A majestic stately home near Knutsford along with its 2,000 rolling acres has gone on the market for the first time in its 700-year history, with an asking price of £30 million.

Home to the ever-so-grand Legh family since 1315, this grade-one Adlington Hall has 10 bedrooms - but with a further 28 self-contained residential properties on the estate, it is doubtful that finding somewhere to put guests would be a problem.

Northwich Guardian: Stately dining room: RightmoveStately dining room: Rightmove (Image: Rightmove)

According to Alex Lawson of Savills estate agents, no complete estate of this size, quality and significance has come onto the market in Cheshire in decades. 

Northwich Guardian: Hall and muse complex: RightmoveHall and muse complex: Rightmove (Image: Rightmove)

The impressive quadrangular house has a rich architectural history - the Great Hall goes back to the middle-ages - with significant additions in the Tudor, Carolean and Georgian periods.

Just some of the amenities include: two driveways – one from either side of the estate – an historical chapel with organ and frescos depicting Roman scenes, several follies, a yew maze, a walled kitchen garden, sunken garden, rose garden, laburnum walk, separate hunting lodge, Adlington village hall, several lakes and four miles of fishing on the River Dean.

Northwich Guardian: Chapel and organ: RightmoveChapel and organ: Rightmove (Image: Rightmove)

In addition to the main house and other residential properties, Adlington has some 208 acres – approximately 150 football pitches - of private park and woodland, along with 6 working arable farms, totalling some 1,992 acres.

The rental income from these would put a significant dent in the estimated £140,000 monthly mortgage repayment that the prospective buyer would have to find, but it would by no means cover it.

Great estates such as these tend be run as events businesses in the twenty-first century, as is the case with Adlington, though the hall is still the main residence of the Legh family.

Northwich Guardian: Sprawling acres: RightmoveSprawling acres: Rightmove (Image: Rightmove)

The hall has been used for location filming, most famously as the home of Dr Grimesby Roylott, in an episode of the Granada TV series Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett called ‘The Speckled Band’.

Viewings are strictly by appointment via Savills and Mark Wiggin Estate Agents.