See inside: Derelict 14-bed mansion up for auction after being abandoned 70 years ago

Abigail Nicholson

Published: 9:11 AM July 15, 2019

Updated: 6:24 PM October 9, 2020

Hainford House comes with 14 bedrooms and 13 acres but requires massive amounts of renovation work. Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant

A derelict Georgian mansion with 14 bedrooms and 13 acres is a blank canvas and ready for redevelopment.

Hainford Hall is a Grade II listed mansion with 14 bedrooms. Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant

Formerly a car breaker's yard, the grade II listed mansion house has stood empty for a number of years and is now ready for a complete makeover.

The building, which is north of Norwich, has a guide price of between £475,000 and £550,000 and has had plenty of interest, according to the auctioneer, Bryan Baxter.

Although accommodation in the main hall would need refurbishment, it currently offers a reception hall, drawing room, dining room, study, kitchen, cellars, offices and cloakrooms on the ground floor and 11 bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor.

Upstairs, on the top floor, there are a further three bedrooms.

A living room in Hainford Hall. Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant

Mr Baxter, said: "It's one of the feature lots in our catalogue and it is a real classic Georgian house but not in the condition that you could imagine a property like this to be in, it is derelict.

"It is a blank canvas for anybody to do anything else they want to do with it.

"They could turn it into a fabulous house, develop it into multiple uses but really, that is for the new owner to decide."

The building, which was last occupied around 47 years ago, offers lots of privacy and seclusion, it extends to 13 acres and includes a fenced 2.6 acre paddock, numerous mature trees and shrubs and a range of outbuildings.

A living room in Hainford Hall. Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant

Buildings surrounding the property and the land have most recently been a commercial site with workshops and offices.

The hall was once a grand family home but fell into disrepair long before the breakers yard was founded.

While being used as a breaker's yard, the back of the building completely fell off but has been covered up.

During the Second World War Hainford Hall was requisitioned by the military and it is thought the army used the rooms as offices.

Hainford Hall is a Grade II listed mansion with 14 bedrooms, it has been used as a scrap-yard. Picture: Jamie Honeywood - Credit: Archant

It was then left abandoned in 1948, with the interior littered with junk and cobwebs, and with birds nesting inside.

In 2013 a fire broke out at the car scrap yard, sending plumes of smoke into the air.

At its peak the fire, which involved about 60 cars, had 45 firefighters in attendance with billowing black smoke visible from as far away as County Hall in Norwich.

There was no investigation into the fire.