One of Lancashire's most regal homes on the market for £1.5m

Unassuming and comfortably at one with the land surrounding it, a stunning eight-bedroom Victorian mansion is on the market for £1.5m, offering a lucky someone the chance to own one of Lancashire's most regal properties.
MoorlandsMoorlands
Moorlands

Moorlands was built in the 1800s, hewn from sandstone and oak to create a mountain of a house which sits stoically against its landscape like an unblinking member of the Queen's Guard, completely unbothered by anything going on around it, including the cheerily colourful crawling ivy.

Imposing on the outside, ornate on the inside, the house is located in Foulridge - which appropriately traces its roots back to the Stone Age and was associated with Oliver Cromwell during the Civil War - and is accessed via electric wrought-iron gates and a driveway lined by rhododendrons and ancient trees: a suitable introduction to a property strong in its links to nature.

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The home's airy porch is flagged with York stone, with the triple-arched door leading a prospective owner onto the solid oak Herringbone patterned parquet floor of the entrance hall, where they invariably look upwards to a large centre roof light, which shines down into the heart of the house.

Period features such as the main lounge's deep skirting boards, mullion windows, and ornate cornices have been kept intact over the centuries, but the interior of the home has been modernised to cater for contemporary tastes somewhat more effectively. A Lutron Media Interface with roof speakers throughout means that old as the house may be, it doesn't feel it.

Keeping a bit of that historic open fire cosiness, however, the living room does boast a cast-iron multi-fuel Hunter Herald stove in the sandstone fireplace as well as three casement windows - perfect reading spots for those chilly December days when the sun seems barely to rise - while a nearby walnut floored study comes with underfloor heating.

In the kitchen, the house comes to life. Polished granite surfaces, a wide range of Neff appliances, an island workstation, and a Quooker tap make rustling up a Lancashire hotpot that bit easier, while the dining room complete with stone hearth, oak mantle piece, and French doors make not having a Sunday roast almost rude.

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Up the mahogany staircase leading up to a galleried landing, the home's master bedroom has solid maple polished floor with an en-suite dressing room and bathroom, which boasts a spa bath with splash TV, his-and-hers basins, and underfloor heating to make that first step from under the duvet that little bit easier. Five other bedrooms join the master on the first floor.

Prepared for anything, Moorlands also comes with a recently-refurbished detached coach house to the south of the main home dating back to 1870, which provides two extra bedrooms as well as central heating, an open-plan lounge-cum-kitchen, a patio area, and an en-suite shower room with under-floor heating off the main bedroom.

As well as a courtyard garden room, extensive cellar space, a laundry room, and an attic storeroom, Moorlands has ample space for everyday life, while the extensive gardens feature - in classic Moorlands natural style - a range of fruit trees. As Cromwell himself said, after all: "Subtlety may deceive you; integrity never will."