By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:49 AM on 19th June 2011
It doesn’t have a bathroom, heating, drains or even a toilet, but that has not put off scores of interested buyers.
Even though the house has been virtually untouched in 100 years they reckon its a bargain at £250,000.
Its stunning location in the Yorkshire Dales, near Sedbergh, means the house is probably worth £1.5 million when it is renovated.
House that time forgot: The four-bedroomed manorial farmhouse called Dandra Garth dates back to the 1600s
Needing renovation: The barn next to the farmhouse which sits in three acres of land
Buyers of Dandra Garth will get a four-bedroom manorial farmhouse dating back to the 1600s, with a huge attic once used as servants’ quarters plus a separate barn and three acres of land.
The grade II listed house in Lower Garsdale was the home of Walter Harper, whose family moved there in 1942 to farm the surrounding land.
His father died in 1968 and his mother passed away in 1972, but Mr Harper continued to farm until the early 1980s.
Now 92, he has moved to a rest home, but until recently he was quite happy living without any utilities or luxuries.
He was content to keep warm in front of his open fires and to boil water on the range to fill a tin bath in the kitchen.
Mr
Harper was only persuaded to have electricity at the property 10 years
ago, before that he used the gas lights connected to a Calor bottle.
A single tap in the kitchen supplied cold water from an untested spring supply and the loo was an outside earth closet.
No luxuries: The property only had electricity put in 10 years ago and the decor hasn’t been changed in decades
It still has a larder and stone shelves that many luxury home owners are now demanding.
Approached up a track and hidden behind high walls, the house has south facing views over its gardens.
Estate agent Tim Brown, of George F White, said: ‘There is an incredible amount of interest but I’m not surprised.
‘This place is virtually untouched by the 20th and 21st centuries. Properties like this are very rare.
‘It needs everything doing but it is magnificent. It is in one of the most beautiful spots in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and has huge potential.
Breathtaking view: The Howgill Fells, near Sedbergh, Cumbria in the Dales National Park
‘Almost untouched since it was built, it promises to be one of the most exciting restoration projects that we have ever seen. It is a house from the past which can be very definitely made into a beautiful home of the future.’
Though it looks a bargain,
prospective buyers are warned to be realistic about renovation costs which are estimated at £200,000.
Mr Harper’s nephew, Roger has happy memories of visting his uncle’s house as a child.
He said:’He didn’t see anything wrong with it and was reluctant to see any change. Getting the electricity in was a revolution. It is very primitive but he liked it that way.’
The house took its name from one of the Norsemen who were once prevalent throughout Cumbria.
Its coat of arms has a lion rampart and border of thistles, which shows an association with James I, who is said to have passed through the dale and given a local clergyman the manorial rights.
It was thought to have passed from its original owner to four Yeoman farmers as settlement after a dispute in the High Chancel Court.
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