Coltstaple Lane, Horsham

Offered for sale for the first time in 58 years, Little Coltstaple Farm offers an increasingly rare opportunity to own a handsome historic building surrounded by its own land in an unspoilt yet very accessible rural spot only 2.5 miles from Horsham town centre. The house has recently been subject to sympathetic renovation and modernisation.

Grade II Listed of great antiquity, formerly a farmhouse and previously a manor house. A building was recorded on the site in 1397, where the core part of the existing building is believed to be of this date or soon after with an open hall with crosswing with early 17th C. inserted floor. The house is understood to have been re-fronted in the 18th C. and with a large early 20th C. wing being added to the North-East that is believed to incorporate timbers from a former barn on the site. The timber frame and exposed structure to the principal building and internally on the first floor includes curved door braces and late 18th C. diaper bond brick at ground floor. Interior features include a 17th C. newel post and some panelling, a roll-moulded dais beam, open fireplace and early 17th C. inserted ceiling with chamfered spine beam with lamb's tongue stop, plank doors, jowled posts and impressive crown post roof with head and foot braces and collar beam. This section of the building is probably mentioned in a will of 1574 as Coltstaple House of having "two rooms below stares other rooms and two rooms above stares" and is also subject to an inventory of 1662 (source: Listing entry 1262105).

The extensive renovation works undertaken by skilled craftsmen with sympathy to the original construction have included repairs to the original oak frame; new insulation to certain wall panels and weatherboarding to the North wing external elevations; re-tiling of the roof using reclaimed tiles and additional insulation; replacement or repair of windows which mainly comprise oak framed double glazed units, plus oak internal doors. In addition, the first-floor bathroom has been divided into a new bath and separate shower room and the ground floor shower room has been converted into a wet room (Listed Building consent ref: DC/21/1299). There has also been electrical rewiring along with the installation of a modern central heating system with a Samsung air-source heat pump, insulation and double glazing to provide an enhanced EPC rating for a Listed building of 'D-65'.