A country house that's 'the finest-looking estate between the Humber and the Tweed' (at least according to Queen Victoria)

Just the other day in the office we were musing (and writing) about how a beautiful staircase adds to much to the charm of a house. So, naturally, almost every property I've looked at in the last few days seems to have an incredible staircase at its heart.

You've probably had the same phenomenon. Buy a seemingly obscure car, and then you start seeing them everywhere, following you down the A303 or pulling out in front of you on side roads and so on. Or you get a new coat, and then it seems that every third person on the street seems to have the exact same one.

It's not just you: psychologists have studied this and call it the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or the 'frequency illusion'. It happens all the times with cars, clothes, food... and, if you work at Country Life, grand sweeping staircases in country houses.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying how much we love the stairs at Burn Hall, in Durham, which is on the market at £2.75 million via Anderson & Garland.

The staircase is the centrepiece of a wonderfully grand hallway in a house designed in 1821 by the beautifully-named Ignatius Bonomi. The Durham-based architect — son of an Italian architect, Joseph Bonomi, who'd moved to England as a young man — created some of the most striking buildings in the north-east, including Lambton Castle.

While Lambton was conceived as a whimsical 19th century take on the Norman castle, Burn Hall is squarely a classic country house, albeit with a slightly unusual look thanks to the striped stone cladding — something which probably shows Bonomi's continental influences.

The overall effect is very striking indeed, and Burn Hall has a reputation as one of the finest country houses in the north-east of England. The agent has even found a quote from Queen Victoria, apparently, who is reputed to have called it 'the finest-looking estate between the Humber and the Tweed'. Quite the endorsement.

As it stands today, Burn Hall looks every inch the country residence that it was for the Salvin family, who originally commissioned it: period furniture, art and decoration abound throughout:

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That said, there are plenty of more modern touches too, especially in the bathrooms and the kitchen, which have a fine blend of old and new — all down to the present owners, who have spent 10 years lavishing love and attention on the house to return it to its historic appearance.

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The work that has gone on must have been enormously extensive, incidentally, because for most of the 20th century Burn Hall was actually a seminary set up by the Saint Joseph’s Missionary Society of Mill Hill. We can't imagine there were quite so many beautiful paintings, or quite so much charming period furniture, when the place was peopled by trainee priests.

We do like to imagine, however, that those young Men of God did at least have the exquisite snooker room to give them some time off from contemplating a life of religious service.

As well as the main house, the Burn Hall Estate also includes over 17 acres, a quadruple garage, lawns, woodland, parkland and even fishing rights on the River Browney. There is plenty more nearby, too: Durham city centre and station are both about four miles away.

Burn Hall Estate is for sale at £2.75 million — see more pictures and details.