County Durham is one of the very nicest places to be in England, as I found out on a recent visit, and it would be, in my eyes, a rather lovely place to live. If you also fancy living in Co Durham, then perhaps look no further than Blagraves, the oldest residence in Barnard Castle, which is with Inigo for £485,000.
The second oldest building in the town, Blagraves is a Grade I-listed four-bedroom home with a commercial space on its ground floor that used to serve as an antiques shop, café and gallery. The riverside cottage right by the Tees comes complete with a charming courtyard garden, a spacious cellar that used to be a brewery and have a well, and minstrel figures which were added in the 20th century to the building’s front.
Constructed at some point before 1482, it was previously owned by Richard III, before it became the Boar’s Head Inn where Oliver Cromwell paid a visit in the 17th century — and perhaps got drunk on mead, or the heady glow of concocting grand plans of civil unrest. For this it gained a blue plaque. In 1725 it was bought by a fishmonger called William Tomlinson for £125 and one shilling — a lot shy of what it will sell for today. He was responsible for adding plenty of 17th- and 18th-century features. During the latter era, the attic of the house was used as a clandestine meeting point for the followers of the leader of the Methodist movement, John Wesley. At the risk of sounding a bit like the latest CMAT song, it went on to be a ropemaker's, baker's and shoemaker's. Curiously, post Second World War, it became a museum with the intriguing title of ‘House of Mystery’.
Lying in the town's antiques district, Blagrave not only contains history in itself, but is surrounded by it. Having been restored in line with English Heritage guidance after being given Grade-I listed status in the 50s, it contains a variety of heritage features, including: 17th-century bay windows, an 18th-century staircase and period fireplaces.
On one of the county’s characteristically sloping streets, I picture Blagrave as an artist’s studio, with accommodation upstairs. With planning approval to create a studio annexe pending, I have wistful fantasies of a painter working away in the annexe while a potter’s workshop is in full swing below, wonky clay vases adorning the site where Cromwell once sipped from a tankard and dreamt of glorious, bloody revolution.
Blagrave is on the market with Inigo, more information can be found on their website.
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