An 18th-century estate in north Norfolk has been crowned joint winner of the Historic Houses Restoration Award 2022.

The owners of Wolterton Park have been recognised for their work to restore the historic estate near Aylsham. 

The prestigious award, sponsored by Sotheby’s auction house, was created in 2008 and highlights "outstanding examples" of the work being carried out by private owners to protect and preserve historic buildings in their care.

The front-runners in this year’s award were so evenly matched that the judges took the "unprecedented" decision to give joint first-place honours to "two equally impressive houses".

Wolterton Park was built by Horatio Walpole, whose brother Robert was Britain’s first prime minister.

The family also possessed other houses in the area including Houghton and nearby Mannington Hall, which is still the family home.

Following a fire in 1951, Wolterton had to be repaired and a new roof built.

Then, in 2016, the house and surrounding parkland was bought by Peter Sheppard and Keith Day, as the latest in a succession of historic homes they had lived in and cared for in London and East Anglia.

With the main building in "good structural order" their project focused on "bringing the house alive again as a space for comfortable modern living and entertaining and creating a portfolio of holiday letting options to provide some long-term financial sustainability for the house".

The main hall has been restored including rewiring and new plumbing with new bathrooms and kitchens.

The stone and brick exterior has been cleaned of lichen and all the windows and doors have been painted in subtle stone colours.

The entire house has been refurbished with fabric walling and historic paint finishes while all the ancillary buildings have been restored as luxury holiday lets with new plumbing, heating, and rewiring installed.

Peter Sheppard, co-owner and designer of Wolterton Hall, said: "When we bought Wolterton we wanted to respect and maintain the historic Walpole legacy while also making this large Palladian house comfortable and stylish.  

"It was essential that, now there are only 500 acres, there should be a steady flow of income from the holiday lets and we are delighted that these have been so successful."

The other joint winner was Lytham Hall, an 18th-century Georgian country house in Lancashire.