Grand tour

History lives on at these fine country houses in the North of England

Cumbria, offers over £3 million ‘A capital mansion house, known as Calthwaite Hall,’ detailed the York Herald on May 27, 1843, ‘has been recently erected… of the Elizabethan order, and stands on a gentle elevation, commanding extensive prospects over the richly cultivated and highly picturesque vale of the River Petteril, and is pre-eminent in every respect, as a fit residence for a Country Gentleman.’ The 7½-acre estate in the village of Calthwaite, which is just over seven miles from Penrith, remains in fine form and has been impressively adapted to create a wedding and luxury-holiday business with future bookings in place and an annual turnover of some £350,000. In the main house, with its striking spiral staircase, there are 12 bedrooms and seven bathrooms; without, there’s a two-bedroom cottage and a selection of holiday lodges and pods, each of which has its own veranda-covered hot tub. A purpose-built glass orangery, amid Mediterranean-style planting, provides a formal dining area for 100 and there are also stables, paddocks, a tack room and a floodlit manège, plus an outdoor swimming pool. Finest Properties (01434 622234)