Lake Farmhouse

Farmhouse. Circa 1600, with minor 18th and 19th century alterations and additions. Built of rendered stone rubble with dressed stone quoins and a chamfered stone plinth, it has a pantile roof with raised stone coped verges and carved stone finials to the gables. Axial and gable-end stacks have rebuilt brick shafts.

The house follows an E-plan with projecting wings to the left and right, and a gabled porch at the centre. The larger wing to the right was originally part of the house's accommodation but later used as a cider-house. Small 18th and 19th century outshuts are located at the rear, along with a small 19th century single-story kitchen wing on the rear north-west corner.

The 2-story south front has an almost symmetrical 5-bay facade with projecting gabled wings. 19th century 2-, 3-, and 4-light casements with glazing bars are present. The porch has a cambered-head doorway with a sundial above. Similar casements are visible on the west return. The east return of the large right-hand wing features re-used carved stone as a quoin and an 18th century 3-light timber window rebated for leaded glazing. Above, an earlier deeply chamfered 3-light window frame from the early 17th century is also apparent. The rear north side features 20th century fenestration, a doorway on the left with a heavy timber frame cut for barrel access, an old plank door with wrought-iron strap hinges, small outshuts, and a single-story wing on the right.

The interior retains a remarkable degree of original fabric, with 18th and 19th century joinery including plank and panelled doors. The kitchen to the east has a stone flag floor, deeply chamfered beams with hollow step stops, a 19th century fireplace, and a panelled window seat. An unheated room in the front wing has similar ceiling beams. A former hall in the centre has inserted partitions and a 20th century staircase. The parlour to the right of the entrance reveals moulded ceiling beams and a fireplace in an axial stack with chamfered stone jambs and an elliptical stone arch. The first floor shows stop-chamfered ceiling beams and a cupboard with swan's neck hinges and a carved frieze above. The roof structure is intact, incorporating collar-trusses, two tiers of tenoned-purlins, a diagonal ridgepiece, and common-rafters. The right-hand wing also has a similar roof structure, with the front floor removed. A large moulded stone Tudor arch fireplace is located on the ground floor of the front gable, with a smaller fireplace above (the chimneypiece is missing). The back room has been used as a cider-house, with a stone flag floor, an early timber baulk staircase to the first floor, and a chamfered timber door frame with carpenter's mitres enlarged to allow barrels to pass through.