111 Barton Road, Lancaster, LA1 4EN

This substantial detached house occupies a prominent position; built in 1927 it bears the hallmarks of the Edwardian and Art Deco architectural eras. The house is well proportioned with a layout that is reassuringly traditional and exceptionally light and spacious, offering an entrance vestibule, generous hall, three reception rooms, a family friendly dining kitchen, cloakroom, boot room and integral garage. To the first floor off the large landing is the principal bedroom with ensuite shower room, two further double bedrooms, a fourth single bedroom and a house bathroom and separate cloakroom. Rising to the second floor are two loft rooms, great as occasional bedrooms or for hobbies. Alongside the period features, there is the convenience of gas central heating and PVC windows and the character and charm of three open fires.

The outside space is perfectly proportioned to accommodate family life. The gated drive offers parking for three vehicles with gated pathways round either side of the house to the generous and a very private rear garden where there is a lawn, paved areas for garden furniture and a delightful summer house. Planting around the house is established and provides a lovely show of spring and summer colour.

The location is successful on many levels. It is excellent for buyers seeking good schools within walking distance, it’s great if you want to be able to walk into the city centre and both of the hospitals and universities are on this side of the City. Great accessibility and convenience have a positive influence on every aspect of daily family life and everyday comings and goings and add to the overall appeal of this impressive property.

Vendor Insight

We were looking for a spacious home to raise our growing family, one that offered a private garden, off road parking, good schools within walking distance and easy access to the motorway. We found everything we wanted here and as it turned out, more. The schools have offered so much; a springboard for all that our children have done and gone on to do.

We’ve had the room to welcome friends and family, and the space for family that live away to stay with us which we’ve all really loved.

The children have all left home now and so it is with reluctance that we are looking to downsize, but in its time, the house has been an absolute hive of family activity with frequent sleep overs, cricket matches in the back garden and weekly band practice on the top floor.”

Location

Lancaster is one of England’s Heritage Cities, where impressive Georgian stone façades hark back to its heyday as an important port. Busy and vibrant with a captivating past, a cultured present and a full calendar of festivals and celebratory events throughout the year. There are a wide choice of bars and restaurants offering cuisine from around the world, an excellent range of high street and independent shops and a comprehensive provision of professional services, two universities (Lancaster and Cumbria) and good healthcare provision with both private and NHS hospitals in the city.

As a district, Scotforth is exceptionally well placed to take full advantage of all that this vibrant city has to offer. A super location if you have children of school age as there is a choice of local primary schools and the highly regarded Boys’ and Girls’ Grammar Schools and Ripley St Thomas Church of England Academy are all within walking distance meaning that many after school activities and clubs are also easily reached. Indeed the calibre of free state-school education was one of the main reasons the present owners chose the house when they purchased it in 1999. Being on the south side of the city also means that the universities and hospitals are convenient, as is J33 of the motorway which is perfect if you are looking to

commute southbound out of the city. If you prefer to let the train take the strain then Lancaster has a station. Around 30 minutes walk away, the main west coast railway line is handy whether you are seeking travel for work or pleasure. There are frequent services to Preston, Manchester, Manchester airport and London Euston.

Lancaster is surrounded by fabulous open countryside so if you love to get outdoors straight from the house without getting in the car, then you’ve struck lucky as there are some super walks. In terms of local shops, from this address you can walk to regional favourite Booths supermarket.

Vendor Insight

We’ve loved the location; it’s very much a neighbourhood. The children have all walked to school and we can walk into the city too, although there is a bus stop nearby by which has been great as the children became independent. The proximity of J33 means that commuting to Preston and Manchester has been very achievable.”

Step Inside

Built in 1927, this large family house enjoys the character of original period details from both the late Edwardian and Art Deco periods with panel doors (having original brass handles to the ground floor and beehive knobs upstairs), deep cornices and skirting boards, stained and leaded glass panels, bay windows, pine and oak floor boards, original floor and wall tiling and a wonderful staircase balustrade attributed to Waring and Gillow, the leading cabinet-makers of the time from Lancaster. Less austere than the Victorian period, this is a friendly and welcoming period in architectural heritage which creates an inviting home.

First impressions matter a lot and No. 111 scores highly in this department having a very attractive entrance with an arched front door, adorned by a wisteria offering a heady scent and pale lilac blooms in Spring and early Summer. Step inside and there are original hexagonal tessellated floor tiles and an internal stripped pitch pine door and side panels with stained and leaded glass panels which offer privacy for those within. The hall has a real wow factor and reveals architecturally what’s in store in the rest of the house, the staircase immediately draws the eye with its unusual balustrade. A room in itself, circulation space of this nature is always a treat and creates a distinct open and airy feel.

Double fronted, the two leading reception rooms face the front; the sitting room is an elegant, light and formal room, the focal point being an open Rayburn fire set within a burred walnut mantlepiece which sits opposite a square bay. The dining room is across the hall and would be wonderfully atmospheric by candlelight for a dinner party; it has a striking corner bay window (the perfect proportions for a Christmas tree!) and a painted mantlepiece around a real flame gas fire. Both front reception rooms and the central hallway have oak floors under the carpets. There’s a serving hatch through to the family room as it used to be the maid’s sitting room when the house was first built.

The family room is a cosy place, the reproduction Art Deco mantlepiece has an open fire, stripped pitch pine cupboards fill the alcoves either side and under the carpet are pine boards. All three reception rooms have a dual aspect, with the family room enjoying the morning sunshine, the front elevation basking in the afternoon sun. Also enjoying the morning sun is the dining kitchen which sits adjacent to the family room, perfect for a sunny breakfast to start to your day.

The kitchen used to be laid out as three smaller rooms but was re-modelled by the owners to create this family friendly, well equipped space. The classic cream panel fronted cabinets are by SieMatic (from Mark Leigh in Lancaster) and offer extensive storage. Bringing a splash of colour is the red Aga Masterchef range cooker which offers five gas burners, three ovens and a grill. There’s a fan and light, over which on a dark evening, together with the under-unit lighting provides a welcoming venue for an informal kitchen supper around the octagonal table; all part of the kitchen and capable of being moved further out into the room if more places are needed. There is an integral larder fridge, a tall Liebher freezer, NEFF dishwasher and microwave. There are two sink units, both ceramic, a great view over the back garden, a door to outside and a Fired Earth slate tiled floor which brings grey and terracotta tones into the room, chiming well with the original stripped pitch pine panel doors.

Completing the ground floor is a cloakroom with a two-piece heritage style suite, a boot room with plenty of space for coat and boot storage as well as a ceiling mounted airer. A door leads into the attached garage and provides invaluable storage space for a busy and active family life.

The period staircase gently rises to the light and spacious landing which offers generous circulation space. The view over the back garden and rooftops to Clougha Pike in the distance is a delight. The principal bedroom is above the dining room and has the same striking corner bay window and an ensuite shower room appointed with heritage style fittings. There are two further double bedrooms and a fourth single bedroom; with fitted wall shelving it’s currently used as an office, but a sofa bed ensures that it can accommodate overnight guests if required. The family bathroom is a lovely light room. In keeping with the period nature of the property it has a roll top bath, corner shower and wash basin. A chrome heated rail will keep your towels warm and the former airing cupboard now provides extensive floor to ceiling storage. The separate cloakroom is worthy of a special mention, the walls have beautiful original tiles in a palette of soft lilacs, greys and green.

An open riser staircase provides access to the two loft rooms; both with dormer windows and enjoying great elevated views. Ideal as occasional bedrooms, hobby rooms or for local band practice as the current vendors’ children did… presumably the drums could barely be heard from the ground floor!

Vendor Insight

The room next to the kitchen was our playroom when the children were young. When we’ve held parties the kitchen table has been moved in there to create more circulation space in the kitchen itself. Now it’s our TV room, we light the fire there most evenings in winter; it’s lovely and cosy. The big sitting room tends to be used at the weekends, special occasions, over the holidays or when we’ve guests and need more space. We’ve never felt on top of each other here; having two sitting rooms has been great with teenagers when either there’s been a difference in viewing choice or they’ve had their friends over.

It’s a wonderful house at Christmas too. We thread lights through the wisteria over the front door, our tree goes in the bay window of the dining room, we decorate the staircase balustrade and bring in holly from our garden.”

Step Outside

Arriving at the house and the front garden is gated both for vehicles and pedestrians, it’s possible to park three cars off the road on the tarmac area and there’s also space in the garage. There is a hawthorn hedge along the roadside which has both white flowers and red berries and neat lawns edged with limestones. Four flowering cherry trees provide springtime colour and there are also established copper maple, rowan and beech trees in the front garden with clematis and honeysuckle climbing the side wall behind the shrub border.

Paths lead round either side of the house, where locked gates open to the rear garden making it secure for children and dogs. To one side is a log store, coal bunker, compost store and two water butts.

A path leads along the rear elevation of the house and offers space for garden furniture. A curved path crosses the lawn to a seating area under the wisteria-clad pergola which enjoys the last slithers of the day’s sun making it a super spot for an afternoon barbecue or chilled sundowner as you reflect on the day.

The far boundary of the garden has a hornbeam hedge (a vibrant green in spring and summer) and an area in front where wild grasses and flowers are sown. Surrounded by a box hedge, the octagonal summer house has French doors to the front and offers an idyllic sheltered place to sit with a drink and read, day dream or watch the children playing. Along the road is a traditional stone wall, the crevices between the stones have provided a multitude of hiding places for chocolate eggs during the family’s traditional Easter Egg hunt over the years.

In the back garden a new selection of trees were planted in 2018 and are now well established; they include a birch, variegated acer, deep pink flowering hawthorn, yellow flowering laburnum and a rowan with orange berries in autumn. A mature holly is perfect for gathering sprigs to decorate the house at Christmas time. The owners tell us that the garden is alive with colour from May to September (borders are planted with lupins, delphiniums and hardy geraniums) and has been a source of great joy to them as they have planted and tended it over the years. It’s a lovely private garden, enough to give you room for all you’ll want to do here but not too much that upkeep becomes a chore.

Externally there is lighting, a cold water tap and under the pergola, a power point.

Vendor Insight

The garden has been fantastic for us and our children. The back garden is secure and private; we’ve valued the fact that from the kitchen window we could watch them playing cricket and football and had an outside door to make a dash if they needed us.

The garden has changed over the years. We’ve held fundraisers and parties here for the local groups we’ve been involved with.”

Broadband

Superfast speed available of 291 Mbps download and for uploading 46 Mbps. Ultrafast speed available of 9000 Mbps download and for uploading 9000 Mbps.

Local Authority

Lancaster City Council

Services

Mains electricity, gas, water (metered) and drainage. Gas fired central heating from a Vaillant combination boiler in the garage.

Directions

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Use Sat Nav LA1 4EN with reference to the directions below:

Leaving Lancaster on the A6 (Scotforth Road) and head south into the Scotforth district of the city. Pass the parade of shops on your left and St Paul’s Primary School on your right. Shortly afterwards is the splayed left hand junction with Barton Road, No.111 is immediately after on the junction with Yealand Drive. If you get to the BP garage, you’ve gone too far.

Schools

Primary

Scotforth St Paul’s CoE Primary School

St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School

Moorside Primary School

Bowerham School

Ellel St John the Evangelist Church of England Primary School

Secondary

Royal Lancaster Grammar Schools

Ripley St Thomas CoE Academy

Further education

Lancaster University

University of Cumbria (Lancaster campus)

Lancaster and Morecambe College

Included in the sale

Fitted carpets, curtains, curtain poles, blinds, light fittings and integral kitchen appliances as detailed in the description. The freestanding washing machine would be additionally available by way of further negotiation. Outside the summer house, log store, coal bunker, compost store and two water butts are all included in the sale.

Tenure

Freehold

Council Tax Band

F