A river runs through it

The meandering waterwaysif Britain—in this case the Lyvennet, Eden, North Tyne and Taf—have seen it all, from glamping pods and rewilding to medieval village takeovers

- Penny Churchill

THE medieval village of Maulds Meaburn in Cumbria dates from the 12th century, when King Henry II gave part of the lands of Meaburn to Sir Hugh de Morville and the other part to his sister, Maud de Veteripont. When Sir Hugh fell out of favour, the King reclaimed his land and that village was known thereafter as King's Meaburn; the village once owned by Maud is still known as Maulds Meaburn. Said to be one of only three villages left in England where the green is still grazed by sheep, Maulds Meaburn sits either side of the Lyvennet Beck, which rises on nearby Crosby Ravensworth Moor, an area rich in ancient remains. From there, the beck flows northwards through Crosby Ravensworth, Maulds Meaburn and King's Meaburn, emerging as the River Lyvennet, which joins the River Eden near the village of Temple Sowerby, eight miles east of Penrith.

Located to the north of Cumbria's Howgill Fells, the remote pastoral landscape of the Westmorland Dales has been the north-west outpost of the Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2016. This scenic, but relatively little-known part of east Cumbria covers an area of 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) from Maulds Meaburn in the north to Tebay in the south-west and Ravenstonedale in the south-east. Tucked away between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, it boasts no fewer than 79 Scheduled Monuments, 19 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIS) and two National Nature Reserves.

Here, Sam Gibson of Galbraith's Hexham office (01434 693693) is handling the once in-a-lifetime sale of Crake Trees Manor Farm, a traditional Westmorland holding at Maulds Meaburn, which comes to the market with a guide price of $2.8 million for the whole, or in up to 11 lots. For the past 30 years or more, the 154-acre, ring-fenced mixed farm has been developed by owners Mike and Ruth Tuer along regenerative farming lines, with no fertiliser broadcast since 2008 and the use of sprays and chemicals kept to an absolute minimum.