Ashwell Farmhouse

Ashwell Farmhouse is a farmhouse dating from the mid-17th century, with additions made in the 19th and 20th centuries. It features plastered cob walls and a hipped thatch roof, along with a rendered axial stack. The building has a two-room plan with a baffle entry in front of the axial stack, which heats both rooms. The larger hall is on the right, while the left room is likely a parlour, and there is a shallow two-storey porch in front of the entry. The original position of the stairs is unclear, as they are now located at the end of the right-hand room. Outshuts were added along the rear wall in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The exterior is two storeys high with an asymmetrical four-window front, primarily featuring late 19th or early 20th century two-light small-paned casements. The first-floor right-hand window is a 17th-century small chamfered two-light wooden mullion window with decorative leaded lights. The shallow two-storey porch to the left of centre has a square doorway with a 19th-century plank door behind it. At the rear, there is a 19th-century outshut to the right and a 20th-century one to its left, both with plank doors. Above the outshuts, to the right of centre, is a 17th-century chamfered wooden framed leaded light.

Inside, the hall features an open fireplace with a chamfered wooden lintel. The left-hand room has a fireplace with a chamfered and jewel-stopped wooden lintel, along with a cloam oven that has a door. The roof consists of substantial straight principal rafters crossed at the apex with a diagonal ridge. The purlins are trenched, with collars lapped on or slightly set in. The timbers are all slightly darkened, but it seems unlikely that this is due to smoke-blackening.

Overall, Ashwell Farmhouse is an unaltered farmhouse with a picturesque exterior, contributing to a traditional farm group and possessing significant landscape value.