A CARE home which closed down earlier this year following a damning inspection is to go under the hammer.

Care Quality Commission inspectors slated Longworth House care home in Higher Ramsgreave Road, Blackburn, branding it inadequate in a report published following a visit

Inspectors found the Higher Ramsgreave home was inadequate for providing safe and well-led services, while it required improvement for its effectiveness, care and responsiveness.

And 14 remaining residents living there had to move out when the home closed.

Now Blackburn-based estate agency Trevor Dawson is handling the sale of the home alongside Pugh Auctions.

The home will go under the hammer in an auction in Salford on December 6 with a guide price of £1.1 million set.

Jason Rawson, of Trevor Dawson, said the property would be ideal for continued care sector use or residential conversion.

The property is for sale as freehold and consists of a detached 26 bedroom former residential care home set within 1.83 hectares (4.52 acres) of land with views over the Ribble Valley.

The property benefits from a separate two storey residential annexe, long driveway leading to a car park for around 20/25 cars, extensive mature gardens to front and rear, courtyard with detached workshop, stables and storage.

The whole of the property is offered with vacant possession.

A Trevor Dawson spokesman added: "A former farmhouse of solid stone construction beneath a pitched slate roof which has been extended, having been converted to a 26 bed residential care home.

"The property comprises eight bedrooms on the ground floor (four of which are en-suite) and 18 bedrooms on the first floor (five being en-suite). A passenger lift has been installed. To the first floor is a commercial kitchen, manager’s office, entrance hallway, dining room and communal lounges with open aspects.

"Adjoining the property is a two-storey residential annexe which comprises ground floor living room, fitted kitchen, dining room and toilet with, at first floor, two large bedrooms and a three piece bathroom. The property has UPVC double glazing throughout.

"The care home has a newly installed boiler for the gas hot water central heating system with an LPG gas system serving the annexe."