Cressy Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire

If you asked a child – or perhaps a locations scout for the next series of 

 – to draw their dream house, chances are you’d end up with a picture that looks quite like Cressy Hall. Built in 1794, the dwelling is almost archetypal in its Georgian-ness, the very picture of pretty period architecture – and it’s 

It’s thought that there was a medieval precursor to the building that stands here today, which was then developed in the 16

 century by the Heron family, who established a rookery for the birds of the same name. (Because why not, after all?) Though that structure burned down in a fire of 1794, the family’s legacy lives on: when a Lincolnshire brewer called Henry Smith later reconstructed Cressy, he installed a plaque showing the waterfowl on the rear façade, in a touching homage to his predecessors.

That resplendent roundel is just the beginning of the tour through time here, for everywhere you look there’s another perfectly preserved original detail. From the wedding-cake plasterwork to the original sash windows, the kitchen’s arched stone ovens to its 18

-century dresser, each room reads like a roll call of the era’s architectural trademarks. And we haven’t even got to the 12-light sash windows piercing the façade and illuminating every room, nor that sweeping staircase, as elegant as anything in an Austen adaptation…

Interiors-wise, things have been kept classic, in a way that makes the most of Cressy’s exceptional bones. Take the stripes (which never date) of the sitting-room curtains; we all know there’s a time and a place for a pelmet – and this is it. Similarly, we think tester beds, roll-top tubs and pastel shades of powder blue and pistachio make unmatched embellishments for such handsome spaces. Outside, great care has been taken over the topiary too, which despite its refinement, is not original but instead is all the handiwork of the current owners. Shear magic, eh?

Homes

With its gorgeously grand countenance – all superb symmetry and sash windows – Cressy Hall is a veritable doll’s house, writ large in the fens. But owning it need not be make-believe

Inspiration of the Week: period-drama perfection in the Lincolnshire countryside

With its gorgeously grand countenance – all superb symmetry and sash windows – Cressy Hall is a veritable doll’s house, writ large in the fens. But owning it need not be make-believe