Garn-hill and attached garden terrace

Garn-hill is a small country house built in the Arts and Crafts style to a modified butterfly plan, a design approach pioneered by Prior and Lutyens. The building is constructed of rustic random stone rubble with rock-faced dressings, tile-hanging to the gables, and some applied half-timbering. The roof is tiled with deeply overhanging eaves. The chimneys are tall and narrow with brick corniced tops, set in clusters and at angles to narrow stone stacks that straddle the ridges and sit within the roof pitch.

The plan is highly irregular, comprising a main entrance wing, a north cross wing with service rooms to the rear and a reception room to the front, a small entrance porch positioned at the rear angle between the two main wings, a slightly angled south wing with a further angled bay attached, and a deep verandah adjacent to this. The elevations are very asymmetrical. Windows are latticed and mullioned throughout, although some have been replaced with UPVC.

The south elevation facing the garden and valley features three wide segmental-arched ground floor openings. The central opening is a doorway with remodelled glazing flanked by curved three-light windows. On either side, windows with mullions and transom sit within the arches. At the right end is a deep hipped roof of the verandah, supported on posts set on a deep terraced stone wall. At first floor level, there are windows above each opening: a small canted bay with replaced glazing at the centre set within a panel of applied half-timbering close under the eaves, and tile-hung dormers on either side, latticed to the left and replaced to the right. Small two-light windows appear at the gable ends of the downhill wing at first floor level. The uphill wing features a small canted oriel window with a pitched tile roof at ground floor level, with above it a wide tri-partite bedroom window with replaced glazing offering views of the garden. The angled end bay on the downhill side displays a decorative tri-partite ground floor window and a three-light window above.

The main entrance is positioned to the rear, reached through a highly asymmetrical elevation. Above the tiled roof porch is a multipane staircase window. Adjacent to the porch on the left is a curved bay with a conical roof, beneath which are small oriel windows set under the eaves. The service wing to the right features plainer casements and a separate doorway. The uphill-facing elevation contains mostly replaced glazing.

An enclosed terrace fronts the garden, positioned between the wings, and incorporates a stone tabernacle possibly from a former churchyard cross. This terrace extends to the verandah, which has a flagged floor. It is bordered by a low wall with shallow coping and stone steps leading to lower levels.

The interior plan is centred on a wide entrance hall with an archway opening to the garden terrace. Rooms in each wing lead off this hall: the kitchen and service areas to the uphill side, a dining room at the uphill front, the main living room on the downhill side, and the staircase to the rear. The layout remains almost entirely original, retaining many fittings including extensive oak panelling and plank doors with applied circular motifs, although some alterations have been made to fireplaces. The main reception room, accessed down four steps at a lower level, is divided from the hall by an open arch on clustered columns rising from a wooden balustrade incorporating decorative splat balusters. The tri-partite window in the angled bay to the left incorporates coloured glass, creating the impression of a tower alcove. To the right, the wide arched recessed garden window incorporates window seats. The first floor contains a series of bedrooms overlooking the garden, accessed from a side landing and rear passage.