Country house and cottage in an exceptional setting.
Upper Coombe House and its attached cottage occupy an enviable setting in the attractive rolling chalk hills situated between Royston & Baldock. The house is reached via a country road that passes through a valley with woodland to either side. The main house has well-proportioned accommodation extending to approximately 2,730 sq ft and is well presented. A six paneled entrance door with glazed fanlight leads into the reception hallway with an oak staircase to one side, and reached up a single step, a library area.
The main living room has limed floor boards and double hung floor to ceiling sash windows facing towards the gardens between which is an open fireplace. Next to this room is a study lined with bookshelving. The layout is flexible and includes a large ground floor bedroom with en suite bathroom which could function as the main bedroom if required, this room has French doors which open onto a pretty paved courtyard at the rear of the house. The second sitting room plus dining room is adjacent to the kitchen and is filled with light from dual aspects with flagstone floor and a further set of French doors out to the adjacent courtyard. In the vaulted kitchen there is a run of cabinetry along one wall with integrated oven, dishwasher, sink unit and working surfaces. On the other side of the room are deep pantry and larder cupboards and a further cupboard housing the central heating boiler.
At first floor level there are four bedrooms, one currently used as a study and another as a dressing room. The main bedroom has triple aspects, lovely views and an en suite bathroom with bath and a separate shower.
With its own front door fronting the road is Upper Coombe Cottage - a very well presented separate property which is currently let out providing a useful income for the present owners. It could be re- incorporated into the main house which would then provide four further bedrooms and two bathrooms as the first floor is of a similar size to the main house. The ground floor comprises a well equipped kitchen/breakfast room with French doors leading out onto a terrace. There is a ground floor cloakroom/w.c. off the hallway and a sitting room with an open fireplace.
Outside
Tall brick piers mark the end of the shingled entrance drive which passes parkland railings on one side and leads up to a parking area and double carport. The gardens are beautifully laid out with several rooms featuring clipped box hedging and grassed paths with shrub and herbaceous beds. Above the house adjacent to the courtyard behind the house is an elevated garden with bespoke glasshouse and symmetrical grassed areas with clipped box hedging and feature trees.
At the far end of this area is a brick arch feature with a central wrought iron panel and beech hedging to either side.
A gate leads into a vegetable garden and to the corner of the plot there is a vantage point which has been turned into a raised seating area overlooking the rolling hills into the distance. Below the house there is a semi- sunken secret garden with large feature cistern water feature and a covered seating area. The main feature in this part of the garden is a large pond with paths around the edge and views over the adjacent countryside down the valley. The cottage garden is all to the front and further up the lane is a detached double garage.
View payable Stamp Duty for this property
As I was driving up the country lane towards the house it felt like I was somewhere in the West Country with lovely rolling wooded hills to either side leading gently up to where you get to the house and its amazing gardens Apart from the amazing setting the house has a big house feel and an eclectic style which could easily grace the pages of a magazine like World of Interiors I haven't seen one like this for a very long time and it has the added benefit of an income from the cottage which is currently let out.
Lucy BanksProperty agent