CITY life was beginning to seem less attractive for Sue Taylor and started her looking for a quieter setting to live.

It also coincided with her giving up work.

So while living in Manchester she began looking the length and breadth of the Lake District for a home and came across a property on an estate agent’s site.

Sue made the drive to the property the next day and despite it being just a shell with no kitchen, bathroom, flooring or anything she instantly fell in love and waited patiently while it was renovated to her specific requirements.

Lindow End, Fisherground, Eskdale Green, is an attractive three-bedroomed barn conversion in the heart of Eskdale Valley with views of surrounding fells.

It is just a short distance from the village of Eskdale Green with a school, shop and public houses. The tasteful accommodation comprises of a large kitchen diner, inner hallway, ground floor shower room, ground floor bedroom, a spacious first floor lounge, two further bedrooms and a bathroom. There is also a fully-boarded loft.

Outside there is a shared cobble courtyard to the front with parking and to the back is a mature garden with lawned areas and seating with porcelain tiled floor.

There is a greenhouse with mature borders and shrubs.

Explaining the development of her house, Sue said: “I was retiring from being a speech therapist, but I wanted away from the city.

“I just love that I can walk outside with my Sunday newspaper and within five minutes be sitting up on the fells reading, with a flask of coffee and biscuits.

“I went to a planning consultant and got good advice before anything started on the house and I had a big say in the design of everything. The bathroom is all me.

“I do love my dining kitchen because having a dining area has always been important to me.

“The design has really worked well because when my daughter and grandson or her partner come to stay there is the downstairs bedroom for them with the downstairs toilet and access to the kitchen which means they are self contained. They can get up in the night if my grandson wakes up or if it is early in the morning they can go out to the garden.

“When I am working in my study I love being able to open the window and look out at the garden and the fells. “We get so much wildlife including lots of birds and I love my garden and gardening.

“It is a very busy little garden and I took extra time to design it that way with fruit trees, shrubs and vegetables."

The bedrooms are all a good size and the one thing that Sue will definitely be taking with her no matter where she ends up will be her bed which she brought for a bargain price in Harrogate.

It is king size and she doesn’t think that they are making that type anymore - plus she loves it.

There is a shared courtyard and a local occupancy clause - which both run smoothly.

Sue added: “I have loved living in the house for the last 12 years, but at the age of 45, my daughter announced she was having a baby and my other daughter also did so I am a grandmother which was quite a surprise.

“Now I have two grandsons, Ethan and Erik, I want to be near them because it is wonderful to have them.

“People who live here do come for the lifestyle it provides and of those who retired here, they were intrepid, some having been explorers, continuing to collect flora in the Himalayas, or retired professionals. The main qualification though, is a love of the outdoors.

"There are also many people who work at Sellafield.

"Eskdale stores are near by and you can go over the fells and be there in 20 minutes and they sell all the basics. There is also Gosforth and Egremont shops and a supermarket at Whitehaven.”

Sue admits that both the house and area are going to be hard to leave, but the time is now right.