Apothecary House, Main Street, Askrigg, Leyburn, England
If you ever need a place to stay when you're touring England's beautiful Yorkshire Dales, the village of Askrigg has got you covered.
We've taken a look at Skeldale House, a bed and breakfast known as the exterior set for All Creatures Great and Small. Today let's pop into the neighboring Apothecary House, which has also been a rental property and is also on the market.
Like Skeldale House, the Apothecary House is a three story Georgian, built in 1756. It was built for Dr. James Lightfoot. (All I can find about him is a lengthy prayer he wrote before starting business, hoping that he would neither be "too rash or too timorous" in his practice.)
Well, when it comes to the current version of the sitting room, it's pretty, but maybe a little timorous:
I feel like an apothecary house should have more things to dust:
{Max Rollitt (with a few embellishments)}
The sitting area is one large room, that also houses the dining area:
There's a roomy kitchen...
that opens to a TV lounge, or snug:
Upstairs is the bedroom that overlooks the lounge. It has those wonderful old beams because it was once a hayloft at the back of the house.
There are five bedrooms, at least three of which have ensuite bathrooms. (I'll just mention that UK real estate listings often aren't as forthcoming with details as Zillow.)
15 years ago, this rosy room looked like this:
Like the bedrooms, this one example of a bathroom looks newly updated:
It's the garden, though, that I think merits the listing's "honey-pot" adjective:
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Askrigg is a honey-pot type of village. Its name comes from the Norse and means "ridge where the ash trees grow."
It's notable for St. Oswald's, a church dating from 1466, and its somewhat newer 1830's market cross in the center of the village. Starting in the 1680's, the town became known for its clock makers.
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I really should have added a clock to my living room gallery wall. Askrigg is also notable for having too many charming and roomy old Georgian houses with blue doors on the market. (Sadly, the pandemic is probably to blame for the bed and breakfast closures.) Among them is Chapel House Farm:
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It also has the Piggery, a stone barn with a living area and a kitchen garden.
No matter which way you turn in Askrigg, you've got a pretty place to stay. The Chapel House listing is here. The Apothecary House listing is here.
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