Tan-y-Garth including garden terrace and entrance staircase

Tan-y-Garth is a small country house in the Arts and Crafts idiom, its gabled form perhaps inspired by stone vernacular traditions of the Cotswolds. Built from local roughly coursed and dressed snecked rubble stone with graded, possibly Westmorland slate roofs, the house features tall ridge stacks, strongly projecting eaves on scrolled wrought-iron brackets, and pegged oak mullioned windows. The building comprises a south-facing main range, a long wing extending to the northeast which returns to partially enclose a rear courtyard, and single-storey detached service buildings completing the courtyard enclosure.

The two-storey entrance elevation faces south and presents a balanced asymmetrical composition of three main gables flush with the main east-west double-pile axis. The central entrance gable contains an advancing flat-roofed full-height porch projection with three-light mullioned windows on each floor facing south and an entrance in the east return formed by a moulded stone four-centred archway with a sturdy boarded door. Flanking gables to either side contain further mullioned windows: to the left are four and five-light windows, and to the right are five-light windows. A large two-storey veranda wraps around the right-hand corner, featuring cylindrical stone columns supporting a boldly timber-framed upper storey with arched bracing to the south and east-facing gables and some slate hanging at the apex of the south gable.

The western return elevation contains four-light mullioned windows on each floor within the gable end of the main axis, with a tall stack clasped in the angle of the advanced southwest gable. The eastern elevation is loosely symmetrical across four windows, comprising advanced outer gabled bays parallel to the front range with a two-window range between them. The wide left-hand gable has an asymmetrical gabled roof and a canted bay window to the ground floor with a five-light mullion above. The central section has three-light mullioned windows and two dormers within the roof. The right-hand gable contains four-light mullioned windows on each floor and a three-light window in the attic. This range partially encloses the rear courtyard, which is dominated by the oriel window of the staircase projecting boldly from the rear of the main range on raking struts. Scattered fenestration of mainly two-light mullions appears elsewhere. Single-storey service buildings stand to the north and west of the courtyard.

The house is approached from below by a shallow stone dog-leg staircase advancing from a large raised terrace contained by rubble walls with ashlar coping. A four-centred archway with an oak door set into the wall at the foot of the staircase provides a visual centrepiece to this feature.

The plan is coherent and expressive, with a wide central entrance hall containing a fireplace, from the rear of which the staircase rises. An axial corridor extends towards the rear. The principal rooms (library and drawing room) are positioned to either side, with ancillary rooms (cloakrooms etc) beyond the corridor. The dining room opens from the corridor between the drawing room and kitchen. The service wing maintains a similar planning principle, with main rooms (kitchen etc) facing east and smaller ancillary rooms to the west of the corridor. This planning principle extends to the upper floor. The veranda is accessed from the drawing room, dining room, and principal bedroom on the first floor.

The house retains much of its original architectural detail, reinforcing a generalised Tudor character. Fine joinery throughout includes a timber-framed staircase with twisted balusters, plank and boarded doors to principal rooms on each floor, fitted shelving to the library, and cupboards in bedrooms. Fireplaces are detailed with moulded stone in principal rooms and brick and timber elsewhere. Moulded plasterwork enriches the main beams. There is a garden terrace and entrance staircase associated with the property.