In an enviable location combining the best of town and country living, this spacious Victorian property has a host of features to recommend it.

Wesley Manse, so called because it was the home of Brampton's Methodist ministers, was built in 1877 overlooking The Sands, an area of parkland with views of wooded hill The Mote.

"I love sitting out near the front gate when you can see what’s actually happening on The Sands," said Darryl Francis, who has lived at Wesley Manse with his wife Ann for the past five years. "We’re fairly secluded so we can see out but people can’t see in."

The detached house has a sitting room and home office, breakfasting kitchen and four double bedrooms, two with en-suite facilities. A highlight of the accommodation is the stunning oak-framed garden room with pitched roof and glazing on three sides, flooding the space with light. It is open to a large dining area and provides a relaxing space with views over the landscaped gardens.

Darryl said: "Ann designed the gardens and she's done a fantastic job. We inherited a fairly blank canvas so we've put plants in everywhere, changed some of the lawn areas to flowerbeds and taken out an old pond to make another huge flowerbed.

"Its lovely sitting outside in good weather, whether on the fairly large flagstoned area or the various tables and benches scattered around in the sun and shade."

The gardens have a range of outbuildings, external gates and a drive for off-street parking, as well as a substantial double garage.

Inside the house, the entrance hall has an attractive staircase and convenient cloakroom with doors to the sitting room and home office. The reception room has a marble fireplace with log-burning stove and both it and the office have views over the front towards the parkland.

A rear hall provides access to the breakfasting kitchen which has a door to a utility with contemporary fitted units and another door to a courtyard. The kitchen is large enough for living and dining and has a slate floor and fireplace with log-burning stove.

"We completely changed the utility from a rather sad-looking room into one that is as good as a second kitchen," said Darryl. "And we put in a door to the outside from the utility; knocking out the stone in very thick walls took three or four days and it was done under Building Regulations as we are in the Brampton conservation area, although the house isn’t listed."

In addition to the en-suites off the two front double bedrooms, the family bathroom is very well-presented with two windows, a chequered floor, contemporary bath with floor-mounted mixer tap and a large shower cubicle.

"We have lots of original features, coving in every room, ceiling roses, probably most of the skirting boards because they’re very high, and all the outside stonework," Darryl said.

"We moved from Thursby and one thing we liked about this house is that it’s quite close to the town. Another thing is that you can walk out of the door and straightaway you’re into some very nice walks, plus it's a very impressive-looking house and was just the right size.

"We're moving because one of our daughters, with her husband and our two granddaughters, lives in Sheffield and every time we go to visit, it’s a four-hour drive. So we’ve decided that we’d like to be closer to them so we can all visit more easily.

"But we'll miss the amount of space we have here, the fact that it’s got some history to it and the fact that we’ve done pretty much everything to it that we wanted to.

"Also it’s Brampton, right on the edge of the town and the country. It’s going to be difficult to find a house that’s equidistant between the two things."

Wesley Manse, The Sands, Brampton, is for sale at £550,000 from Hayward Tod, tel. 01228 810300.