A NINE-bedroom Victorian guest house offering photography breaks in the Lake District has come onto the market for £795,000.

Fern Howe is located at Braithwaite, two miles from Keswick, and is run as Lakeland Photographic Holidays by owners John and Gail Gravett.

Since buying the property in 1999 they have welcomed more than 3,000 photographers to their workshops. The 18-year-old business is described as the leading residential photographic centre of its kind in the country.

Specialist business property firm Christie & Co has been instructed to sell Fern Howe, a striking detached house built in 1897 that nestles in an elevated position overlooking the Derwent Valley and beyond. Located on the Coast to Coast cycle path, the guest house has far-reaching views of the surrounding countryside.

Fern Howe has been significantly improved and extended by John and Gail, who are now planning to retire from the trade, meaning there will be no chain in the property's sale.

The house offers a digital darkroom, lecture room, library, dining room, and drying/boot room for its guests, as well as owners' accommodation with three bedrooms. The purchase also includes six acres of private woodland – Cadger Howe Wood – located on the hillside above Braithwaite.

Tom O’Malley, business agent at Christie & Co’s Manchester office, said: "Fern Howe is ideally suited to a number of business possibilities, whether someone wants to continue it as a photographic centre, take advantage of its location on the Coast to Coast cycle path and become a cycle centre, or run it as lifestyle business as a guest house.

Fern Howe's freehold is on the market for £795,000. To find out more about the business, visit www.lakelandphotohols.com