5 bedroom for sale, Strines Road, Marple, SK6

Bleak House is a home full of history, but it’s also been really well curated by the current owners to work as a fantastic family home.

There’s still scope to improve or extend things further if you wanted to, although with four double bedrooms and four bathrooms, I’m not sure you’d necessarily need to.

You’ve also got a really cool separate annexe. The current owners use this as an Airbnb and it’s consistently booked, but it gives you loads of options. It could work brilliantly for a family member wanting their own space, somewhere to work from home, or potentially as a business space.

Anyway, back to the main house.

Walking through the garden gate, Bleak House makes a great first impression. It’s a substantial stone-built home with loads of character, and you really appreciate the scale of it when you see it in person.

Step inside and you’re into a lovely bright hallway. One of the first things that stood out to me was the staircase. It’s an original stone cantilevered staircase, so not only does it look amazing, it gives you a real sense of the quality of the house when it was first built.

From the hallway, you’ve got access to the living room, kitchen diner and cellars.

The living room looks out over the garden and is a great sized room. As you’d probably expect from a home like this, the fireplace and log burner form the main focal point. There’s loads of character in here, but importantly it still feels like a really comfortable family room rather than something too formal.

The kitchen diner is probably one of my favourite parts of the house.

It’s a huge space, with a Dekton island sitting right in the middle. As well as looking great, there’s loads of useful storage, with a large range of additional wall and base units around it. You’ve also got all the modern bits you’d want, including integrated appliances and a boiling water tap.

The other half of the room is a clearly defined dining area, looking out over the front garden and towards the woodland beyond.

From here, you’ve got another entrance hall, which is actually really handy if you’re coming back from a muddy walk along the canal. A small flight of stairs takes you up to the utility room, where you’ve also got a downstairs WC.

Head up the first flight of the main staircase and you arrive at a small landing with two of the four bedrooms.

The main bedroom is amazing. It’s a really substantial room, naturally lit from two sides, with doors leading into a large en-suite and a separate walk-in wardrobe. It’s a brilliant space and the walk-in wardrobe is a real luxury.

Across the landing is another double bedroom, sitting above the living room and sharing similar proportions. Again, it’s a really good sized room and has cleverly had its own en-suite shower room added.

Head up another floor and you’ve got a similar layout, with two further sizeable double bedrooms, both with their own en-suite shower rooms.

The cellars are worth mentioning too, because they’re huge.

You’ve got full head height and three separate spaces. Two are large chambers giving you loads of storage, while the smaller space would make a great wine cellar, coal store or somewhere to keep logs. The recently installed boiler is housed down here too.

And then there’s the annexe.

I know I said the kitchen was probably my favourite part of the house, but this comes pretty close.

The owners have completely refurbished the space over the last few years. You enter through a fantastic glazed arch into a bright, spacious sitting and dining area. Around the corner, neatly tucked away, is a kitchenette. It’s currently set up for Airbnb use, so it’s compact, but has everything you need.

The cantilevered staircase style from the main house is replicated here too, taking you up to the first floor.

At the top, a balconied landing is a real feature of the space and leads through to the bedroom and shower room. It’s beautifully finished, bright and spacious, and definitely has a bit of a wow factor to it.

Outside

The grounds at Bleak House are really interesting because there are lots of different areas to them.

You’ve got lawns, cottage-style gardens, a beautiful apple tree and a more recently landscaped pathway garden.

For me though, the standout is the composite decked area.

Sat here, you’ve got the most amazing views across the surrounding area, while being right alongside the canal. Whichever way you look, it’s beautiful, and despite the location, it feels lovely and private.

The History

Bleak House has a really interesting place in Marple’s history.

Dating back to the early 19th century, the Grade II listed home was originally built as a mill manager’s house and sits within an area closely connected to Samuel Oldknow and Marple’s industrial past.

Oldknow played a huge part in shaping this part of Marple, developing Mellor Mill and the nearby lime kilns, as well as helping drive the development of the Peak Forest Canal.
By the mid-1800s, historical records show Bleak House being offered alongside the nearby corn mill, complete with its stable and outbuildings, at a time when the wider estate was owned by the Arkwright family.

Today, plenty of that history is still visible in the house itself. From the dressed stone exterior and stone-slate roof to the original sash windows, substantial stone detailing and distinctive arched attic windows, there are reminders of the building’s past everywhere you look.

The Location

Strines Road is a really convenient spot within Marple.

You’re only around a five-minute level walk from the centre, so cafés, shops, pubs and everything else in the village are really easy to get to.

At the same time, you’ve got some brilliant countryside pretty much on your doorstep. The Roman Lakes, Roman Bridge, Peak Forest Canal and Macclesfield Canal are all within an easy walk, and the centre of Marple Bridge isn’t far away either.

For anyone needing transport links, you’re on the right side of Marple for the train station, and there’s also a frequent bus route close by.

It’s one of those locations where you can genuinely walk into the centre of Marple in one direction, or head straight out along the canal and into the countryside in the other.