Broad Lane, Aughton, L39

Owens Farm - Three and a Half Centuries at the End of the Track

A private track. A susurrus of hedgerow. Then Owens Farm itself, sandstone below and warm brick above, exactly where it has stood since 1677.

Set within circa five acres of garden, orchard and paddock, this Grade II listed farmhouse pairs its beamed reception rooms and stone hearth with a strikingly modern orangery, five bedrooms upstairs, and a cedar-clad summerhouse with its own heated pool.

A brick barn with planning consent for three dwellings offers rare future scope, while a wildlife pond and mature orchard of walnut, fig, apple, plum and pear complete grounds that answer to no one.

Quiet, private, and closer than it feels.

Five beautiful acres and not a neighbour insight.

There is a susurrus to Owens Farm before there is a sight of it. The lane gives way to a private track, the track to the sound of wind moving through the hedgerows, and only then does the farmhouse appear, sandstone below, warm brick above, exactly where it has stood since 1677. The date is carved into the keystone above the porch door, beside the initials of the family who built it, and the studded oak door beneath still swings on the strap hinges they hung. Very few houses are left alone long enough to become like this. Owens Farm has spent three and a half centuries at the end of its own track, wrapped in its own land, keeping its own counsel.

And what land it is. Circa five acres of garden, orchard and paddock, where a walnut and a fig hang heavy in season beside apple, plum and pear, and a path winds between deep borders to a wildlife pond that answers to no one. The house holds the same balance the grounds do. Where the old work is stone and brick, the new is deliberately glass, a crisp modern addition set against the seventeenth-century fabric ensuring that each century is allowed to be honestly itself. Beams and stone flags give way to a room that carries the sky indoors, a summerhouse with its own heated pool waits in the garden, and a brick barn with consent for three dwellings waits for its next purpose. But the truest luxury here is the quiet. The privacy. The particular solitude of a house that is near everything and beside nothing.

The Barn

Room to grow, without altering the house

A substantial brick barn stands within the grounds, adjoining the farmhouse and its own private track. Planning consent is in place for its conversion into three separate dwellings, offering a rare degree of future flexibility, whether for multi-generational living, guest accommodation, or a project for a subsequent owner to take on at their own pace.

Within the Old Walls

Where the seventeenth century still sets the pace

The front door opens first onto a small vestibule, stone flagged and cool, its threshold marked by the original studded latch door that has separated hall from home for three hundred and fifty years. Beyond it, the principal reception unfolds under a ceiling lined with wooden beams, softly lit by wall lights and a deep window seat that looks out over the land to the front. Two alcoves cut into the wall glance through to the orangery beyond, keeping the old part of the house and the new in quiet conversation. It is the fireplace that holds the room, though: a wood burning stove set upon a stone hearth beneath an oak mantle beam, the obvious place to end most days here.

A second reception sits to the right of the hall, smaller and more contained, a snug for a quieter hour, with its own storage and a stair rising to the landing and the bedrooms above.

The Kitchen and the Orangery

Stone flags meeting glass

The kitchen is the working heart of the farmhouse, its stone floor worn to a soft sheen underfoot, an Aga range set beneath an exposed stone wall, and a run of fitted units finished in a solid wood countertop. A Belfast sink sits below windows that frame the garden on two sides, and a dining area, lit from above, gathers the room together for the meals a working farmhouse kitchen has always been built for.

Beyond it, through full-length glazing and a lantern rooflight, the orangery is Owens Farm's clearest act of honesty about its own age: an entirely modern room, warmed by underfloor heating, that makes no attempt to disguise itself as anything but new. Bi-folding doors give directly onto the garden, and the room ties together kitchen, reception and outdoors into a single, easy line of movement.

Under the Beams

Five bedrooms, and the rural view from every one

The principal bedroom is dual aspect and vaulted, its beamed ceiling rising overhead, with a dressing room fitted with open storage and a four-piece en suite finished in natural stone tones, its corner shower and panelled bath both catching the morning light.

A second bedroom carries its own en suite, tiled in soft grey, while three further double rooms, each with fitted storage to one wall, share a family bathroom lit by twin Velux windows and warmed by a heated towel rail. A study, tucked beneath the eaves at the rear, looks out over the garden and the pond beyond it, a good, quiet room for the working end of the day.

The Gardens and Grounds

Circa five acres, and an orchard that still fruits

The approach alone sets the tone: a lengthy private track that encircles a grassy island with its own brook, water loving plants thick along the banks, before opening onto the parking area. A paddock, edged in rustic stock fencing, sits to the front, and flagstones cut a path through a lawn bordered by hedging and two long-established holly bushes.

To the side, an orchard carries the usual English suspects, apple, plum and pear, alongside a walnut and a fig both heavy with fruit in season. The rear garden is the more formal of the two, an extensive south-west facing lawn framed by mature shrubs and trees, its island borders leading, by way of a mown path, to a natural wildlife pond with its own perimeter walk.

The Summerhouse

A quiet luxury, kept apart from the house

Set alongside the farmhouse, a detached, part cedar-clad summerhouse holds a heated resistance pool and gym area, with a shower room and a plant room off to one side. Glazed to both elevations, it fills with garden light throughout the day, and a raised deck to one side is fitted for a hot tub, looking directly out over the lawn.

Location

Rural, private, and closer than it feels

Owens Farm sits at the end of its own private track in open countryside near Aughton, West Lancashire, with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal threading the landscape close by, its towpath a natural extension of the grounds for anyone who wants to walk further than the garden allows. The setting is entirely rural, yet Ormskirk and the wider West Lancashire road network remain within easy reach, giving the house the rare combination of genuine seclusion and everyday convenience.

Disclaimer

Every care has been taken with the preparation of these property details but they are for general guidance only and complete accuracy cannot be guaranteed. If there is any point, which is of particular importance professional verification should be sought. These property details do not constitute a contract or part of a contract. We are not qualified to verify tenure of property. Prospective purchasers should seek to obtain verification of tenure from their solicitor. The mention of any appliances, fixtures or fittings does not imply they are in working order. Photographs are reproduced for general information and it cannot be inferred that any item shown is included in the sale. All dimensions are approximate.