Linden Farm House is a traditional Cumbrian property dating from the 1780s and transformed from its former dilapidated state in the 31 years it has been occupied by Robin and Melanie Davies.

The couple moved into the farmhouse after relocating back to Cumbria from Bristol where they spent seven years while Robin trained as a woodworker and cabinet maker. He now runs his own business, Barnaby Woodwork, from Linden Farm.

Robin said: "We wanted workshops space and the thing that attracted us to this property was the extensive range of farm buildings. They have three-phase electricity in them, which is ideal for my machines, so the house was almost a secondary thing really."

They got to work on the property straightaway, renovating and refurbishing it.

"We’ve done an awful lot to the house," said Robin. "The main part was very dilapidated so for the first few years we just sort of brought it up to date.

"About 15 years ago we extended on the side of the house for Melanie’s mother to live in as a granny flat. She could live independently but the connecting door can be opened and the whole thing become one house again in a comfortable and convenient way."

Linden Farm has three reception rooms, two kitchens, a larder and two staircases with five bedrooms and a study on the first floor. There's also a conservatory and extensive range of outbuildings, all set in grounds of just over eight and a half acres with a beck running through.

Robin said: "After bringing the house up to standard, most of the work was in the garden. We built a pond at the front of the house where the land was really very boggy.

"That has been the biggest feature of living here in many ways because once the pond was built, a lot of the spoil went o make the garden in the front of the house and the tennis court area.

"I’ve made little aspects of different gardens, so there’s a sunken garden to the south-east side of the house, and an ordinary garden in front and a parterre going down towards the pond. And an avenue of poplars."

Robin and Melanie are downsizing to a passive solar house that they're self-building on adjacent land: "We've both worked so hard in this place over the years that we just want time to ourselves," he said.

The gardens are an outstanding feature of the property and have proved a delightful playground for children, as Robin explained: "Although we haven’t got children ourselves, all our nieces and nephews have had a wonderful Swallows and Amazons time when they were younger here with the tennis court and pond, barbecues and fires and making zip wires across the pond.

"The pond is just wonderful. In the summer you see the swallows. On summer nights there’s mist coming off the pond and the full moon behind it - it’s all very romantic."

The pond is fed by Briggle Beck which runs through the grounds. Part of this area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Robin said: "There’s an awful lot of wildlife here and it all came as soon as the pond was built – there were toads and frogs within days and one of the first things that came was a kingfisher."

Melanie added: "We didn’t realise how special it was, we just assumed that everybody saw kingfishers."

Oystercatchers nest in the gardens and deer and barn and tawny owls are also seen, along with the occasional red squirrel.

Linden Farm House is in the Eden Valley, just over a mile from Langwathby.

Robin said: "Langwathby is such a wonderful place, a vibrant village with restaurant and good pub, school, church and all sorts of things.

"Here we have the backdrop of the Pennines behind us and it’s so quiet, yet we’re only seven miles from the motorway and near the Penrith railway line. It’s magical."