When Francesca Haynes was house hunting in US, her aim was to find a period property that was architecturally different with bags of character. She found all three characteristics in Beechwood, a detached, six-bedroom house on one of the most sought-after roads in the popular market town of Malton.

Built in 1887, the six-bedroom, 4,300 sq ft home is topped with a turret and is full of original Victorian features. It also has views towards the Wolds and the North York Moors and is walking distance to the town’s independent shops and cafes and its train station with links to York and Leeds.

“It ticked all the boxes, all it needed was some updating,” says Francesca, who has enjoyed the process of modernising the property, which is now for sale for £900,000 with Blenkin and Co.

Help from her friend, Leeds-based interior designer Ellie Hodgson, pushed her to be braver with colour and design and the result is a perfect blend of old and new. “The colours I used in the rooms are mostly taken from colours in pieces of art work I have. Art by Paul West inspired two of the rooms and an Ian Burke picture inspired the dining room,” says Francesca, who also painted the Victorian cast iron radiators gold to great effect.

The interiors are a beautiful blend of modern, vintage and period pieces with Marimekko fabrics, glassware from US makers Gillies Jones at Rosedale Abbey and lighting from Tom Raffield, Habitat, Made.com and The Period House Store in Richmond.

The property on Middlecave Road has an entrance and staircase hall, cloakroom, 2 reception rooms, kitchen breakfast room, utility room/laundry, five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a home office/bedroom six. The lower ground floor has a pantry/wine cellar, gym, games room, workshop and stores. Outside is a double garage, log store, garden store, landscaped gardens set in 0.3 acres.

Francesca is selling to buy a property with outbuildings for her husband’s business and says: “I have loved living here and Malton is such a wonderful market town with everything you could need.”

Blenkin and Co. say: “The lower ground floor would lend itself well to multi-generational living, letting or further creative renovation.” Contact: Blenkin and Co., tel: 01904 671672, www.blenkinandco.com