The Orchards

The Orchards is a farmhouse that has been converted into a dwelling. It dates from the 16th and 17th centuries, with extensive additions from the 20th century. The building features squared rubble, rubble, and box timber-framing, topped with stone slate roofs. It has a complex L-plan layout consisting of at least three sections, with the oldest section located on the right. This section retains substantial framing, which is also exposed at the rear, and includes a deep wing at the back with late 20th-century additions.

The left section of the building has two storeys, while the right section has one and a half storeys. The fenestration is varied, featuring one two-light window and four two-light windows at different levels, although there is no window in the third bay on the first floor. The windows are reserved chamfered mullion casements without drips, and there are two small two-light leaded casement dormers. On the ground floor, there is a five-light replacement window and a 20th-century glazed door beneath a deep stone lintel that bears the inscription 'W H 1776'.

The right gable has a half-hip return in timber frame on a rubble plinth, with a tie beam supported by haunched posts, and it includes one three-light window and a small two-light window. The back of the building features a long low unit with timber framing and stone, three dormers, and four two-light casements. To the right of this unit is a higher section with two dormers above a two-light reserved chamfered mullion casement. This section has a fine four-centre doorway with the date 1647 and a second date 'J T 1778' on a panel above, leading to a late 20th-century glazed door. This part of the building is constructed from good cut limestone. There is a new wing on the return.

Inside, the building includes heavy stopped chamfered beams and stopped chamfer joists, as well as one original open bressummer fireplace at the gable and a finely restructured fireplace centrally. The building is also reputed to have been known as 'The Drunken Duck' Inn at some point in its history.