You’ve spent the morning picking late summer apples, pears and plums from your orchard to pile high in a kitchen counter basket. You’ve toured the delicatessens of nearby Malton, the county’s undisputed food capital, to procure the finest bottles for your Swedish wine fridge. And you’ve lined the stone shelves of your 18th century pantry with fresh artisan bread and tarts from Bluebird Bakery, and rounds of organic Shepherd's Purse cheese—all crafted within half an hour of this Beautiful House in Yorkshire, worth £2,500,000, with six bedrooms and stables.
When you enter The Yorkshire House Draw, supporting Mencap, you could be welcoming loved ones to this spectacular Georgian country home, with £250,000 in the bank. Guests approach through Ryedale’s lush, ancient farmland and up your sweeping driveway, past acres of paddocks and gardens. You welcome them from beneath the shade of your stone-pillared portico, feeling like the consummate host, before ushering them into this galleried, Wedgewood Blue hallway and up an elegant, winding staircase, as the sun pours in through ornate fan lights.
Children will feel at one with their calm, scenic surroundings, framed by a cosy window seat in this whimsical bedroom with a pastel palette and cast iron hearth hung with cotton bunting. Grown ups will breathe a sigh of relief as they take rest in a deep, striped armchair beneath a pitched roof in this homely, two bed attic annexe—their tranquil, private quarters. Its bedroom is alive with playful touches from the natural world; a carved wood and rattan headboard, botanical illustrations, fresh cut flowers and an inviting mix of tactile fabrics in a variety of garden greens.
Summon friends for lunch, made light work of by your hand-crafted kitchen’s five oven, electric aga and Neff multipurpose cooker. In this stately dining room, breeches and bonnets are entirely optional, but tempting nevertheless, as friends draw reassuringly heavy chairs up to a dark wood table. Natural light reflects on blue and white porcelain and ornate, cut-glass, while linen placemats and woven plate warmers add country charm. A commanding stone fireplace, lined with herringbone red brick, presides over a flawless flagstone floor and walls of panelled wood.
Under the lazy September sun, friends explore your grounds at their own pace. Will they choose to float in a heated spa pool surrounded by wildflowers, or lounge, poolside, in a rattan armchair with a cooler? Or stroll the gardens, resting beneath the branches of a walnut tree to watch tiny birds dart between fence and lawn? Equine lovers can lose themselves in your state-of-the-art stables, with an open barn, loose and foaling boxes, a wash bay and tack room, before saddling up to ride around one of your paddocks, or canter on out past your stone gateway and beyond.
As the autumn sun fades to a low glow, you gather loved ones for a slow supper on your York Stone terrace, overlooking the Vale of Pickering’s patchwork blanket of gold and green. Over lingering drinks, consider tomorrow; hiking in the moors, antique shopping in Kirkbymoorside or a riverside lunch in York. Because wherever you go next, they’re on this journey with you. Just by entering the Yorkshire House Draw, you’re helping Mencap break down barriers to create a fairer, more inclusive society where people with a learning disability have equal chances in life.
PLUS enter by Midnight on Sunday for 15 extra entries.
