Rumour has it that a pot of gold is hidden somewhere in Dufton Hall. Despite their best efforts whilst renovating and refurbishing the 17th century house Steve and Sue Hill are yet to discover it.
However, the hall has provided other treasures they will take with them when they go, mainly memories of a happy family home.
They bought Dufton Hall, near Appleby, just over 30 years ago and brought up their three boys – Matthew, Gregory and Nicholas – there, for whom the ancient house, grounds, the nearby fells and the village’s ghyll and woods provided a great adventure playground.
The property has been an adventure for Steve too, as he has spent countless hours building, making, repairing and installing a host of features over the years making it, at first, more habitable and, later, their own.
“It was a complete wreck when we bought it and everybody thought we were mad,” he says. ‘We did it up over the years, brought the children up here and it has been a brilliant family home.”
When they first acquired it in 1993, Dufton Hall was three properties in one: the oldest part that is their five-bedroom house; a self-contained, two-bedroom apartment that can be accessed from the main hall and has been rented out and used as an Airbnb; and the attached East Wing that they subsequently separated off and sold to concentrate finances on the hall.
There was a lot of work to do especially given one particular feature, a curious void in the centre of the hall whose origin and function remains unexplained.
“When we came it was filled on the ground floor by a kind of portacabin that was the kitchen. Above it was just a void to the roof. It was like a game of Mousetrap with ladders everywhere and you could get right up to the roof. It was interesting because it meant you could see the bones of the building.”
Although the hall dates back to the 1690s, there had been a dwelling on the site since the 12th century. St John Boste, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, may have been born at Dufton Hall around 1544.
He attended Appleby Grammar School – like the Hills’ boys – and Queen’s College, Oxford, before returning to Appleby as the school’s first headmaster under the charter of Queen Elizabeth. He converted to Catholicism in 1576, later left England and was ordained a priest at Reims in 1581.
An effective missionary of the Catholic church, the English authorities were eager to capture him on his return but he evaded arrest for ten years. On finally being caught John was interrogated on the rack at the Tower of London. His brutal death in 1594 saw him hung, drawn and quartered in Durham, his limbs suspended from the castle walls and his head displayed on a city centre bridge.
The Hills have researched the history of the hall, which shows the manor of Dufton was held by Ralph de Greystoke in 1335. It changed hands numerous times falling to subsequent generations of different family lines including Lord Gilsland, an Earl of Arundel, several Earls of Thanet, a baronet and several Lord Hothfields and was even being sold to a land and timber company in the 1960s. Steve’s mum Julia recorded the history in a calligraphic document with her son and daughter-in-law at the bottom as the most recent owners.
The couple were attracted by the historic character and setting of the grade II listed hall and were rewarded with more history as Steve began to take it apart before piecing it back together.
“We had to apply for planning permission and listed building consent but at the time there was nothing to protect and the local planners were really good in letting us get on with it. We were able to change the layout and use our imagination to work out how we thought it was intended to be used.”
For example, once they removed the ‘cabin’ kitchen and took down a stud wall, they came across two, grand stone pillars. “They were covered in wallpaper,” says Steve incredulously, “and behind them was what is best described as an old shed and an oil tank.” This area is now a study.
A space used as a pantry is now an impressive inglenook fireplace where they installed a huge spit that is used for large roasts at parties.
Steve made the internal double doors and entrance way and continued his oak crafting with wall and ceiling panelling. Ochre, plaster tiles on the ceiling are a ‘jubilee’ pattern featuring an English rose, Irish Shamrock and Scottish thistle and a frieze of Welsh dragons. They also commissioned a special red, blue and gold carpet with a crest design from Goodacre Carpets, of Kendal.
The kitchen is now in a separate room and still has its original door, deep reveal and architrave. Steve mostly built the kitchen units, including the inglenook for the range cooker, and laid the oak parquet floor.
The living room across the hallway has oak wall panelling that Steve removed and restored and original oak window seats, which have all the character of age and were left in situ.
A hefty beam runs the length of the room and two windows with Eden valley sandstone mullions, which had also been blocked up, are now shown in all their glory.
The magnificent sandstone fire surround was previously hidden behind a 1940s fireplace, and Steve has installed a matching sandstone hearth.
The room is home to another of the hall’s mysteries. No longer visible beneath the insulated floor, they uncovered three horses’ skulls during the work. “They’re thought to have been for good luck and to see off evil spirits, so we left them,” says Sue. “We always had a good feeling about the place, it has always been welcoming.”
A further dual aspect room at the back of the house is used as a music and games room. Here the doors are the dark hue of aged oak. The original oak staircase was covered in a black, tar-like substance that Steve painstakingly stripped. “We tried all sorts of things but only sanding brought it off. I took all the spindles out and dipped them in my workshop. I didn’t put them back for years then once I did I wished I’d done it sooner,” he recalls.
The staircase is wide with shallow steps as is typical in older properties, and the banisters are wide and robust.
The first bedroom at the top of the stairs has wide oak floorboards, original shutters and a deep window seat.
The master bedroom at the front also has original window seats and sliding sash windows that have been restored.
A further staircase once ran from the space next to the master bedroom. It is now a nursery-style room. “The old staircase had to come out and rather than reinstate it we thought we might make an en suite bathroom, so the plumbing is all there. However, the ceiling could be reopened up and a new staircase could go back in leading to the floor above where you could have a stunning bedroom because the A frame and the beams are there,” explains Steve.
Two of the boys’ former bedrooms are in the old void space so have high ceilings. Steve says: “The house was fantastic for the boys growing up because it made them see what is possible and that you can make anything happen if you put your mind to it.”
The room where Steve had the most fun, however, is the duplex family bathroom. The lower floor is dominated by a throne before stairs lead up to a jacuzzi, sauna and steam cubicle, all beneath a dramatic domed ceiling thanks to the void. A very tall arched window runs the full height of the two levels.
“What I’ve done is a bit tongue in cheek and won’t suit everyone, but it’s fun and I had fun doing it,” he says.
Back on the ground floor, the apartment, which has its own external access, is reached up two staircases arriving at an open plan living space with kitchen. It has an entirely different feel to the rest of the house with a modern layout and mid-century furniture.
A spiral staircase leads up into the eaves where the family bathroom has a freestanding bath and separate shower. Both bedrooms – one double, one twin – are very light and have views across the village green and beyond to the Lake District fells.
The hall sits within three quarters of an acre of gardens that include the original gates and drive to the front door that is bordered by hedging and lawns to either side. The productive part of the garden contains vegetable beds and a chicken run.
Close to the house is a patio that benefits from a south-westerly aspect while across the gravel parking area and lawns is a further area of garden. The large workshop here is where Steve did all his woodwork for the house; it also houses the biomass boiler they had installed.
A final quiet corner of garden is dominated by a large pond with a waterfall where a bench provides a peaceful place to sit and enjoy the visiting wildlife.
With their sons grown up and living in London, California and Barrow, Sue and Steve are ready to retire from their business as property landlords and to move to the south of the county to be nearer their first grandson.
Steve says: “We’ve had a good 30 years here; we don’t know where the time has gone. Now it needs somebody new to come in and do their own thing with it.”
Sue adds: “It was hard when we came here in the beginning when the boys were just four, three and one, but it has been an amazing place to live. The children just ran free and we had lots of lovely family parties. It will break our hearts to leave but it is time to go.”
For more information about Dufton Hall, visit hhlandestates.co.uk and search for Dufton Hall.
