Betty's Lodge at St Ives Estate in Harden on sale for £350,000

Betty's Lodge, is a beautiful Grade II Listed Lodge House built in 1820 in the style of Victorian Gothic revival, and is at the gateway to St Ives Country Estate in Harden, near Bingley.

It is being sold through Linley & Simpson’s Bingley branch with an asking price of £350,000.

Its current owners bought the lodge in 2009 and have made substantial improvements to Betty’s interior and exterior, bringing it up to the 21st Century. They have replaced the windows, extending upstairs and replaced the kitchen.

The owners have also researched the house and the estate in which it sits.

In 1540, the estate was bought by a Walter Paslew, and was subsequently owned by the Laycock and Milner families with the St Ives mansion house named Harden Grange being built in 1616.

Inside Betty's Lodge in Harden

Harden Grange and its estate was bought in 1636 by Robert Ferrand and remained in the Ferrand family for nearly 300 years.

Edward Ferrand inherited the estate in 1803 and allowed his brother, Walker Ferrand, to reside at Harden Grange. Walker Ferrand was the estate’s custodian between 1803 and 1837, and his diaries revealed extensive developments to the mansion house, its gardens and the estate it sits within.

It is from Walker Ferrand’s dairy that it can be certain that Bettys Lodge, the East Lodge House, was finished in 1820.

Walker Ferrand took design inspiration from Esholt Hall and the Harewood Estate. The designs were implemented by Adam Mickle III, whose grandfather studied garden design under the legendary garden designer, Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

William Ferrand inherited the estate in 1844 and in 1858 he renamed Harden Grange calling it St Ives.

Inside a bedroom at Betty's Lodge

In the 1861 census the lodge house was home to the estate’s gardener, Matthew Summersgill and his wife, Betty, whom it is believed the lodge is named after.

Alex Woodhouse, Linley & Simpson Bingley sales valuer, said: “Betty's Lodge is a fantastically quirky, Grade II Listed property.

“Betty's Lodge is set in its own lovely gardens and will appeal to wide range of buyers looking for something unique.”

“Properties like this don’t come on the market very often, and there has already been plenty of interest in Betty’s Lodge.”

The St Ives Estate is a country park with woodlands, open moor, wildflower meadow and an adventure playground for children. There is also an 18-hole golf course, horse riding stables and coppice pond which is a large fishing lake.

For more information on Bettys Lodge, which is on the market at £350,000, can be obtained from Linley & Simpson’s Bingley Branch website, at linleyandsimpson.co.uk/branch/Bingley or by call the branch on 01274 560321.