The sunsets are absolutely fantastic, really beautiful, and we can see the Scottish lowlands and the hill at Langholm with poet Hugh MacDiarmid's monument.

Peter Cray is talking about the view from his Naworth home, a striking former estate lodge that he and wife Di bought from Lord Carlisle 34 years ago.

"We've never been able to find out exactly when the house was built," he said. "I think that when the Carlisle to Newcastle Railway was built in about 1834 the then Earl of Carlisle granted permission for the line to come through his land and had a private station at Naworth.

"The station house is still there but I don't know when the station was built or our lodge cottage. I half suspect that the road from the castle to the A69, where our house is on the junction, was built to get to that station.

"I've tried to find out from the Naworth Estate records which are held in Carlisle Records Office but they don't have any details of when it was built or the architect."

The stone-built lodge is charming, sitting in large gardens on the edge of a wood and with views over Naworth Park to the castle and beyond to the Irthing Valley and Walton.

"A lot of lodge cottages were built to look nice from the outside for the estate image and for visitors but internally, because they would have been tenanted properties so were pretty plain," Peter said.

"This doesn't have moulded cornices or detailing but we have things like the original windows and panelled doors. The rooms are a reasonable size which is unusual for a lodge cottage - they're actually typical-sized rooms for modern properties."

It has two reception rooms, kitchen, utility and two ground-floor bedrooms with a third bedroom and family bathroom on the first floor.

"We've put a driveway in that takes you round to the garage so we use the back of the house as an entry and access area. We kept the principal elevation facing west to keep its integrity as a lodge cottage that was built in the 19th century and it looks largely if not exactly as how it was built then.

"Absolutely we're going to miss it. We're both retired which is basically the reason for selling - the family have moved on and we're going to do the same."

Naworth Lodge, Naworth, Brampton, is for sale at £239,000 from Hayward Tod (01228) 810300. For more details see here .