The Grove

The Grove is a former farmhouse dating from the 16th and early 17th centuries. It features two storeys and attics in the main range, and two storeys in the cross-wing at the north-east end. The building is timber-framed, primarily encased in 18th-century red brick laid in Flemish bond, with plain tiles and a paired bracketed cornice. An internal chimney stack has three attached hexagonal shafts with moulded caps on a square base. The main front has five small-paned sash windows with flush frames and gauged heads on the ground floor. There is a 20th-century enclosed gabled brick porch leading to a six-panelled door with panelled linings.

The cross-wing is the oldest part of the house and features a fine exposed ceiling in the principal room, with multiple roll-mouldings on the main cross-beams and single roll-moulding on the joists. It also has blocked original and later windows with ovolo-moulded mullions. The internal chimney stack connects this wing to the later main range, which includes an open fireplace with a timber lintel on the ground floor and a smaller fireplace on the upper floor, featuring a four-centred arched head and a chamfered surround with pyramid stops. Above this fireplace, there are two small raised fleur-de-lys motifs and a central wheel in the plaster. Next to the chimney stack is a very steep geometric stair with plain balusters, a wreathed handrail, and bracketed ends to the treads.

The main range consists of six bays and has been partly altered in a Georgian style. On the upper storey of the south-west side, there is a complete five-light ovolo-moulded mullion-and-transom window in perfect condition, with all components numbered. The upper ceiling is plastered with a heavily-moulded cornice, and within the roof, there is an ornate cast-iron hob grate. The roof structure corresponds to the wall bays, featuring diminished principals, one row of unstepped butt purlins, and an upper clasped purlin, along with cranked windbraces and an intermediate collar between each bay. The roof of the cross-wing has been integrated with the main roof and shares a similar structure.