Ideal homes for frequent travellers: houses with easy access to the A1(M)

If you want to live somewhere with excellent road links you can't do much better than in a house near the A1.
Swan House, Main Street North, Aberford - £799,950 with Renton & Parr, 01937 582731.Swan House, Main Street North, Aberford - £799,950 with Renton & Parr, 01937 582731.
Swan House, Main Street North, Aberford - £799,950 with Renton & Parr, 01937 582731.

Running from London to Edinburgh, it is – as its name suggests – the principal asphalt artery for the island of Great Britain, and at 410 miles is also the UK’s longest numbered road.

It was once the main north-south coaching route and was called the Great North Road until the Ministry of Transport gave it its shorter moniker in 1921.

Applewood House, Town Hill, Bramham - £695,000 with Beadnall Copley, 01937 580850.Applewood House, Town Hill, Bramham - £695,000 with Beadnall Copley, 01937 580850.
Applewood House, Town Hill, Bramham - £695,000 with Beadnall Copley, 01937 580850.
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Prior to that, it claimed ancestry from the medieval Ermine Street, which linked London and York, and which in turn followed the route of a combination of Roman roads.

It still has a connection with the Latin world – quite literally. If you want to get to southern Spain in a hurry, you can jump on a flight to Málaga from Leeds Bradford Airport and be there in a little more than three hours. Alternatively, you can head south down the A1 and be there in a little more than a day (according to the AA), because the road forms part of European route E15, which stretches from Inverness to Algeciras.

Of course, ease of access to Andalusia isn’t the A1’s only asset. It also connects with the A59 (York to Skipton) near Flaxby and with the M62 running laterally from coast to coast.

In our region, the A1 has been upgraded to motorway standard and is called the A1(M), making it broader, quicker and arguably better maintained than other stretches.

Gelsthorpe Cottage, Hopperton - £850,000 with Dacre, Son & Hartley, 01423 864126.Gelsthorpe Cottage, Hopperton - £850,000 with Dacre, Son & Hartley, 01423 864126.
Gelsthorpe Cottage, Hopperton - £850,000 with Dacre, Son & Hartley, 01423 864126.
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If living near a piece of living history appeals, or if you fancy having easy access to Scotland, Spain and Skipton, then you may be interested in one of the following properties, which are all conveniently located close to the A1(M) and are for sale.

Swan House is one half of what used to be the Swan Hotel, a Grade II listed former coaching inn on the main street running through Aberford, south of Wetherby.

Built in 1650 and rebuilt in the mid-19th century, its most recent additions are only a few years old; it has been sympathetically restored using conservation-grade products, including lime render and lime pointing, but it has also been fully re-wired and has datapoint sockets in every room fitted with wifi repeaters and Sky sockets.

There are five bedrooms, three bathrooms, entrance hall, two reception rooms and large, open-plan dining-kitchen and utility room. Outside, there’s off-street parking, an attached double garage, gardens and easy access to both the A1(M) at junction 44 and the A64 to Leeds and York.

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A little further north, between junctions 44 and 45 of the A1(M), is Applewood House in Bramham. Specifically designed for the owner, it has five bedrooms – three on the lower ground floor and two on the first floor, which are currently used as a master suite with dressing room. There are also three bathrooms, large dining kitchen, two reception rooms, sun terrace and attached double garage, plus gardens and long-distance views over the village.

Finally, Gelsthorpe Cottage is a fabulous detached family home at Hopperton, near junction 47. It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, breakfast kitchen, four reception rooms, utility room, study, attached single garage and gardens.