The Gate House

The Gate House is a house built around 1920-1925 by C.H. Biddulph-Pinchard, designed in the style of the 17th century and incorporating old materials. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ironstone dressings, with some timber-framed sections and brick infill, and has plain tile roofs and stone ridge stacks. The house follows a courtyard plan.

The front elevation features a central carriage arch with a moulded timber surround and a Tudor-arched head within a timber-framed bay. Above the arch is an oriel window supported on curved brackets. To the left, a timber-framed wing has a 3-light casement window on the first floor, alongside 2-light wood mullion and transom windows, all with leaded lights. The right wing has a projecting gabled bay with a 5-light stone mullioned and transomed window on both the ground and first floors, with hood moulds, flanked by similar 3-light windows to the ground floor. A rear range also features stone mullioned windows.

Inside, the house has dog-leg and open-well staircases with splat balusters, newel posts with ball finials, primarily using re-used materials of 17th-century origin. Notable interior features include a small room with fielded panelling and a timber bolection-moulded fireplace, both dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. A drawing room has re-used 17th-century pegged panelling and a concealed bookcase door, while a bedroom contains a plaster barrel vaulted ceiling.

The house was constructed in at least two phases, utilising materials from former stone barns and a brewhouse that previously stood on the site. Architectural plans of the entrance and right ranges appeared in 'The Principles of Architectural Composition' by Howard Robertson in 1924, when the house was known as "Little Earth". The remaining ranges were completed before 1925, with the wing to the left designated as the nursery wing.