Irthington, Carlisle, CA6 4NH

Now You Can Live On A Sprawling Victorian Estate Without The Upkeep Of A Sprawling Victorian Estate. A charming Victorian sandstone lodge at the entrance to the Beanlands estate - with two bedrooms, a claw-foot bath, a kitchen garden and mature woodland plot. Property ref: KD0516

Turns out, living on a private gated Victorian estate is entirely achievable. The part that usually stops most people - the scale, the upkeep, the sheer commitment of it all - simply doesn't apply here.

The Lodge has been sitting at the entrance to Beanlands since the 1870s. The red sandstone, the steep-pitched slate roof, the carved stonework above the arched porch - it was built with the same care and intention as the main house, just at a scale you can actually live in without staff on the payroll.

Inside, the lounge has a log burner sitting in a period fireplace, leaded-light windows and enough room to settle in properly for the evening. The kitchen and dining room runs a decent length - with cream shaker units, a gas hob, double oven - and one of the best floors you'll find in any kitchen this year: original Victorian geometric tiles in deep red and cream that have been here since the house was first built.

Off the back of the house, the conservatory adds real living space - terracotta floor tiles, a dining table, a sofa, and the kind of light on a clear morning that makes you want to cancel your plans. There's also a handy ground floor shower room.

Upstairs, the two bedrooms sit under the pitched roof with Velux windows bringing in the sky and the treetops. The main bedroom has a second window looking out over the grounds - quiet, green and private. The landing has built-in low level storage running the full width of one wall.

The bathroom deserves its own mention. The freestanding claw-foot bath is the centrepiece, with white metro brick tiles, a pedestal basin and a chrome heated towel rail. It's the kind of bathroom that ends up on Pinterest boards and then proves surprisingly hard to find in actual houses.

Outside, the plot gives you considerably more than it first appears. Raised galvanised steel vegetable beds sit alongside the rear garden - with the early rhubarb already coming through - with a lawn area and a substantial timber outbuilding that works well as a workshop or studio. To the side of the house, a large gravelled area provides parking and turning space.

Irthington village is a couple of minutes away in the car, with The Sally pub, a church and a “Good” primary school. Carlisle is about 15 minutes away, the M6 around 10, and the A69 at the Brampton bypass gets you to Newcastle in just over an hour.

The Lodge gives you a Victorian estate address, a productive garden, a bathroom worth writing home about and woodland on the plot - at a scale that's actually enjoyable to own.

Get in touch to arrange a viewing - I suspect this one won't sit around for long.