Stately home with holiday letting business on the market

A Cumbrian stately home with its own thriving holiday letting business is being put up for sale - for the first time in more than 200 years.

Town Head House, on the shores of Lake Windermere, has been in the ownership of the Townley family since 1804. Current owner, Charles Townley, and his wife Roslyn, are selling the home, as they plan to retire but want the home's business to be maintained.

The nine-bedroom Grade II-listed home in Newby Bridge also comes with a 105-acre estate, upon which can be found three holiday cottages, a boat house, several barns, two converted coach houses, a walled kitchen garden, substantial woodland and half-a-mile of frontage on Windermere.

Selling agent, Andrew Holmes, for Kendal's Carter Jonas estate agency, said it is exceptionally rare that opportunities like Town Head House come on to the market.

"It's extremely rare to have an estate that's complete and not split up," he said. "It's certainly one of the most exciting properties we've had."

The Town Head estate was bought as a hunting lodge by William Townley, High Sheriff of Lancashire. Two Georgian wings were added by him to the original farmhouse between 1800 and 1820.