The Smithy

The Smithy is a 18th-century timber-framed building featuring painted brick nogging, a high brick plinth, and a slate roof topped with a large brick gable end stack that has four octagonal shafts. The structure is box framed in square panels with a continuous middle rail, and the queen post and collar strut truss are visible in the gable. The middle rail is dated 1774 and bears the initials E.G. A central doorway is set within a gabled brick and timber porch, flanked by 2-light casement windows that have bracketed hoods typical of Vaynor Estate work from the mid 19th century. There are also two gabled dormers in the roof.

At the rear, there is a wide brick wing that likely dates from the mid to late 19th century, featuring chamfered architraves on paired casement windows on each floor. To the right of the main building are lower outbuildings that include the former smithy and associated stabling. The smithy is timber framed with brick nogging and has a brick rear wing. The stabling, which was rebuilt after a fire in 1981, is partly brick but mostly timber framed and weatherboarded, with three stable doors facing the rear yard.

Inside, the cottage has a two-room plan with stairs winding alongside the gable end stack. The former service rooms are located in the rear wing, which includes a dairy and tack rooms, now converted for domestic use.