Three properties in Markington, a village too often bypassed

Markington is a village more often bypassed than visited.
High Mill Farm, High Street, Markington - £650,000 with Myrings, 01423 566400.High Mill Farm, High Street, Markington - £650,000 with Myrings, 01423 566400.
High Mill Farm, High Street, Markington - £650,000 with Myrings, 01423 566400.

The sign that points in its direction, at Wormald Green, halfway between Harrogate and Ripon on the A61, is hard to miss, but most people never follow it. Which is a shame, because it’s one of those villages that combines the old and the new in a very idiosyncratic way.

Set back about a mile west of the main road, many of the village’s older buildings are very much intact. A good example is the Tudor Markington Hall, which was in the family of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce for nearly 300 years.

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The Church of St Michael the Archangel still holds Sunday services, and the Yorkshire Hussar Inn, on the narrow High Street, retains many of its original features, like stone flag floors and beamed ceilings.

Mayfield, High Street, Markington -£385,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.Mayfield, High Street, Markington -£385,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.
Mayfield, High Street, Markington -£385,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.

More recent additions to community life include the Markington War Memorial Institute building, which is the village hall, and the neighbouring tennis court and children’s play area.

The Holiday Caravan Park welcomes hundreds of holiday-makers every year to its six-acre site, Covid permitting, and is rivalled in terms of visitor numbers only by the Yorkshire Riding Centre, which is one of the region’s top equestrian centres.

Yet for all the more modern developments, there are plenty of reminders of how things once were, including a 3,000-year-old bronze-age barrow behind Poplar Terrace. There’s also a post office and general store, and a primary school (Outstanding, Ofsted 2013), which was built in 1789 and whose pupils dance around the maypole at Markington Village Gala in early summer. It’s a scene that would have been instantly recognisable to William Wilberforce himself.

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Just over the road from the village hall, High Mill Farm is a stone-built farmhouse with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. On the ground floor there is an entrance hall, open-plan dining kitchen and lounge, pantry, utility room, storage room, study, dining room and 30-foot-long sitting room. Outside, there are gardens and plenty of off-street parking on the gravel drive, plus solar panels on the roof, which could soften the impact of rocketing energy prices.

Holly Cottage, High Street, Markington - £235,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.Holly Cottage, High Street, Markington - £235,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.
Holly Cottage, High Street, Markington - £235,000 with Hunters, 01765 530007.

A few yards further along the High Street, Holly Cottage is a period property renovated to a high standard by the current owner. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen diner and cosy lounge with beams and a wood-burner. Outside, there is a private walled garden with seating area and brick-built storage sheds, along with gated access to the side.

Finally, still further down the road, next to the post office and general store, Mayfield is a charismatic cottage, stylishly renovated and set back from the road. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, sitting room, open-plan kitchen and dining room. There’s also access to the loft from the landing. Outside, there’s off-street parking, and a back garden with workshop and storage shed, greenhouse, seating area, central fire pit and vegetable patch.