Have you ever wondered what an Estate Agent’S House Looks Like? Brian Page found out when he visited a welcoming family house.

“THIS is the longest I have ever stayed in one house since I came to live in York, says Peter Moodie.

“I’ve lived in 12 different houses since 1991, but this is definitely the one I have enjoyed the most.”

Coming from an estate agent that is some statement. And (for the cynical among you) he’s not just saying it to help sell the property either...

As we tour the house, Peter’s enthusiasm becomes ever more apparent. And the neighbours play a large part in that affection for his home.

“I have never lived anywhere with such an amazing sense of community,” Peter says. “I have certainly never lived anywhere where I have known and liked all of my neighbours.”

The community in question gathers together in a small collection of homes in The Garden Village at Earswick, on the way to Strensall and just a short spin from the outer ring road. There is an interesting mix of properties here in what was, at the time it was built around a decade ago, something of a flagship (and very different) Persimmon development.

Peter lives in Topiary House, a detached, three-storey home tucked away on a cul-de-sac which means, as he puts it, “while we’ve got great neighbours to socialise with you can also enjoy your privacy.”

Peter and his wife Clair moved in just short of five years ago, seeing the house as a quick and convenient “fix”, somewhere easy to move into and which would provide a base for Peter’s children from a former marriage to visit and stay over.

Soon enough the convenient housebecame a home. “It’s been a great home for the family,” Peter says.

“It’s in a good location for commuting but it is in a very peaceful spot.”

We are standing in the house kitchen/dining room, looking out over the rear, south-facing, garden and, as if to prove just how peaceful a spot it is, a squirrel is running up and down the back fence and scampering up a tree.

This is a super room, light and bright, immaculately presented (it’s decorated in the tasteful Peter Moodie Inc corporate colours) and with an inviting set of French doors opening to the garden.

It’s not hard to visualise the neighbours popping in for an early evening tipple and, indeed, this is known as the “adults’ drinking garden” – the children have their own play area on a communal green across the way.

I loved the garden, it’s just the right mix of easy-to-maintain space with good entertaining features including decking, flagged patio, gravelled and raised rockery areas and mature trees – and it’s also very private.

This combination of cosy kitchen dining room opening to the garden is going to be my favourite part of the house – but it’s a difficult choice as this is a property with a lot to offer.

The ground floor also boasts a large living room with bay window to the front, another beautifully presented room with a feature fireplace and inset and mantel on which are dotted some of the many family pictures on show throughout the house.

Off to one side is a painting of a Northumberland rural scene and this, it turns out, is a recreation of Peter’s original family home. (Yes, despite the fact the Moodie name has been a fixture in York estate agent circles for many years, Peter is a Northumberland boy).

From the living room you cross a hallway to find a separate study/snug. “You could use this room in a number of ways,” Peter says – and that is another plus point for this house, the layout lends itself to a variety of uses.

If, for instance, we skip the first floor and go right on up to the third, you will find that the layout was originally designed to give you two bedrooms (one of them with an ensuite). Peter and Clair, however, have chosen to use this entire floor as a master bedroom layout. This gives you a characterful double bedroom with sloped ceilings and very light and bright thanks to Velux and side windows.

You then pad across the landing to what has become a dressing room and en-suite shower room.

“This is a six-bedroomed house,”

Peter explains, “but there are not that many families who need six bedrooms these days. This layout works very well for us.”

Quite right, hog the best bedrooms for the adults is what I say!

Especially when that first floor offers plenty of sleeping space in the form of four bedrooms, one of which has an en-suite, and a family bathroom.

“It is a good-sized house,” Peter adds, “a good family home. It’s a real pleasure to come home to.”

And Peter really is leaving with reluctance. Life stages coming around again... Peter’s parents are now into their eighties and, dutiful son, he wants to have them living closer. He has found a place near Helperby which has outbuildings ripe for conversion and where his parents can have independent living but with Peter and Clair nearby.

It sounds like an ideal arrangement – especially as the parents now have a new grandson, tenmonth old toddler James, to enjoy.

And so, finally, tricks of the trade explained, as it were, we come to another interesting feature.

Peter shows me the brochure he has had prepared and which shows as its main picture a photograph of the house at night, all the room lights lit up and reaching out – looking for all the world like a big smiley face...

“If you think about it,” Peter says, “at this time of year most people are coming home in the dark. If you show how a house can be all lit up and glowing, then it creates a nice warm and welcoming feel.”

Which, funnily enough, is exactly how I feel about this house – it’s just a big, friendly, warm and welcoming family home.

 

Topiary House,The Garden Village, Earswick

Reception rooms: 3

Bedrooms: 5 (6)

Bathrooms: 3

Gardens: Nicely presented, private, good-sized but easy-maintenance rear garden and with parking area to front and garage to side

Wow factor: Brilliant, light and bright kitchen dining room with French doors to that pretty rear garden

Price: £425,000

Contact: Peter Moodie and Company. Tel: 01904 658044