Old Stables, The Castle Inn, Hornby, Lancaster, LA2

For more than four hundred years, people have arrived at the Castle Inn in Hornby tired from the road and glad of a warm welcome. Coaches rattled in from Lancaster, horses steamed in the yard, and the lamps in the windows promised a fire, a meal and a bed. Today that welcome becomes something more permanent. The Old Stables is one of only six homes — three houses and three apartments — that Holmes and Interiors have carefully crafted within this Grade II listed landmark. It is a place where centuries of history meet the comforts of modern life, and where every beam and brick has a story to tell.

The front door opens into a welcoming entrance hall with a staircase rising ahead and a generous cloaks cupboard for boots, coats and dog leads after a walk by the Wenning. To one side, the lounge is a cosy retreat with room for a large sofa and a dedicated media wall — the place for long winter evenings and Sunday afternoons.

Through double doors lies the true heart of the home: a spectacular open-plan kitchen and dining room beneath a vaulted ceiling crossed by blackened oak trusses. A wall of exposed brick glows warmly in the evening light, while a stone feature wall with open shelving frames the kitchen. Shaker-style cabinetry with brushed brass handles, tall pantry units and a central island with breakfast stools make this a kitchen built for gathering, and there is space for a long farmhouse table where Sunday lunches can stretch into the evening. A traditional column radiator and a second door to the outside complete a room that feels both grand and intimately homely.

The principal bedroom is on the ground floor, with its own en-suite shower room. The house bathroom is pure country-house indulgence: a freestanding roll-top bath beneath a sash window, a traditional pedestal basin, a classic WC with a timber seat, and a polished heated towel rail against exposed brickwork. It is a room designed for slow, candlelit soaks.

The staircase rises to a striking galleried landing that bridges the double-height space below, looking down over the kitchen and dining room — a moment of drama you will enjoy every single day. On either side, two further bedrooms nestle beneath the sloping eaves, full of charm and character. Bedroom Three easily takes a double bed, while Bedroom Two is ideal for a child, a guest room or a quiet home office. 

Behind a façade of warm honey-coloured stone and white-painted sash windows, The Old Stables enjoys its own private terrace, softly lit by wall lanterns and screened by timber — the perfect place for morning coffee or a glass of wine as the sun sets over the Lune Valley.

The Castle Inn has welcomed travellers for more than four centuries. The Old Stables invites you to stop travelling — and stay.

A nod to times gone by ...

A coaching inn lived and breathed by its horses. The Lune Valley was once a major route north towards Scotland, and throughout the eighteenth century the Castle Inn was one of the valley's principal stabling points. Behind the elegant Georgian frontage was the working heart of the business: the stable yard, where weary teams were led in, rubbed down and rested, and fresh horses were harnessed for the next stage of the journey.
The inn still sits on the corner of Post Horse Lane — a name that recalls the hired horses that carried mail and travellers onward from Hornby. The Old Stables takes its name from that heritage. Where ostlers once worked by lantern light, there is now a home of warmth and calm; the same honest materials — timber, brick and stone — that once sheltered the horses of the coaching age now frame a life of comfort.

Life in Hornby ...

Hornby is one of the Lune Valley's loveliest villages, with the River Wenning flowing through it and Hornby Castle rising above. Across the road stands St Margaret's Church with its unusual octagonal tower, and the Main Street is lined with Georgian houses and stone cottages.
Lancaster lies around nine miles away and Kirkby Lonsdale around eight, with regular bus links to both and to Ingleton. The Forest of Bowland, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District are all within easy reach — endless walks, cycle rides and country pubs on your doorstep, and a quiet village to come home to.

Four centuries at the heart of Hornby ...

Hornby was laid out as a planned market town in the thirteenth century, and the Castle Inn has always stood at its very centre — facing the old market place and the gates of Hornby Castle, whose story stretches back to a medieval pele tower. One of the castle's most famous owners, Sir Edward Stanley, fought at Flodden in 1513 and was made Lord Monteagle for his courage.
There has been an inn on this site since at least the late 1500s, when it was kept by Henry Chatburn, a local linen merchant and deputy bailiff of the Hornby Castle Estate. When the turnpike road arrived in the 1750s, the inn's fortunes rose with it, and the handsome Georgian building you see today took shape: squared sandstone, chamfered quoins, slate roof and elegant sash windows.
This was a coaching inn in the truest sense. Stage coaches between Lancaster and Kirkby Lonsdale halted here, and local tradition holds that passengers riding on the roof could step straight into the inn through an upper door ra...

General Information

EPC Rating: TBC
Council Tax Band: TBC
Tenure: Freehold
Utilities: Mains-connected utilities

The service charge and ground rent are yet to be confirmed. All details are subject to verification.

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These particulars are intended as a general guide only and do not form part of any offer or contract. Whilst prepared in good faith, Lune Valley Estates Ltd has not independently verified all information and cannot guarantee its accuracy. All measurements, floor areas, plans, photographs and descriptions are approximate and for marketing purposes only.
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