Coves House Farmhouse

Coves House Farmhouse is a late medieval farmhouse, significantly altered around 1600, with further restoration in the 18th century and later. The farmhouse is constructed of rubble with areas of thin render, a boulder plinth, and quoins. The roofs are of stone flags and pantiles. It has a T-plan, comprising three distinct builds: a central two-storey, two-bay section; a two-storey, five-bay addition to the left (with only four windows visible), and a rear wing of two lower storeys; and a two-storey, five-bay addition to the right. The eleven bays in total are stepped down from left to right to accommodate the slope of the site.

The oldest part of the farmhouse has a boarded door within a flat-Tudor-arched stone surround; an inscription above the door is mostly obscured by vegetation. A wide 20th-century window is visible to the right, beneath a stone lintel. The first floor has small, square casements in chamfered stone surrounds, where the central mullions have been removed. The roof is stone, and a massive external stack with multiple offsets is located on the right-hand side.

The left-hand addition features late 19th-century sash windows, renewed on the ground floor with renewed stone lintels, some visible jambs of previous windows, and stone roofing with end chimneys. The left gable has a large external stack with offsets.

The right-hand addition was originally a byre and loft. It has a stone surround with a shallow round-headed scooped-out area above a door in the fourth bay. Side stone steps lead to a first-floor door in the third bay. Other windows have been renewed with flat stone lintels and projecting stone sills; a vent slit is present on the right. The rear elevation features blocked stone mullioned windows, one with an iron bar, on the four-window section. The rear gable of this build has a massive stack with offsets, flanked by blocked triangular windows in the gable peak.

The interior of the central part includes a step down to the kitchen with a moulded stone segmental fire arch and a low two-centred arch that contains a plank door with ornamental strap hinges. A low corbelled bread oven built of pinkish-yellow bricks is also present, alongside tongue-stopped chamfers on the mouldings. A similar stone door surround is found to the rear side stair, featuring a solid wood block first tread and plain thick plank treads above. The left-hand section shows five bays, with quirk-stopped chamfered beams which were not respected when the later windows were fitted. There is also a heck-post and fire beam, and a screen with a round-headed doorway. A Tudor-arched, chamfered stone surround frames the Dutch cellar door in the rear wing, which has a bracketed centre shelf and battened planks with strap hinges on pins. An entrance hall leads to an L-plan cut-string stair within the rear wing, with fat stick balusters, a wide grip handrail, and chamfered square newels with ball finials.