Property description
Pretty as a Picture
Dating back to the early 1800’s, with a 1990’s extension, this charming cottage is a real gem. Set in lovely surroundings, it has long-reaching views from every aspect across the fields, and at night, you can catch glimpses of the coast lit up in the distance.The cottage provides warm and welcoming accommodation, with plenty of original character throughout. On the ground floor, there are two lovely receptions and an excellent kitchen, with three good sized bedrooms on the first floor, one with en-suite. The gardens are a real delight, abundantly planted, and well configured, and with a rather smart greenhouse and 2 potting sheds, you’ll be happy gardening here for hours. Two hen houses offer you the opportunity to collect your own eggs in the morning, and with space for up to 6 cars plus a cart lodge, you’ve plenty of space for visiting guests to park. The location couldn’t be better, as we hear, “We’re in the most idyllic spot: rural, and only a ten minute drive from an award-winning beach! All of our friends never want us to visit them but prefer to come here and still keep telling us how lucky we are to live here.”
Insider Knowledge
Being from within the building industry, the owners of this property were over the moon to find it after a long hunt without success. “We’d been looking for such a long time and were on the point of giving up, but were fortunate to see this before it came on the market. In spite of the cerise pink on the walls, we fell in love with it straight away, and set to work on making it ours.” One of the most notable features of the cottage is the beautiful floor to ceiling windows in the lounge and the dining room, and this was one of the things that first struck the owner, “The floor to ceiling windows are gorgeous and let in so much light, and really so unexpected of a country cottage.” The work on the cottage has been very well done with as much of the original character as possible having been kept. “The colours in the cottage were originally deep and a little dark, so we completely redecorated using mainly Craig & Rose period paints all in neutral colours which give the cottage a light airy feel.”
Top of the Range
You enter the property through a lovely porch and step into a small lobby, with a useful cloakroom and stairs that lead up to the first floor. A delightful feature of this space is a glazed internal window, which provides endless pleasure for the grandchildren, as we hear, “The internal window on the stairs looks into the sitting room, so not only do we benefit from the borrowed light, the grandchildren love to peek through at us in the sitting room on their way up and down the stairs!” Within three months of moving in the owners had had the kitchen re-fitted with oak fronted units with granite worktops and integrated appliances, all of excellent provenance. Taking pride of place is the Rangemaster cooker and an American fridge freezer, and as you cast your eye around this space, it is evident that this kitchen was put in with no expense spared. “I will be very sorry to leave this kitchen behind, as it was chosen to suit my very particular tastes. Everything you see is of the highest quality; it really is the dream kitchen.” Furthermore it has lovely views, “From the kitchen window it’s lovely to see the horses in the adjoining paddock while I’m working or sitting at the island having a cup of tea. “
Fine Reception
The dining room leads off the kitchen, and is refreshingly bright, and welcoming. Like the sitting room, it’s well-proportioned and criss-crossed with original beams, as the owner affirms, “These two rooms are really spacious, light and have lovely beams. They’re snug in winter and cool in summer, and look stunning at Christmas time.” You can seat up to ten in the dining room, and it’s a very cosy space, as we hear, “We have an electric wood-burner in the dining room which adds a lovely touch but we only switch on the heating element sometimes of an autumn evening for a short while when its not cold enough to turn on the central heating. In the triple aspect sitting room, it is light through the day, and has plenty of useful storage both under the stairs and alongside the original chimney breast, which now houses a remote controlled flat wall fire. A fine feature of this property, discovered by the owner himself being a professional consultant within the industry, is the French drain that sits slightly below ground level edged by a sleeper. It wraps around the original part of the cottage and forms a feature which is visible from the floor to ceiling windows in both the sitting room and the dining room.
Bedding Down
On the first floor, you discover three superb bedrooms, all in excellent decorative order, and with bathrooms that promise you a luxurious soak or a shower, all having been replaced with top of the range fixtures and fittings. The main bedroom with en-suite forms part of the more recent extension, and is vaulted with lovely views, and bedrooms two and three would be almost identical in size, were it not for the second bathroom that serves them both. Bedroom two is triple aspect and is particularly spacious, as we hear, “This room is just fantastic with a larger than double built in wardrobe, space for a king-size bed, and lots of storage. I love the cast-iron fireplace, and the beams that frame the space.”The grounds were very much a blank canvas for the owners, but one element that they did inherit was a small orchard at the bottom of the garden, and a large acer, which stands proudly at the heart of the garden, its branches heavy with red foliage forming the perfect chocolate box shape. Other than this, the owner has done a tremendous amount of work, as we hear, “We’ve made flower beds and planted mainly shrubs and herbaceous plants which come up every year and once we’ve added the hanging baskets, there is a lovely display of colour.” Work starts on these early in the season, as the owner adds, “I am never happier than when I am sowing seeds in the potting shed, or tending to plants in my greenhouse.”
Sit back and relax
And this is not the only aspect of this lovely 1/3 acre to bring joy, as we hear, “My husband was thrilled at the double cart lodge with its door leading to the workshop plus the driveway on which we’ve had on occasion an additional four cars.” And at the end of the day, where better to relax than out on the patio, a great place from which to enjoy the fruits of the day’s labour, “French doors from the kitchen open out on to a patio decking which with the lawn wrap round to the side. We’ve got seating areas in both full sun and shade and we love nothing more than looking out over the garden come the evening, a glass of wine in hand. The sunsets here are so amazing before the sun goes down over the fruit trees at the bottom of the garden, it’s hard to describe.” And although there is little need to look beyond your boundary for inspiration, the immediate area provides plenty of opportunity for further relaxation, and thus this will be a location sorely missed by its owners, as they summarise, “Sometimes after returning from a busy day working in London we go in the early evening and sit and eat a fish and chip supper overlooking the sea. After driving home from the projects our business serves some of which are in the City of London with all of the people traffic and noise it still never fails to strike us both that there is an aura of calm and peacefulness here.”
Property Features :
- Charming Period Cottage
- Stunning Kitchen Breakfast Room
- Separate Dining Room
- Triple Aspect Sitting Room
- Master Bedroom with En-suite
Property Info: