For sale: beautiful rural home near Harrogate with a glorious garden that starred on TV

They found “the one” in 2008 when they viewed and fell in love with Cow Close Cottage, a period stone-built house tucked away in the pretty Nidderdale village of Hartwith.

Surrounded by countryside in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, it is the perfect rural retreat but it is just a 20 minute drive to the centre of Harrogate and a 15 minute drive to the village of Ripley.

Since buying the property, the couple have enhanced and improved it by adding a double garage with a storage level in it. An old, single storey converted barn attached to the side of the cottage was rebuilt and extended to make the most of the views.

One of the most significant changes made was to the garden, which is so good it was featured on the BBC TV series Gardeners’ World.

William is the gardener and he has designed and planted a beautiful, exceptional but easily manageable garden which has a stream running through it.

It is carefully manicured and enclosed with mature shrubs, planting and an orchard. There is also a greenhouse and raised beds and the lawned area to the front of the house leads to a ha-ha that drops into a south-facing wild flower meadow.

The terrace that runs along the front of the house is perfect for alfresco entertaining and there are also many other sitting areas dotted around the garden.

Altogether, the house has 3.3 acres of land, much of which is let to a farmer to graze sheep on.

"The views from the house are wonderful and because we are set down we don’t get a lot of wind and have our own little micro climate,” says John.

He and William are selling to downsize but they are not going far and John says. “We are moving but it’s only two miles away. We love this area and its sense of community and we want to stay here.

Cow Close Cottage has an entrance hall, kitchen with a cosy Rayburn, a dining room, sitting room with doors onto a terrace, utility/boot room plus a rear hall and W.C.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms and a house bathroom. The principal bedroom has the benefit of an ensuite and bedroom four is currently used as a study. All the bedrooms have built-in wardrobes.

Outside at the rear there is a private gated entrance, driveway with parking for multiple vehicles and a double garage with a mezzanine level for additional storage. There is also a workshop

At the rear of the garage there are some useful stores. To one side of the house is a large garden store as well as a water treatment shed and a log store.

The house is on the market for £1.5m with Croft Residential property agency, www.croftresidential.co.uk