The Old Farmhouse, Tottlebank, Blawith, The Lake District LA12 8EN

Live the Lake District dream! Escape to the country with this quintessential Lake District farmhouse together with a detached Lakeland bank barn embracing a private rural setting and enjoying a fabulous southerly aspect with unspoiled country views.

Live the Lake District dream! Escape to the country with this quintessential Lake District farmhouse together

with a detached Lakeland bank barn embracing a private rural setting and enjoying a fabulous southerly aspect with unspoiled country views.

Live the Lake District dream! Escape to the country with this quintessential Lake District farmhouse together with a detached Lakeland bank barn embracing a private rural setting and enjoying a fabulous southerly aspect with unspoiled country views. It’s a project property; full of character but with little in the way of mod cons, the farmhouse is now in need of complete refurbishment and the barn also offers a development opportunity in its own right.

You can walk or run straight from the door with a network of footpaths close at hand – from here you can explore the beautiful countryside of the Crake Valley, Woodland Valley, Beacon Tarn (perfect for wild swimming if you like a dip in nature) and the Cumbrian Way Walk. For the avid cyclist it’s also a perfect starting place for exploring the whole of the National Park. If you’re a keen sailor then Lake Windermere is home to both yacht and motor boat clubs and also several marinas. If golf is your game then there are clubs at both Windermere and Ulverston. Coniston Water is another option just under 8 miles away benefiting from it’s own boating club.

You’ll find local services at Ulverston (9.4 miles) and Kendal (25.2 miles). Lakeland honey pots of Coniston (7.9 miles), Ambleside (15.6 miles) and Bowness on Windermere (16.8 miles) are within easy reach for day trips with the added joy of being able to come home and sleep in your own bed! For travelling further afield, access to the M6 is at Junction 36 and connection to the main west coast railway line is to be found at Oxenholme (24.8 miles) with services to London Euston and Manchester Airport.

The Old Farmhouse

If you like period features, nooks and crannies then you’ll appreciate all that this Grade II Listed property has to offer. Stone built under a graduated slated roof, Historic England states the house to be 17th Century with later additions and alterations. Full of character, it oozes history at every turn, there are ceiling beams in most rooms, old oak doors believed to be 17th Century, oak fronted cupboards including a traditional spice cupboard, open fireplaces, a flagged floor, an oak floor and two staircases, one of which is a narrow 17th Century dog leg stair, the other a more modern oak addition installed when a former hayloft was incorporated into the living accommodation and now provides a lovely first floor second sitting room, although read on as there grand plans for this room.

We would recommend you looked at the current planning permission on the Lake District National Park’s website (lakedistrict.gov.uk) reference 7/2022/5284, dated 5 May 2022. In their plans the new owners have sought to make the house more functional and fit for 20th Century living. The drawings show approved plans to remove the internal wall between the dining room and kitchen so as to create a lovely big living kitchen and also add south facing windows in both the sitting room and largest bedroom which will bring in light and importantly capture the best view. At the moment the utility room has external access but plans are to incorporate this into the house by the partial removal of an internal wall, along with a new bathroom and cloakroom. The first floor also has plans for a layout improvement removing the single bedroom, small bathroom and second staircase to create a super master bedroom suite incorporating the first floor sitting room.

The finished house will have four bedrooms (three doubles and a single), two bathrooms, two reception rooms and a living kitchen. The proposed changes are well considered and will offer better proportioned accommodation with improved views but if the plans don’t fit in with your own thoughts there remains the option to submit your own application.

Lakeland Banked Barn and Outbuildings

Looking to the future, the barn (Not listed) also offers great potential. At the moment the ground floor former shippons are used as storage with a workshop and tank room (for the borehole). The large first floor space is approached from the rear through the former wain door opening, it has a partition subdividing the space and a wood burner; it is here that your imagination can really fly. Subject to the necessary consents, it’s really up to you – we’ve seen barns repurposed as cinema rooms, party spaces, gyms, galleries, garages for classic cars, yoga studios, workshops, recording studios, offices, guest suites…. the list goes on. Attached to the side of the barn is a large open fronted sheeted lean-to for storage or as a car port.

Within the grounds are a collection of smaller detached stone and slated outbuildings – a former pig sty, a former privy and a useful wood store.

Gardens and Grounds

Turning into the gated driveway on the left you enter the world of Tottlebank, there’s a small stream and natural pond on the left and as the drive continues towards the house you’ll pass a small kitchen garden, an area of planted fruit bushes and a greenhouse.

The potential is here for you to live the self sufficient dream. Always at a premium with a family property, there’s plenty of parking and turning space on offer.

It would be fair to say that the gardens are now looking a little overgrown but the keen gardeners will instantly recognize established flowering shrubs including hydrangeas, buddleia and fuchsia, mature heathers and rosemary, clematis and roses, climbing cotoneaster as well as well stocked herbaceous beds. There are Lakeland stone paved seating terraces strategically placed to capture the best of the south facing view – can you see yourself here with a Sunday morning pot of coffee and the weekend papers or maybe a long leisurely afternoon barbeque with friends as the sun shines on another lovely Lakeland day? A haven for wildlife, there is a restful nature to the property, garden and setting.

As well as the gardens there is a small croft to the rear – ideal if you wanted to keep chickens or have a more informal wild flower meadow or play area for children.

There’s a neighboring property to the rear but the two houses are positioned so that neither is overlooked or infringes on the other’s privacy.

Directions

Using Sat Nav will take you to Blawith Church and then follow directions as below.

Travelling from J36 on the M6 take the A590 towards Barrow. Drive straight on past Newby Bridge and at the large roundabout at Greenodd, take the second exit onto the A5092. Look out for The Farmer’s Arms at Lowick Green and turn right afterwards onto the A5084, continuing into the village of Blawith. Opposite the pretty village church turn left onto the single track lane signposted for Tottlebank. It’s here that the adventure really begins as the house is approached by way of an undulating single track lane (around 1.3 miles in length) with abundant banks of bracken on either side. Continue until The Old Farmhouse comes into view, you’ll instantly recognize it from our photographs.

Services

Mains electric. Private septic tank drainage. Private water from a borehole located on the property. Fibre Broadband.

Council Tax Band G

For those looking to lead a more sustainable life the property has enormous potential to be completely energy self-sufficient, using the existing borehole for ground source heating, harnessing wind and solar power. There’s also the option of air source heating. It’s worth exploring the options as you’d have the land and space to make the most of the technology available.

PLEASE NOTE

The single lane from the A5084 to the gate is council adopted.