“HERE,” Adrian Laming says, handing me a floor plan. “You might find this useful.” More than useful, as it turns out. Invaluable, in fact.

For Adrian’s house, Rose Garth, is a rambling sprawl of a home, with nine rooms set over three floors – and that’s before we get to look at the annexe above the garage.

“It is a very roomy house,” Adrian’s wife Liz says with more than just a touch of understatement. “We can have a lot of people in here and never feel crowded. There is just so much room.”

Rose Garth, a double-fronted period property sitting just back from the road in The Village, Wigginton, is one of the oldest – if not the oldest – property in the area, a former farmhouse dating back to the mid-1750s.

It has been extended and improved over the years and under the tender care of the Lamings has retained much of its period character while also enjoying modern conveniences such as en-suite shower rooms and a contemporary bathroom and kitchen.

So, that’s the past. What of the present?

As we say, it is a big house, so let’s get on with the tour. We begin in an impressive hallway, which has attractive Victorian mosaic tiling and off which there is a sitting room facing front. This room gives us a taste of the style and character to come. It’s a spacious spot with high ceilings and a deep bay sash window, overhead beams and an ornate marble mantel housing an open fire.

“I always think this is a very warm room,” says Liz. “I spend a lot of time in here.”Next we step across the hallway into another beautifully light and bright, cheerful reception room, again with a bay window to the front and with a feature fireplace housing a gas fire. There are high ceilings overhead and solid wood parquet underfoot.

“The flooring came from a dance hall in York,” Adrian says. “It’s very warm and comfortable but I don’t think we’ve done much dancing on it!”

This room flows easily and openly through to a dining room, again another cheerful and welcoming space. And very much the heart of the home… “We have had some wonderful Christmases here,” Liz says. “In fact when we told the family we were thinking of moving my future daughter-in-law said ‘But you can’t sell the Christmas house…’ That’s how the family think of it, I suppose – a big, welcoming home where we have had some wonderful times.”

Certainly it is not hard to imagine a large family gathering, sprawling across the sitting room and spilling into the dining area while the smells of dinner waft in from the kitchen.

Speaking of which… this is a delightful farmhouse-style kitchen with a large range of country-style pine wall and base units, contrasting work surfaces and with a quarry-tile floor.

We make our way upstairs, noticing on the way there is a ground-floor cloakroom and storage space/study area off the hall.

Upstairs we come to what Liz calls, laughing, the east wing. It does make for a good combination of rooms for visitors, with a goodsized double bedroom with a bathroom and a separate shower room.

Doubling back on ourselves we find another bedroom before coming to the master bedroom, which has its own en-suite shower room.

And, taking a deep breath, we press on… We go up to a second floor where we find another bedroom, full of character and charm and with overhead beams, and a second bedroom which is presently in use as a (very spacious) study/office.

“There is a lot of potential on this floor,” Liz says. “At one point we thought about taking out the partition walls and creating a bedroom with bathroom and, possibly, a sitting room area as well. There’s certainly enough space.”

Of course, because this is a spacious house.

And there is still more to come.

We trot back down the stairs and out into the garden – laid out in various sections including a raised decked patio area and further gravelled and lawned areas with plenty of places to sit and enjoy the sunshine of this Indian summer.

To one side there is a huge garage and the house’s added bonus in the shape of an annexe above.

This is two-storey arrangement with a bathroom and utility area on the ground floor and steps up to an open-plan sitting room and kitchen area with two bedrooms.

“Again,” Liz says, “there is a lot you could use the annexe for – if you had older teenagers.

“Or maybe there is renting potential. Or it could be a very good place for guests.”

Ah, guests. Wel,l as we’ve established, this is the ideal home for entertaining.

Lots and lots of room and space with an overall warm and welcoming feel.

Small wonder that Liz says she and Adrian will miss it when they move… It’s that stage of life, however – children gone and the two of them rattling around in all that space.

Now they have their eye on a somewhat smaller property – one, presumably, which doesn’t need a floor-plan to find your way around!

At a glance

Rose Garth, The Village, Wigginton

Reception rooms: 3 (plus study area). Bedrooms: 5 Bathrooms: 3 (plus ground-floor cloaks).

Gardens: Forecourt garden to the front with parking area and double doors to a pretty, well laid-out rear garden.

Wow factor: A huge house which manages to also feel warm and welcoming.

Added bonus: A two-bedroomed annexe with open-plan sitting room and kitchen over the double garage.

Price: £449,995.

Contact: William H Brown, Haxby. Tel: 01904 769991.