Property editor Caroline Culot paid a visit to the Old Rectory in Weston Longville, treading in the footsteps of the famous English country parson James Woodforde.

The Diary of a Country Parson was written by Parson James Woodforde and he lived at the rectory at Weston Longville - not actually this property which was rebuilt at huge expense in 1842 but the original house is believed to have been situated just to the west of it.

Nothing of the original property remains but two of the ponds mentioned in the diaries do still exist.

The Old Rectory comes with this wealth of history associated with the parson but in its own right is a beautifully presented home which has been in the same family for more than 40 years. It was built in 1842 so at the dawn of the Victorian era but very much in the Georgian style, at enormous expense - the build was said to cost £2,000.

The current family took it on in 1971 when it was sold by the church and over recent years have undertaken a mammoth project to upgrade it and make improvements including the re-roofing of the house and the conversion and extension of the coach house into a separate cottage.

Particularly striking is the main drawing room which has a really fascinating architectural feature in the form of floor to ceiling period windows with shutter boxes. These would have allowed the windows to slide up so people could step outside - the original sliding or 'French' door equivelant. This room is off an elegant hallway with parquet flooring and a very pretty sweeping staircase and also of note is a formal dining room in powder blue with some fine picture rails.

This is, of course, a working family home though and you have many functional rooms such as the kitchen, laundry room, boot room and family room all arranged around a courtyard.

Over two floors there are a total of eight bedrooms and Savills' Louis de Soissons pointed out the original Jeckyll fireplace in one of the bedrooms with a cast iron sunflower motif design. Norfolk's Thomas Jeckyll played a huge part in popularising the sunflower with his really very intricate designs produced by the Norwich foundry of Barnard Bishop and Barnards.

Outside, the house sits in just over five acres with the coach house cottage to the north. It boasts very attractive accommodation including two luxury contemporary bath/shower rooms, two bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen/dining room. There is also large garage and extensive gardens with an orchard, fig trees and the ponds. • The Old Rectory, Weston Longville, is for sale for £1.5 million with Savills on 01603 229229.