Blending the old and characterful with the new and contemporary, Shepherd’s House represents renovation at its best: sympathetic, improving and ingenious. Giving this former farm building a thoroughly modern makeover, architects have cleverly built a superb curving glass-fronted extension to the side of this once rustic farmhouse – recognised as the Northern Regional winner of the Building Excellence Awards in 2023. Framed by the same characterful brown stone as the original abode, it houses a unique, light-filled, kitchen-dining room that opens out onto a raised patio and benefits from far-reaching views across open countryside towards Aydon Castle.
Inside, oh-so-spacious interiors are finished to equally high standards. Here again the old meets new, with choice antique pieces of furniture and homely country-style curtains sitting alongside fabrics by A-List designers like Zoffany or Nina Campbell and glossy resin tables underneath chunky and rustic overhanging rafters.
A multi-level property, Shepherd’s House’s elegant ground floor contains a separate drawing room with a warming wood-burning stove set into the red-brick fireplace, and a games den complete with a proper pool table extension.
The upper ground floor extends into an open-plan contemporary living space. Benefitting from oodles of natural light, the stylish extension hub incorporates dining (seating eight), the kitchen – its cabinetry coloured a fresh Nordic blue – and a separate seating area. Four separate doors lead out to the raised patio with bench seating.
The new extension extends to two ground-floor, en-suite bedrooms (a twin and a king-sized master suite). These rooms are particularly handy for guests of restricted mobility as they boast spacious en-suite – and level – wet-room showers. The master bedroom, meanwhile, has several floor-to-ceiling windows that lead onto the larger, rear patio and benefit from more superb, bucolic views. Upstairs on the first floor, another pair of extremely comfortable en-suite sleeping quarters (a super-king and a cheerful twin) await.
The heating throughout the property is classed as renewable energy, fed by an efficient air source heat pump system, with PV solar panels used to supply the electricity.
To best suit families or groups of friends, the house is set in generous grounds. These connect that rear patio and its al-fresco dining area with a sheltered courtyard garden. Both afford yet more magnificent, uninterrupted views, this time over a lake and parkland, over the Tyne Valley and as far as the North Pennine Moors. Available to you too is a charming stone loggia – an open-sided room suiting relaxation, reading or meditation – and a large, secure barn space where outdoor kit or bicycles can be securely stored or dried.
The Hadrian’s Wall Path passes only a mile to the north, with the remains of Corbridge, a garrison town built to support it, just a seven-minute drive south. Halton, the local hamlet, has a lovely stone church and defensive, medieval pele tower. Open to visitors, Aydon Castle is one of Britain’s most evocative fortified manor houses. In the local area too are a pick-your-own fruit farm, a Go Ape site and Hexham’s atmospheric, 14th-century gaol.
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