Fairstead Farmhouse

Fairstead Farmhouse is a late 16th-century farmhouse that stands two storeys high with attics. It features timber framing, with the timbers exposed on the front, and has plaintiled roofs. An internal chimney stack is notable for its four attached hexagonal shafts on a square base, with a later plain stack added to what was formerly the end of the house, dated 1698. The front of the house has four full-height Edwardian bays with brick bases and mullion-and-transom windows on each storey. The roof includes four hipped dormers with tile-hung cheeks and diamond leaded casement windows.

The internal layout follows a basic three-cell form with a chimney and cross-passage, although the two cross-passage doorways have been blocked and replaced by a lobby entrance. A plank and muntin screen still separates the entry from the hall. Inside, plain timbering and ceilings are exposed, with main posts featuring long jowls and tension bracing in the partition walls. The roof has clasped side purlins, and an archway has been cut through the base of the internal stack to provide access to a stair. The date on the end stack indicates the conversion of the unheated service area into a heated kitchen.

At the rear, there is a long two-storey range that may have originally been a granary, which has been converted into living accommodation and linked to the main house by an Edwardian extension. Additionally, a lean-to corridor of the same date runs along the back of the main house. These extensions were designed by Louis Sarel, the architect responsible for the alterations to Spexhall Manor.