The Orchard

The Orchard is a house dating back to the 16th century, with a brick front that was re-rendered with stucco in the mid-19th century. A further extension was added to the west, and a wing to the north-west around 1980. The house is timber-framed on flint sills, roughly plastered, and has a brick front covered with stucco and decorative features. It has steep roofs covered in old red tiles.

The house is L-shaped and set back from the road, facing south. The south front is stuccoed, featuring a plinth, corner pilasters, eaves that bellcast upwards, and three windows on each floor, stacked vertically. A four-panel door is located between the right-hand pair of windows. The windows are flush box sash windows with 8/8 panes on the first floor and 10/10 panes on the ground floor, with a Yorkshire sliding casement in the middle. The ground floor windows have moulded stucco surrounds, and there’s a decorative cornice above the door. A canted bay window with a hipped roof extends from the east end, and a gabled porch leads into the lobby, next to a chimney where the main section joins the two-storey north-east wing.

Inside the front of the house, the timber structure is visible, with squint-butted scarfs in the wallplate, straight wind-braces in a clasped-purlin roof, and curved braces in some of the rafters, with a collar and queen-strut truss in one bay. An axial floor beam is visible, along with exposed joists. A large rear wall, originally an external chimney to the east part of the house, is made of narrow red bricks with a stone base to the stack. A large open fireplace is in the east room. A single-storey west extension was previously used as a schoolroom, Baptist Chapel, and tearoom. The house was formerly known as Penley Lodge and Randall’s Cottage.