Pow Leas was a 70s time capsule when Neil and Catherine Withington bought it, with an avocado bathroom suite and old Aga cooker - but its position, in a rural hamlet only two miles from Carlisle, was just perfect.

And in the past six years, the couple have made the inside of the house as perfect as the outside, by gutting it completely and transforming it to a comfortable family home for them and Catherine's daughter Rebecca.

Neil's skills as an architectural designer were a big help, said Catherine. She added: "Rebecca and I were living in Lowry Hill in Carlisle and I didn’t even know Stainton existed.

"Then Neil and I got together and we began looking for a property within the Stanwix area. This was because Rebecca went to school at Trinity and I wanted to be in the country.

"We came across this house and it was absolutely ideal – two miles from town so she could walk to school, no traffic, it was perfect and a bit of a blank canvas for us.

"We totally renovated it and brought it up to modern-day standards. We did everything to it internally, rewiring, new central heating, architraves, doors, the bathroom, kitchen, the works. We ripped it all out and started again.

"It was liveable when we moved in, just very dated. It had the avocado suite in the bathroom, no showers, an old Aga cooker, that kind of thing. Now the kitchen is bespoke and was made by Woodstyle Joinery who are a local firm. They also made the porch which we put on the front.

"We like the kitchen the best. We sit there with the back door open and have our coffee in the sun in the morning, it’s just fantastic."

Pow Leas was built in the 1970s by the farmer next door. Having been revamped by the Withingtons, it is beautifully presented with an entrance hall with oak staircase and understairs study area, two reception rooms, one with woodburner, and the lovely large dining kitchen with a utility off.

Upstairs are four bedrooms, the master with fitted wardrobes and en-suite facilities, and a fabulous family bathroom.

Catherine, who works in change management for the NHS, said: "The bathroom is lovely with a freestanding roll-top bathroom and a walk-in rain shower. We call that Rebecca’s en-suite because there’s just the three of us!"

Outside is a detached garage with planning permission to extend and create a home office. The gardens wrap around the property and, like the house, have benefited from Neil and Catherine's hard work.

She explained: "It was just lawn when we came so we’ve made beds and off to one side we started a vegetable patch as it lent itself to that because of the sun.

"In the top corner we’ve put a summer house and on the other side of the house we’ve planted an orchard. There are seating areas all around the garden to get the sun in different parts of the day.

"I was a gardener beforehand and Neil’s parents Roger and Mavis Withington were a great help in actually getting the garden going for us.

"We used to have a family day when my mum Cath Venables would be in the kitchen making the butties and we would all be out trying to get the moss out of the lawn, stuff like that. It was very much a family affair and we’re still doing it, it’s a ritual."

Now that Rebecca is at university, Catherine and Neil have their eyes on another project.

She said: "We’ve bought two barns and using Neil’s skills we’re going to create one big family home which is future-proof. My mum and Neil’s parents are getting older so we could separate it out if we needed to for them to live with us."

Pow Leas, Stainton, near Carlisle, is for sale at £385,000 from Hayward Tod, tel. 01228 810300.