This seafront property built for a wealthy merchant more than two hundred years ago is two houses in one and is now for sale.

45-47 Quay Street, in Minehead, is estimated to have been built in the 17th or 18th century for a local merchant, which would have enabled easy access to waterways and overseas trade.

Outside, the building benefits from cottage-style gardens with sea views, and a stone pathway leading to an abandoned ‘cave’, which the agent says “could be made into an interesting feature” or used for storage.

quay street
A stone path behind the kitchen leads to what the agent describes as a ‘disused cave’. (Fox & Sons )

The house, which has the potential to be split into two homes or retained as a larger dwelling, is Grade II listed, with period features including a 1900s porch, casement windows, and a tiled roof.

On the ground floor, the house is entered through a period door to the entrance hall, leading to a sitting and dining area which features an inglenook fireplace and exposed stonework.

quay street
The main sitting and dining room. (Fox & Sons )

To one side of the room is the rest of the primary house’s ground floor, made up of a kitchen, a studio/sitting room featuring French doors with views out over Minehead Harbour, and a WC.

A spiral staircase in the main sitting room leads up to a bedroom and a bathroom on the first floor, as well as two further bedrooms on the second floor.

quay street
The house has period features such as exposed stone and beams. (Fox & Sons )

The secondary house can be accessed from the main sitting room or from a second entrance hall with a period stable door.

Downstairs, it is made up of a dining room with a feature fireplace, exposed beams and views out to sea, a kitchen/breakfast room and a store cloakroom accessed via a private courtyard.

quay street
French doors offer views out over Minehead Harbour. (Fox & Sons )

Upstairs, the first floor contains a sitting room with a window seat, a study/bedroom and a shower room, while there is a further shower room and a bedroom on the top floor.

The property is being marketed by Fox & Sons and is listed for a guide price of £525,000.

The agent said: "[This is] a substantial 17th century Grade II listed cottage believed to have been built by a wealthy local merchant and now offering versatile accommodation which could be utilised as two separate dwellings, wonderfully positioned on Minehead seafront with uninterrupted views over Minehead harbour and beyond.”