Property of the week: 21 Hopgrove Lane North, York

In the front garden of number 21 I turn and look across the countryside – and catch sight of the tower tips of York Minster in the distance.

Amazing. Here we are in a very rural location yet the city centre is only ten minutes away (even less on a quiet day).

“Yes,” says Mark Robinson. “It’s remarkable, really. You would think you were in deep countryside yet you are very close to the city. It is only two miles from the city centre and about 35 minutes to get to Leeds – but you are in the country. And it’s very quiet and peaceful here.”

Indeed, especially as the road comes to a full stop at the end of the lane with nowhere to go but turn around. The only sound to be heard today is the chirping of birds and the rustle of grass in a slight breeze.

But it is not just the remarkable double identity location we are surprised by here… Mark’s home, in Hopgrove Lane North, off Malton Road, looks from the outside every inch a cottage – but once through the door you realise that this is so much more.

It’s big, much bigger than it looks from the outside, with spacious, light and airy rooms – and plenty of them.

The living room, for instance, is a stunner, with windows to the front letting in lots of lovely light to shine up its sprawling living space, running to 22ft by 14ft.

And it’s has bags of character, too, this room, with beamed ceiling, feature fireplace, exposed brickwork and a decorative archway through to a dining kitchen and patio doors out to a sun room.

Lovely, somehow managing to be big and cosy at the same time.

It was not always this way, however. Mark has considerably extended and improved the property since moving here four years ago.

Mark digs out the original sales particulars from that time and shows me the floorplan he inherited – and it has changed considerably. Walls have been knocked down, new ones put in place and plastered by Mark’s own hands. In fact, Mark did almost of all the work himself, transforming the property along the way. A considerable achievement for someone who had never attempted such a project before.

“I had always wanted to try something like this,” he said. “And when we came here I got the chance. I’ve loved doing it.”

And it’s obvious he loves this home.

Not surprising, really, when you look at what he has achieved. Opening up spaces and rooms has created a lot of light and Mark has cleverly made the most of that by dressing the home in bright whites and delicate pastel colours.

And he’s achieved this with some style. The kitchen/dining room is beautiful, fitted with a fine range of cream coloured cottage style wall and base units and with a range of integrated units including dishwasher, washing machine fridge freezer and range style oven with seven ring gas burner hob. There is a solid oak floor which runs down to a delightful dining area with views out over the garden (and what a garden, more of that later).

But first there is more to see on the ground floor, including a rear sitting room opening off the main lounge. This room also opens on to the sun room and has doors opening on to a patio area and the garden.

Off this sitting room, a door opens on to a recently-fitted contemporary and luxurious bathroom with a double vanity unit, shaped Jacuzzi bath and a range of display and storage cupboards.

By now you will understand why we say this is more a house than a cottage – and there is yet more to come.

At the front of the house, off the spacious hallway, there is another big room, which could be a fourth bedroom or used, as Mark has it now, as a large study/office.

With barely breath left, we trot up the stairs where we find three bedrooms, all nice, cosy-character rooms, together with a WC.

Breathless? Well, if we weren’t already we certainly had what breath we had left taken away by a stroll in the garden.

It’s a stunning spot, with a patio area immediately to the back of the house, an ornamental pond and block paved seating area. This then runs into a lawned area, protected by high hedges and mature trees and with a walkway running down to a further section, reached through an arch, which is a veritable mini-orchard boasting cherry plum, elderberry, sloe, apple and plum trees.

And all of it, on this fine summer’s day, washed by sunlight. It is a gardener’s delight, highlighting, yet again, how much of a rural idyll this house has become.

It will be a wrench to leave all this behind, I suggest.

And Mark smiles ruefully. “I’ve put four year of life into this house,” he says. “It’s the house that Mark built.”

But there’s a sadness here, too. Something has changed. Mark came here to set up home with his partner, Anne Moncaster, a well-known and much admired country singer on the York club and pub circuit. Sadly, Anne died in December last year after a brave and spirited struggle against cancer.

Now Mark must move on. Leaving behind the house he created and loves and the gardens he and Anne treasured.

It will, as he says, be hard to leave this curiously combined town and country home.

An idyll that now waits for a new, and very lucky owner.

at a glance

21 Hopgrove Lane North,York

Reception rooms: Three/four.

Bedrooms: Three/four.

Bathrooms: Two.

Gardens: Hard standing area to front, beautiful, extensive and private gardens to the rear.

Wow factor: That feeling of being in open countryside – while being just ten minutes from York (and we loved the light, bright kitchen/dining room).

Price: £425,000.

Contact: R M English.

Phone: 01904 607900.