The most beautiful homes in England have the worst energy ratings

Stone cottages in the Lake District. Sandstone terraces in the Yorkshire Dales. Limestone farmhouses in rural Cumbria. They're some of the most desirable homes in England, and they're haemorrhaging energy.

We went through the government's EPC register, every domestic Energy Performance Certificate lodged in England, and compared current ratings against potential ratings across more than 40 council areas. The question was simple: where could homeowners make the biggest improvement?

The top 6 areas

The pattern was unmistakable. The areas with the highest improvement potential weren't the places you'd expect, not deprived urban centres or post-industrial towns. They were the scenic, rural, stone-built parts of northern England.

Now compare that to the cities

The contrast is striking. In Manchester, only 3% of homes could jump 2 or more bands. In Newcastle, 6%. These cities have newer housing stock, more flats, more cavity walls already insulated. There's less room for improvement because the homes are already closer to modern standards.

South Lakeland at 55% vs Manchester at 3%. That's not a small difference, it's a completely different world.

Why stone walls are the story

Every area in our top 6 has a high proportion of stone-built homes. Sandstone, limestone, granite, the traditional building materials of northern England. They're solid walls with no cavity. You can't pump insulation into them like a modern cavity wall. Heat goes straight through.

A typical uninsulated stone wall loses heat 4 times faster than an insulated cavity wall. In Barrow-in-Furness, 49% of homes have no wall insulation at all. In Copeland and Eden, it's 45%.

These homes were built to last centuries. They weren't built to be thermally efficient. But with internal wall insulation, they can be, and the Great British Insulation Scheme may cover the cost.

The methodology gap

There's another factor. Many of these rural homes were last assessed years ago, under an older methodology. Before 2017, EPC assessors didn't include heat pumps or solar panels as standard recommendations. The potential rating on a 2012 EPC only considered traditional improvements, loft insulation, double glazing, a new boiler.

Today's methodology (RdSAP 10, introduced June 2025) includes heat pumps, solar PV, battery storage, and accounts for a cleaner electricity grid. The same stone cottage assessed in 2012 might have been told it could reach D. Assessed today, it would likely show potential B.

That's why the real opportunity in these areas may be even bigger than the numbers suggest.

What this means if you live in one of these areas

The bottom line

The homes with the most to gain from energy improvements are the ones that look like they'd be the hardest to fix. Stone walls, rural locations, old heating systems. But “hardest to treat” also means “most to gain.” And the government knows it, that's why the grant schemes are weighted towards exactly these properties.

If you live in the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Cumbria, or anywhere with stone-built housing: your home probably has more potential than you think. The first step is finding out.