Staintondale Road, Cloughton, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

+++Nestled between Scarborough and Whitby, Moor Lodge is a distinguished Victorian coastal home with breath-taking sea views and extensive gardens, including enchanting woodland. This remarkable property which was once a former hunting lodge is offered for sale on the open market for the first time in over 138 years. Built in 1887 in the Revival style, drawing inspiration from 16th and 17th-century architecture, the property boasts elaborate timber framing and has been cherished throughout its history. The interior features stunning period details, such as Adams-style Georgian fireplaces, intricate wall panelling, and ornamental plasterwork. Tall, double-glazed windows offer picturesque views of the surrounding lawns and countryside.+++

Spanning over 6570 sq ft, Moor Lodge includes a vestibule, reception hall, three reception rooms, a study, and a kitchen/breakfast room awaiting its final touches. The first floor offers four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a self-contained annexe with a kitchen/living area. The second floor features three attic bedrooms and a bathroom. Outside, the property is set within 7.2 acres of landscaped gardens and wooded grounds, complete with a workshop, stores, a boiler room, a kennel, and a detached garage.

The ambitious first owner of Moor Lodge was an antique dealer from Leeds. He fitted the house with Adams style Georgian fireplaces as well as extensive and elaborate wall panelling, mantelpieces, doors and door frames taken from Moot Hall, the largely seventeenth century Guildhall building in Leeds that was demolished in 1825. The impact remains as impressive today as it was when first fitted. The ground floor rooms display an eye-watering abundance of period features; there is ornamental plasterwork and coving, elaborate wood turning and decorated marble fire surrounds crowned by ornamental coffered ceilings with geometric patterns. The tall windows look out over the lawns and are almost all double glazed although they have retained their original frames.

From wrought iron gates within the dry-stone wall, the long drive winds its way up to the house through woodland and then past extensive lawns punctuated with rhododendrons, topiarised yew and rock gardens. The drive passes a parking area and traditional brick-built garage with steeply pitched roof to an additional parking area directly in front of the main entrance of the house.

Rising lawns surround the house on all sides with woodland at the perimeter. A terrace sculpted into the hillside has a retaining wall and provides a sunny and sheltered spot for sitting out with views down to the sea. At the rear, the seeping lawns abutting the house are sheltered by a high retaining stone wall with a raised stage for outdoor theatricals. A grassy bank is underplanted with spring bulbs, there is a small orchard, holly bushes and a dry-stone wall on the southern boundary bordering open countryside. Mature mixed woodland frames the house and is criss-crossed with paths.

Moor Lodge lies in a stunning coastal region within the North York Moors National Park, between Scarborough and Whitby. To the west is the skyline of the Moors and to the east, rolling countryside that descends to the Heritage coast. There are coastal paths nearby including the Cleveland Way and The Cinder Track, a dual footpath/cycling route that runs from Scarborough to Robin Hood’s Bay. Cloughton is a Conservation village on the A171 coastal road that links Thirsk to Scarborough. It has retained much of its character with vernacular stone buildings typical of the region and is well served with two public houses and an historic church. All other amenities can be found close by in the thriving seaside town of Scarborough, a short drive away.

Services & Systems: Mains water and electricity. Wood pellet boiler ‘ekopower’ – Danish developed technology. Private drainage.

Directions: Go through Cloughton, turn off to Ravenscar. Soon after Hayburn Wyke Inn on the right hand side, a long stone wall on the left identifies the property and just beyond the brow of a hill are the entrance gates within woodland, set back on the left.

Environs: Cloughton 2 miles, Scarborough 6 miles, Whitby 14 miles, Pickering 20 miles, Malton 25 miles.