Vale Farmhouse

This is a house, formerly a farmhouse, dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries, with a significant refronting in the mid-19th century. The house is timber-framed, originally with wattle and daub and brick nogged infill, and now largely brick-faced in a Flemish bond pattern. The roof is covered in pantiles, originally thatched.

The front of the house features a projecting timber-framed wing to the left, containing a central ground floor oriel window with six lights, the side lights of which are now blocked. The oriel has a moulded sill and mullions. Pargetted walling is situated on either side of this oriel. The first floor is jettied, supported by brackets, and has close studded walling with arched braces. Above the ground floor oriel is a central 19th-century three-light oriel with a brattished sill, replacing an earlier oriel whose mullion holes are visible beneath the gable bressumer. This gable has a moulded bressumer supported by arched braces. The close studded walling here features brick nogged infill, and contains a central four-light window with large 20th-century plank mullions. To the right of this is the main range, which was refaced in brick during the 19th century. This section is three bays wide, arranged nearly symmetrically, with a four-panel door at the centre, set within a moulded classical surround. There are sash windows with two panes each, supported by console brackets, to either side of the door on the ground floor. Above these are three similar windows on the first floor, all with stone sills. A massive rectangular brick stack with broaches connecting to four clustered diamond-section flues with moulded tops rises from the ridge towards the left. A further stack with offsets is visible at the right-hand gable end. French windows are present on this gable end, alongside a slightly recessed wing with rendered walling, featuring a ground-floor three-light window and a first-floor four-light window.

The rear of the house has rendered walls. A projecting wing on the left has a two-light ground-floor casement window. A 20th-century single-light mezzanine window is situated to the right of this, and a two-light window is at first-floor level. The main axial range has a six-panel door with two upper glazed panels, a three-light casement, and an upper 16th/17th-century window with diamond-section mullions. A 20th-century four-light window is furthest to the right. The first floor has three-light and four-light 20th-century windows. A gable is visible on the right, and a low, single-storey gabled wing dating to the 20th century extends to the right.

Inside, the drawing room features chamfered ceiling beams and joists, along with 17th-century panelling and a fire surround inserted in the 20th century. Further chamfered beams and studded walling are found in other ground floor rooms. Evidence of subsidence, located at the end of the house furthest from the cross wing, likely explains the partial refacing in 19th-century brick. The roof has been largely rebuilt. The property shows evidence of stop-chamfered spine beams with run-out stops.