Stanswood House
Stanswood House is a detached stone-built home set in around two acres beside the canal at Furness Vale. It was self-built by the current owners, who lived on a canal boat moored alongside while it went up, and it is now being sold for the first time. The name combines the family surnames, Stansfield and Collingwood.
With about 3,057 sq ft of accommodation and six bedrooms, it offers a rare combination of features. These include a self-contained attached annexe with its own entrance, kitchen and two double bedrooms, which suits multi-generational living (it has housed several generations of the family over the years) or could be let on a holiday or long-term basis. There is also a historic private wharf with canal boats moored, providing a steady annual income, plus a sauna, a spiral staircase to a first-floor lounge with canal views, and land with previous planning consent for a further dwelling, subject to the necessary permissions. It suits a large family, a household that wants room to work from home, or a buyer looking for a property that can pay its way.
The house was designed by an architect and built with an engineer’s eye. The walls are insulated cavity construction with a 25mm air gap, and the ground floors use a Jetfloor insulated system, both well ahead of the building regulations of the time. The roof is tiled in Hardrow slate with lead valleys, and the stone is Redland Anstone with matching quoins, cills and lintels. The foundations are set into solid clay, and the footings alone took 72 cubic metres of concrete.
The original wooden front door opens from a red-tiled porch into the main house. The kitchen has quarry tiled flooring, oak units, a Belfast sink and a Rayburn Nouvelle range alongside a five-ring gas hob, and a serving hatch links it to the dining room. From the dining room, a spiral staircase rises to a first-floor lounge, a lovely room with canal views and sliding doors onto an iron balcony, with steps down to the courtyard. A sauna and walk-in shower room off the hallway is an unusual extra. It sits at the north-east corner of the house, where the first bricks were laid, and the family still calls it the Sauna Corner. A study or library with fitted shelving and a Velux window gives you a quiet place to work.
Upstairs, the principal bedroom has three windows, a dressing room with fitted wardrobes and its own bathroom with a bidet. Bedroom Three has an en-suite shower room, and Bedroom Four has a traditional en-suite with a Shanks wash basin and high-level WC, a nice period touch. A family bathroom serves the remaining bedroom. The attached annexe feels like a home in its own right, with a lounge opening onto the courtyard, a kitchen, a bathroom, a laundry room and two double bedrooms, one currently used as an office with an en-suite shower room.
Outside
A gated entrance leads onto a long block-paved driveway that sweeps past the lawns to a spacious front courtyard with room for around ten vehicles. There is an integral double garage with a roller shutter door, and a separate double garage with underfloor heating, insulated walls and doors at either end. It works equally well for cars, storage or a workshop, and it keeps classic cars comfortable all year round. The house has gas central heating and double glazing throughout. The railway station and local amenities are close by, so the setting feels private but well connected. Three fully fenced lawns run along the front of the property towards the roadside and Canalside, with plenty of room for children, pets or summer gatherings. They include a copper beech planted in the early 1980s, now around thirty-five feet tall, and Leylandii planted in 1980 along the railway wall. To the rear, a banked garden has a separate rose garden, and a mature treeline slopes down to the canal. Paved courtyards wrap around the house, giving several distinct spots for outdoor dining, each with its own access into the house.
The wharf
A stone track leads to a gated, historic wharf with separate access and its own parking, water and essential utilities. Once used to load stone from a nearby quarry onto barges, it now has around ten canal boats moored. The boaters look after sections of the land, and the community has grown up around the wharf over several decades.
A viewing is highly advised to appreciate the setting and the character of this one-off home.
The New Mills Hub 37-39 Union Road New Mills High Peak Derbyshire SK22 3ER
