5 bed detached house for sale

Sedbergh LA10

A tower, a cottage and four acres of someone else's mowing

There are not many addresses where you come home through parkland to a battlemented hall beneath the Howgill Fells. Fewer still where the purchase includes both a tower and a separate cottage.

The Tower and Butlers Cottage form part of Ingmire Hall, a Grade II listed country house around two miles west of Sedbergh. Together they offer a principal home of real character with a second, self-contained property alongside: For family, for guests, for a relative who wants independence, or for an income.

Beyond the front door lie around four acres of shared grounds, with lawns, woodland, water and tennis courts, all looked after for you. Junction 37 of the M6 is four miles away. It does not feel like it.
Four and A half centuries in the making


Ingmire began as a place to keep the neighbours out. At its heart is a pele tower, the fortified refuge of the northern borders, around which a mansion grew in the 16th century.

The estate was acquired in the late 1500s by Roger Upton, and the Uptons stayed for generations. They supplied Members of Parliament for Preston and Westmorland, owned much of the land around Sedbergh and later founded St Gregory's Church in the Vale of Lune. Jefferys' county map of 1770 marks the house simply as "Ingmire Hall, Upton Esqr."

In the early 19th century the family engaged George Webster of Kendal, the leading architect of the region, to enlarge the hall. Webster gave it the romantic outline it wears today: Battlements, turrets, a crenellated curtain wall linking tower and wing, and a gatehouse stable court with octagonal corner turrets.

The hall was extended again around 1900, badly damaged by fire in the 1920s, and then restored. In 1989 it was remodelled into the community of a dozen or so individual homes that share the estate today. The hall and its stable court are listed Grade II, as are the walled garden and gardener's tower nearby.

The Tower is where all of this began. It is the original pele: The oldest part of Ingmire, with its round stair turret, arrow-slit windows and battlemented parapet. Everything else at the hall was built around it. The roof terrace stands where a lookout once did, though these days the view is the only thing you need to keep an eye on.
The tower


The Tower is arranged over four floors and finished to a standard that matches the setting. It is a one-off.

Ground floor: A part-glazed door opens to a hallway with a flagged stone floor. The lounge is light and still cosy: Dual-aspect windows with stone window seats, a circular corner fireplace with wood-burning stove, timber lintels and stone shelving. Off it, the cloakroom sits inside the turret itself, with curved walls and tall arrow-slit windows. An opening in exposed stone leads to the dining kitchen, fitted with white gloss shaker-style cabinets, a range cooker and pantry units, set against the original stone chimney breast. Both rooms have flagged floors with underfloor heating.

First floor: Two bedrooms and the family bathroom. The principal double has fitted wardrobes, dual-aspect views and an en-suite built within the tower, with a rainfall shower and Italian mosaic tiling. The second room is currently a fully fitted study with desks and bookshelves, and would return to a bedroom easily. The family bathroom has a free-standing claw-foot bath and part-panelled walls.

Second floor: A further double bedroom with beamed ceiling, alcoves and its own tower en-suite, finished to match the one below.

The roof: The staircase carries on up to double doors and out onto a private terrace at the top of the tower. The view is the full 360 degrees: Parkland, the Lune valley and the Howgills. It is the best seat at Ingmire.
Butlers cottage


A few steps down from the Tower's kitchen lies Butlers Cottage. The two were acquired separately and are now used as one house, but a sliding door closes between them and the cottage has its own entrance and its own services, so it can be made independent again with little effort.

The first room is used as the dining room, with a tiled floor, beamed ceiling and a door to the courtyard. It could be reinstated as a kitchen. Beyond is a snug built around a central circular fireplace in exposed stone, with windows either side. There are two bedrooms, both beamed, and a shower room with a large walk-in shower.

However the two are used, the arrangement is the appeal. The Tower as the main house and the cottage for grandparents, teenagers or visiting friends. One to live in and one to let. Or simply a home with a proper guest wing, where the guests bring their own front door key.
Outside


A shared drive through the park leads to the Tower's private lawned garden and a parking area for several cars. There is further parking to the rear, with access to the enclosed courtyard garden. Gardens and terraces lie to each side, and there is an EV charging point.

The grounds: An estate without the estate manager

Ingmire's residents share around four acres of private, landscaped parkland. This is the part of country house life most people actually want, without the part that involves a ride-on mower and a Saturday.

Broad lawns run out from the hall to mature woodland. Paths lead through the trees to quiet corners, among them a glade known to the children of the estate as the Fairy Garden. There are tennis courts and a Tennis House, a favourite spot for an evening drink with the long view back to the battlements.

Water is never far away. The grounds have a pond and water features, the sort of places where a book goes unread and an hour disappears. Just beyond the park the River Lune runs beneath Lincoln's Inn Bridge, and the Rawthey joins it a short walk downstream.

The grounds are maintained through the estate management arrangement, so the lawns are cut and the drive is kept whether you are in residence or away. It suits a full-time home and a lock-up-and-leave equally well.

It is a sociable place when you want it to be. Residents gather for summer evenings and fireworks, and are otherwise good at leaving one another in peace.

Location: Where the dales meet the lakes

Sedbergh sits in Cumbria, inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park and within sight of the Lake District. It claims the best of all three and has a fair case.

The approach sets the tone. Leave the M6 at Junction 37, round the bend, and the Lune valley opens with the Howgill Fells rising ahead: Smooth, green and largely empty, the hills Wainwright likened to a herd of sleeping elephants. Four miles later you turn in at Ingmire.

The town is around two miles east. Its Main Street still has a butcher, a grocer, an ironmonger, a florist and a sweet shop, alongside a Spar, cafés and pubs. Sedbergh is England's official Book Town, so there are bookshops to lose a morning in. There is a medical centre, dentist, vet, library and primary and secondary schools, with a market every Wednesday.

Walking starts at the gate. The Dales Way passes close by, the 17th-century Quaker Meeting House at Brigflatts is a stroll across the fields, and Winder, the fell above the town, is the local before-breakfast climb. Cautley Spout, one of England's highest waterfalls, is a short drive up the Rawthey valley.

Approximate distances: Sedbergh 2 miles. M6 Junction 37,4 miles. Oxenholme station (West Coast Main Line) 9 miles. Kendal 10 miles. Kirkby Lonsdale 10 miles. Windermere 19 miles.

From Oxenholme, direct trains reach London Euston in around two hours forty minutes, and Manchester Airport, Glasgow and Edinburgh are all on the line.
Sedbergh school


For many buyers the school is the reason to look at Sedbergh at all. Founded in 1525 by Roger Lupton, Provost of Eton, it has just passed its 500th anniversary and is one of the country's best-known boarding schools.

It is co-educational for pupils aged 13 to 18, organised around nine boarding houses, with day places available. Younger children start at Sedbergh Prep at Casterton, near Kirkby Lonsdale. The school is known for its sport, rugby above all, and counts England captains among its former pupils, but music, drama and the outdoors carry equal weight. The fells are treated as an extension of the timetable.

School and town are so interwoven that it is hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Residents benefit directly: The school's swimming pool, sports facilities and concert programme are open to the local community.

From Ingmire the school is a five-minute drive. That makes a day place practical, puts Saturday touchlines and evening concerts within easy reach for boarding parents, and gives visiting grandparents somewhere rather good to stay. Butlers Cottage has an obvious role here.
Practical information


Tenure: Freehold.
Management charge: An estate management charge is payable. Amount to be confirmed.
Listing: Grade II (Ingmire Hall, Historic England list entry 1384161).
Services: Separate services to each part: Water, electricity and lpg gas central heating. Underfloor heating to the Tower's lounge and dining kitchen. Wood-burning stove. EV charging point.
Broadband: B4RN full-fibre.
Council Tax: Westmorland and Furness Council. The Tower: Band E. Butlers Cottage: Band B.
EPC: Not required (Grade II listed).
Occupancy: No restrictions on who can live here: Main home, second home, multi-generational living or income from part.
Rights of way: A public footpath follows the estate drive.
Directions


From Junction 37 of the M6, take the A684 towards Sedbergh. Shortly after the narrow bridge over the River Lune, the entrance to Ingmire Hall is on the right. From Sedbergh, the entrance is on the left about two miles out of town. Postcode LA10 5HR.
Viewing


Strictly by appointment with David Britton Estates.

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These particulars are intended to give a fair and accurate description of the property but their accuracy is not guaranteed and they do not constitute or form part of an offer or contract. All measurements are approximate. None of the services, appliances or fittings have been tested by David Britton Estates and prospective purchasers should satisfy themselves as to their condition by inspection or through their own advisers. No person in the employment of David Britton Estates has authority to make or give any representation or warranty whatever in relation to this property. Some images may have been digitally enhanced for marketing purposes and may not fully reflect the property's current appearance.