The charming home in Great Orton is now on the market, offering a combination of Grade II-listed character and period features with modern comfort and convenience.

It also has the added bonus of lots of historical interest, with an English king and a famed Victorian writer associated with it.

The Old Rectory is now the home of Scarlett Reeves who has lived there for 18 months. The house is a detached five-bedroom property with two reception rooms, a study, cellar, large gardens and a range of outbuildings.

One of these is the former coach house, a two-storey building which is currently used as a garage but which could easily be converted to a separate dwelling.

Scarlett, who works for a steel trading company, said: “Great Orton is fantastic, it has the famous Mulholland’s butcher and still has a community.

“There’s the village hall and a pub, a playground and a little shop.

“It’s only a quarter of an hour from Carlisle but in complete countryside and yet there’s the direct route to the M6 with the bypass.”

The house is linked with the village church, St Giles, a Norman building directly opposite.

The medieval king Edward I, also known as the Hammer of the Scots, is believed to have stayed at what was the equivalent of the vicarage on his way north to fight a battle.

Scarlett said: “Edward I didn’t die here, he stayed here on his way to a battle somewhere when he then died, rather ingloriously, of a stomach upset.”

Isabella Beeton, the Victorian cookery writer, also spent some of her childhood in the vicarage with her grandfather.

The Old Rectory is beautifully presented with many Georgian and Victorian features such as doors, fireplaces, cornices, ceiling roses and windows. The large entrance hallway has oak flooring and a feature archway, the living room has a sandstone fireplace and the dining room a Victorian fireplace. The front of the house dates from the 1740s and it was remodelled in the 1860s to create its current layout.

“I like the period style of the house, it’s lovely and light with big spacious rooms,” Scarlett said.

She loves the living room because of its big fireplace and also the large breakfasting kitchen which is a stunning room with triple-aspect windows, solid oak units, an Aga, Karndean flooring and French doors to the back garden.

“I went through the process of getting planning permission, along with listed building consent, to put a very large sun room off these French doors,” Scarlett said.

“The sun room would have had a huge vaulted ceiling, oak beams and Georgian-style picture windows down one side and a wood-burning stove which would have added a modern but sympathetic historical look to the house. The plans are still available.

“While I had that done, I also had to have a heritage statement written by a local expert called Peter Messenger, which was very interesting, and that will stay with the house when it’s sold.”

One of the main improvements Scarlett has made at the Old Rectory is in the master bedroom, where she has installed bespoke wardrobes with window seats to make the most of the view of the church and graveyard.

She has also started taming the very large and overgrown garden, putting in raised beds and a herb garden, along with other features.

The gardens surround the house and are private, with large mature hedging, an orchard, patio area and gated driveway.

This leads to the range of single-storey outbuildings, which Scarlett has had fitted with light and power, and the coach house, which has its own separate fuse box, making it suitable for possible conversion to a granny/teenage flat or a holiday let.

Scarlett said: “I’ve loved living here but it’s just too big for me. I’ll be sad to go. I think Great Orton is a little forgotten corner, it’s beautiful.”

The Old Rectory, Great Orton, is for sale at £625,000 from PFK Estate Agents, tel. 01228 558666.