Queen Anne architecture with 21st century flair in a country house that's on the market for the first time in almost 70 years

It feels like only yesterday (mainly because it was yesterday) that we were music about great country houses, and how those which have escaped listed building status offer so much more flexibility for owners to update, improve and refresh without worrying about a long list of regulations.

So, naturally, the Universe came along today and presented before us a house which is listed, Grade II* at that, and which has still had everything you could ever want by way of updating, improvement and, er, refreshment. That house is Patrick Brompton Hall, in one of the prettiest parts of North Yorkshire, and it's for sale at £2.5 million.

That sum buys a 10-bedroom home which is a blend of charming, traditional and sumptuous — something all the more remarkable when you consider that it's been in the same family since 1958. Many such estates that have been passed down can get a little tired (you simply stop seeing crumbling plaster and tarnished walls when you've grown up with them), but plenty work done to keep this superb Queen Anne country house in fine condition.

For evidence of that you need look no further than the entrance hall, painted in a semi-glossy black with white highlights on the woodwork that makes for a wonderfully dramatic space.

The garden room, with it's gorgeous curved bay opening out onto a terrace, is another showstopping space, a huge, bright space on a scale that suggests all sorts of uses. The dining room is also large, swallowing a ten-seater table easily.

Some of the spaces present a far more traditional look. The kitchen, with its fire engine red Aga, might do with a little updating, for example, but it's more up to date than you might think: the Aga runs off LPG, while the house is heated by a biomass boiler.

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The same could be said of the snug, a traditional room currently filled with quirkily mismatched furniture and rugs. It's laid out as a cosy, fun room for conversation where you'd never have to worry about dogs on the sofa or the odd glass of wine getting spilt, but it's been updated with a club fender and log burner.

The 10 bedrooms are split between the first and second floors, accessed via a landing with dark walls and golden carpet that plays off the look and feel of the hallway below.

There's far more to the place as well, from the swimming pool, pavilion (used as a home office) and greenhouse, to a wine cellar, stable block and four cottages which have since 2014 been used as holiday lets.

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There's one more thing to mention about Patrick Brompton Hall: the rather strange name. You've probably assumed (as we had) that the hall must have been named after some local figure, so it was something of a surprise to hear that it's actually the name of the local village: Patrick Brompton.

The origins of this strange moniker are a little murky, and pre-date the Domesday Book, but the village website takes a stab at explaining how the common Anglo Saxon place name Brompton had the name of the patron saint of the local church added, to distinguish it from the other Bromptons around Yorkshire. It's a nice touch, though: like cats called Keith or dogs called Susan, there should be more people's names for towns.

Patrick Brompton Hall is for sale via Savills at £2.5 million — see more details.