When Hawthorne Cottage was first built in the 1940s, its owner was a hard-working farm labourer who thought nothing of heading off to the Priory Estate at the crack of dawn and not returning until dusk, sweaty, dirty, dog-tired and reeking of robust rural smells.

Now Hawthorne Cottage has become a hot property in a very fashionable village and its new owner is likely to be "something in the city" and not on first name terms with farm animals.

Offered by Stephensons (01904 625533) at a guide price of £152,500, this former farm worker's cottage is tucked away in New Lane off the main village green in Nun Monkton, between York and Harrogate.

The ground floor entrance hall has a deep understairs storage cupboard and leads to a sitting room with a clamp brick fireplace and a polished oak mantle, a dining room, a good-sized conservatory with twin French doors to the garden, and a fitted kitchen with a ceramic tiled floor.

On the first floor are three bedrooms, two of which have fitted wardrobes, and a modern bathroom - refitted last year - with a fully-tiled corner shower cubicle and attractive half-height pine wall panelling. A quiet private road leads from the village green to a delightful cottage garden at the front of the house with a shaped lawn, a curved path and climbing roses on the canopy porch, and on to an attached brick garage at the side.

The back south-facing gardens border on to open fields with long- distance views across the surrounding countryside.

Directly behind the house is a paved patio, a shaped lawn winding between well-stocked flower and herbaceous beds, and a number of mature trees including a willow and two apples.