Inside, it zings with colour and warmth, thanks to its current owner, Victoria Baden-Powell, an acclaimed artist whose paintings are full of vivid juxtapositions of bold hues. Her home reflects that too, as she says: “It is all about knowing which colour can go next to another.”

She bought the house in 2010 with her husband, Jos Kersbergen, a respiratory consultant originally from Holland.

The couple embarked on a major refurbishment, beginning by taking off two sides of harling to repair holes in the sandstone underneath. Much of the roof was replaced and re-leaded, and chimneys were rebuilt.

Lilliesleaf, Melrose, Scottish Borders, offers over £1m

She explains: “It has been weatherproofed for the next 50 years, and we have replaced the electrics, modernised the heating, and put in new lighting.”

Plenty of original features remain, most notably the suspended Georgian staircase and the drawing room’s Adam fireplace.

Victoria and Jos were in situ during the work. She recalls: “We walked around in ski clothes for a couple of months as it was always freezing cold. But it was quite exhilarating to have lots of people in the house, teams of them carrying out different jobs at the same time, hanging off the roof or taking up floors.”

After the major infrastructure project was complete, she says: “That’s when the fun part started with the decoration and furnishing.”

Farrow and Ball colours, and Designer’s Guild and Pierre Frey fabrics are used extensively throughout the house.

Victoria says: “I went to the Pierre Frey shop to look at fabrics and found these beautiful French checks and raised velvets. They asked which colour I would like, I said all of them.”

And among the new purchases were antiques and bargain buys. She says: “We were still at the end of the credit crisis and we had nothing like enough chairs to go with our tables from Holland, so we tried eBay and found Chippendale chairs, which we had re-covered.

“Two chandeliers, for the drawing room and the dining room, came from an auction in Vienna and arrived still wrapped in newspapers from 1942, so I’d love to know what the story was there.”

She describes the finished look of the house as “gently modern”.

A major investment was the Hartley Botanical conservatory, in forest green. Victoria says: “It was made to measure, and we extended the outside terrace with Indian limestone slabs which go right through the conservatory, and finished it with a Tom Dixon light fitting.”

Just across the courtyard is an outbuilding used as her studio. Victoria jokes: “I commute to work – it is a very important ten-foot walk.”

The garden is very private and includes a croquet lawn, flanked by wooden arches supporting roses and clematis. A 12-foot pink stone wall supports espaliered apple trees and climbing roses.

This is Victoria’s work – she believes a garden should be designed by one person, rather than a team, but admits that Jos has contributed practical help: “He’s very good when it comes to mending a hose.”

It is time for them to move closer to their children and grandchildren, but the next owner may be interested in the contents as well as the historic house and its beautiful grounds.

Victoria says: “We will take things of sentimental value, but so much here was specifically designed for the house, including the beds, which Jos had to have made because we have such terribly tall Dutch friends.”

For more information, contact Knight Frank on 01896 807 013.

Lilliesleaf, Melrose, Scottish Borders, offers over £1m

Prestige property: Tasteful riot of colour in tranquil rural setting