Blatchford Farmhouse

Blatchford Farmhouse is a farmhouse with origins in the 17th century, which has been extensively remodelled and extended in the 18th or 19th century. It is constructed from whitewashed rendered stone rubble and features a slate roof, which was formerly thatched, hipped at the ends. The building has an axial stack with a brick shaft and a front left corner shaft to the main block, along with a projecting rear lateral stack that includes a bread oven in the wing.

The farmhouse has an L-shaped plan. The wing, which runs parallel to the lane, is likely the earlier part of the house, consisting of a single depth and two rooms wide, with a single-storey third room at the left end. The middle room, heated by the rear lateral stack and featuring an adjacent winder stair, likely served as a hall or parlour in the 17th century, while the other rooms are plain with no visible signs of an early date. The main block, positioned at right angles to the rear of the right-hand room and facing the farmyard, is also single depth and three rooms wide. It includes an unheated entrance hall to the left, which contains a late 19th-century stair, a heated room in the middle with a blocked fireplace, and an axial passage leading to the rear that connects the entrance to a former dairy at the right end.

The exterior of the farmhouse is two storeys high and features an asymmetrical three-window front with an internal porch that has porch seats to the left of centre and a 19th-century front door. The windows are C20 timber casements. The rear elevation of the wing, which faces the road, is blind and has a large projecting stack and an adjacent stair projection. The rear elevation of the main block includes a small thatched rustic garden house, and a C20 conservatory has been added in the angle between the main block and the wing.

Inside, the middle room of the wing has an open fireplace with one ovolo-moulded granite jamb (the other jamb is concealed), a timber lintel, and a 19th-century brick-lined bread oven. There is a timber winder stair adjacent to the stack. High ceilings indicate that the roof and ground floor ceilings may have been raised. The roof has not been inspected but may be of interest.