With four daughters between them, Brian and Allyson Carty needed a larger-than-average home so they traded up several times and since 2005 have been happily settled in The Cottage, a detached house in the sought-after Rheda Park area of Frizington.

Brian, a train driver at Sellafield, said: "I’m from Cleator Moor and my wife is from Egremont so we're local to Cumbria if not this area.

"We’ve moved three or four times as the family has grown and been on the lookout for bigger and better houses so we’ve travelled through this estate.

"Now that Beatrice is our only daughter still at home, and she’s leaving for university this summer – she’s going to be studying criminology at York - we've decided that we will maybe look at downsizing to a three-bedroom property."

The Cottage is situated in delightful wooded surroundings and is in a quiet position, tucked away off the road. "We're very well hidden, a lot of people can’t find us when they’re looking," Brian said.

The house has a recently fitted contemporary kitchen and a warm and inviting snug area with multi-fuel stove. There is a generously proportioned lounge, with windows overlooking the gardens and a gas-fired stove set in a lovely inglenook-style fireplace.

"We put the new kitchen in just 12 months ago and redesigned the room with help from Superdec in Whitehaven -they had some great suggestions," Brian said.

"We also put new flooring in within the past year and when we first moved in we did quite a bit of work to the entire house as we felt it needed a bit of updating."

All the rooms are very spacious. The kitchen is L-shaped and almost 25ft by 17ft, while the lounge is almost 23ft by 14ft and has windows to the front and the side.

"There are a lot of wasted rooms at the moment because it’s such a big house but the living room is probably my favourite," Brian said. "It’s nice and comfy with lots of space."

The dining room has parquet flooring and French doors opening to the back garden. A study leads off the dining room.

The entrance hall has two cupboards and a toilet and there is a utility room at the back of the house. A conservatory, with doors opening to a block-paved seating area in the garden, completes the ground-floor accommodation.

The first-floor landing is galleried with exposed beamwork and doors to the four bedrooms and family bathroom. The master bedroom also has exposed beams, walk-in wardrobes and an en-suite shower room.

Two of the other bedrooms have under-eaves storage and one of them has a walk-in wardrobe, as does the third bedroom. They share the three-piece bathroom.

The Cottage has ample parking outside and a detached double garage with a date plaque of 1989. "I’ve always assumed the house was the same age," Brian said.

"The gardens are low-maintenance but you could do a lot with them. My mother-in-law used to handle the plant side of it and I cut the grass and did the digging but she’s passed away now and we try to keep on top of it as best we can. It would suit an active person.

"Allyson works for Cumbria County Council and spends a lot of time on the road so that's another reason why we want to move. But we'll miss The Cottage and its position - we often said if we could pick this house up and move it somewhere else it would be ideal."

The Cottage, Rheda Park, Frizington, is for sale at £420,000 from Cumbrian Properties. For more details, see here .