With box-ticking like that, it was no wonder that Tim and Carole Jones snapped up their home, a barn conversion created from old farm buildings at Rottington near Whitehaven.

Tim explained: "We haven’t needed to do a great deal to it since moving in, just kept it up with painting and decorating here and there, no huge build or changed rooms round or anything like that because one of the reasons we bought it is that it pretty much fulfils what we wanted from it.

"The rooms are large and it’s nice and flexible with the big open-plan living space upstairs. This is where the kitchen is so it’s easy for guests and great for entertaining."

He’s a telecoms engineer and Carole works in the nuclear industry. They bought the property 11 years ago after relocating from the Wirral for work.

"Obviously we had holidayed in Cumbria quite a lot but not out on the west coast so it was all new to us," said Tim. "It’s been great, we’ve had a really nice time. The house is in a great location for the beach, just out of Whitehaven but easy to get into, just a really nice central area without being right in town."

The barn conversion - the former cow byre with hayloft above at Rottington Hall - has been done to a high standard with lofty ceilings and beams and the rooms arranged to make the most of the views towards St Bee's Head and the fields.

A flagged entrance hall leads to the ground-floor bedrooms and bathroom. The bedrooms have built-in storage and the master bedroom has an en-suite and dressing room. The first floor is one huge open-plan space incorporating a lounge, diner and kitchen with a vaulted ceiling and wooden flooring. Three Velux windows flood it with light.

Tim said: "I don’t have a favourite room as such, just the whole of the upstairs. If I could build my own house I’d like to do something like this, a big open-plan area. We were lucky to find it.

"All the rooms are very spacious and the bedrooms have built-in storage so there are no wardrobes sticking out anywhere. The storage is a huge space, which is nice because you can literally put things out of the way.

"If you want to use the room as a bedroom you could just have the bed in there, you don’t need any other extraneous furniture. It can look homely with a few lamps and bedside tables or you can have it as a real chill-out space with nothing in the way. That’s what I mean about the flexibility, you can make it exactly how you wish.

"Like all barn conversions it’s quite individual but this one has just worked for us. We looked at quite a lot of houses and none of them clicked like this."

Outside the house there is an enclosed garden with lawn and patio - a real suntrap, says Tim - with sheds and parking for up to five cars, shared with the neighbour in the other semi.

"We're on a quiet road - you can walk to the beach in 15 minutes over the fields and you can drive or get the bus to Whitehaven in 10 minutes."