Living in the Georgian gem, the grandest property in a hidden hamlet and home to Ellen Gosling for 25 years, is like stepping back in time.

"We've done quite a lot of work to reinstate period features and use Georgian colours in the decor," she said. "I think that’s important if you have a property like this. If you care about it, you want to keep the period features as much as possible. So we’ve reinstated fireplaces to the appropriate period and tended the original deep skirting boards and panelled doors.

"My favourite spot is the hall because it looks so Georgian. It has the fanlight window over the front door and there’s an arched window as you go up the stairs. The tiled floor is an Amtico floor that we put down but it’s in keeping with the property.

We don't have the original deeds but I would say that the house could date from anything between 1760, 1780, something like that."

Ellen and her late husband Alan moved to The Beeches , in the conservation hamlet of Tarraby on the outskirts of Carlisle, after relocating from Liverpool for his job as a design consultant.

"He was looking for somewhere for us to live and brought the details home as he’d absolutely fallen in love with it. I wasn’t too sure because it seemed so big but we were going to ask his mother to live with us, which she did," Ellen said.

"When I came to see it, I felt exactly the same. I came up just before Christmas, we had a look at this property, immediately put an offer in for it and were moved in by March."

Their two adult children did not move with them but have obviously visited over the years with their families, and daughter Sarah was actually married from the house, with a marquee in the back garden for the celebration.

Ellen said: "We’ve had a christening, anniversaries and special birthdays, family gatherings. It’s a lovely house for parties. It’s also great for putting up visitors."

The property is beautifully complemented by its pretty setting within the hamlet and has manageable gardens with lawns, shrubs, bushes and hedging.

"We’ve got a huge copper beech in the front garden and we did put in a second copper beech about 18 years ago and that’s really come on," said Ellen.

Also in the gardens, accessed via double iron gates, are a private flagged terrace, stores and a slate-topped oak-framed carport, put in by Alan and again in keeping with the property and with Building Regulations approval.

Reception rooms in the house include sitting and dining rooms which are packed with period detail and flooded with light from the huge sash windows, some of which have shutters. There are four bedrooms, two en-suite, a bathroom with walk-in shower cubicle and whirlpool bath and a fifth room which is currently used as a study. An extension, built in Victorian times but carefully blended in, houses the breakfasting kitchen.

Ellen says Tarraby, which is on a no-through road, is a bit of a hidden gem because a lot of people in Carlisle don’t know it exists: "It's like living in the heart of the country, but we’re under two miles from the centre of Carlisle.

"There’s quite a bit of history here. Joe Armstrong , a previous owner, was well-known for breeding Clydesdale horses. Someone has converted what must have been the stables into a beautiful family home and that’s called Old Clydesdale Stud.

"The Beeches is ideal for anyone who likes entertaining and is a really lovely family home."