New York Public Library

With a Patagonian grilling station, a treehouse and a plywood stairwell, this timber-clad holiday home in the North Yorkshire countryside is a complete one-off. And that’s before we mention its name. There’s little point Googling that for directions unless you want to end up on the other side of the pond. The UK’s New York Public Library is actually found a couple of miles outside the market town of Richmond, within a country estate belonging to art collector Greville Worthington. That goes some way to explaining the bold creativity in this place. It may challenge those with a taste for neutrals and muted colours but it will delight anyone with an eye for design.

New York Public Library has orange dining chairs, a bright red sofa and a stainless steel kitchen with blue walls and turquoise bar stools. All this sits together in the open-plan living space of this modern holiday home and somehow all of it works. That’s because it’s been carefully curated – not only to impress but to be lived in and enjoyed. It’s functional as well as fun. The kitchen is well equipped and the dining table is big enough to seat all guests together. Huge glass sliding doors open onto the outside space where that grilling station and a pizza oven add to the catering inventory. There’s an art installation, a treehouse and a hot tub out there too.

Three of the four bedrooms are in the main house while a further one is secreted away in an annexe with an en-suite wet room and its own outdoor seating area. It can be fashioned as a double (with a super kingsize bed) or a twin. Back in the main house, there are two double bedrooms that have access to a first-floor sun terrace, as well as a cosy twin. The bedrooms plus the table football in the living space and the treehouse outside make this a great place for families but it’s also a fun place for groups. It can be used as a base for a celebratory get-together or to explore historic Richmond and the Yorkshire Dales which stretch away east of here.

And finally, in case you’re wondering why this place is named after the New York Public Library, it’s one of the places that has inspired the owner of this unique holiday home. But that doesn’t mean you’ll find anything like the marble colonnades of that landmark building here. This place has a style all of its own.