The Perky Peacock, a cosy café in a medieval tower. Further along is Rowntree Park with a café, playground, tennis and basketball courts. The York City Walls remain to this day, although they have been rebuilt over the years, and are now used as an elevated circular walking route around the city centre.

Malton, known as Yorkshire’s food capital, is around a 30-minute drive away. It has artisan food shops and highly regarded restaurants, making it a haven for foodies. Most notable perhaps is The Black Swan in Oldstead, a Michelin-starred restaurant and inn located near the beautiful ruins of Byland Abbey.

The house is well positioned to access the Moors and Yorkshire Dales, the Howardian Hills and Robin Hood’s Bay. The bucolic walking routes of the Yorkshire Wolds Way are a rambler’s paradise.

York Station offers direct trains to London King’s Cross St Pancras in under two hours. Both Manchester and Newcastle Airports are less than a two-hour drive away.

Council Tax Band: F