TWO guest houses on one of the Lake District's honeypot towns have sold for a combined sum of almost £1.2 million.

The pair of prominent properties in Keswick were sold by commercial property company Colliers International.

Acting on behalf of retiring couple John and Sue Armstrong, Colliers sold Appletrees Bed & Breakfast at The Heads, from an asking price of £699,500, to Jason and Catherine Fairfield, who are relocating from Burnley.

The spacious, seven-bedroom Victorian property enjoys beautiful views across Crow Park, down the Borrowdale Valley, across Derwentwater to the south, and Skiddaw and Latrigg to the north.

Colliers also acted for Pat and Linda Dent, who are retiring to Spain, in the sale from an asking price of £495,000 of Rivendell Guest House, at Helvellyn Street. Buyers Lee and Deborah Southern are moving to the Lakes from Sunderland. The Victorian townhouse also has seven bedrooms.

Both sales were secured by Haydn Spedding, associate director at the Manchester office of Colliers International.

He said: "Following the Brexit vote in June 2016, the market was very slow to re-engage but 2017 is proving to be exactly the opposite with a particularly busy and resurgent spring market and more than 12 sales of hotel and hospitality sites in the pipeline."