Delightful Historic Manor House in idyllic rural setting.
Grade II* listed Baverstock Manor has a fascinating history and Baverstock itself has records dating back to before the Domesday Book. It is understood that in 968, 300 acres of land at Baverstock were donated by King Edgar to Wilton Abbey. The original house here was built by the Abbess of Wilton during the 1500's, as a retreat house, later to become the Manor. It was located on the site of the holy Mary's Well. This well was reputed to cure diseases of the eye, attracting many pilgrims to travel to Baverstock. The Abbess placed a number of nuns in the house to care for the pilgrims. The well was fed by three springs, two under the house and one across the lane. The springs were piped to the well and overflowed into the winterbourne east of the house and thence to the River Nadder which is still the case to this day.
In the 17th Century this picturesque house, built predominantly of dressed sandstone under a tiled roof, was significantly added to and was further restored in the 1930's. The house retains a wealth of period details, including stone mullioned casement windows and handsome stone fireplaces.
The original Tudor-arched ribbed front door is approached, via wide stone steps, into the entrance hall. To one side is the dining room, which has a stone fireplace with flanking alcoves. Opposite is the impressive, dual-aspect, south-facing drawing room, with an imposing stone fireplace. The adjacent dual-aspect sitting room benefits from a stone fireplace and a large south-facing bay window. Both aspects have window seats. An inner hall offers access to a study and a playroom/ snug, with working shutters, and also to the cellar.
The generous kitchen/breakfast room, with handmade wooden cabinetry, benefits from a large central island with oak work surfaces, a 4-oven Aga and additional oven and hob. It has a stable door opening onto a pretty flagstone terrace. The secondary hall gives access to a studio, with a Belfast sink, and adjacent flower room and also to a spacious back kitchen, with a Rayburn stove and access to the back stairs. A boot room off the back kitchen has a door to the outside. Upstairs is an impressive dual-aspect, south-facing principal bedroom with an en suite bathroom. It boasts a bay mullion window and a stone fireplace. The dressing room is opposite. There are eight further bedrooms and three bathrooms, some with fireplaces and mullion windows.
OUTSIDE
The property is approached, via stone pillars topped with stone finials, along a sweeping tree-lined drive, through the parkland-style grounds. Passing a pretty pond, the drive culminates in a spacious gravel parking area, bordered with immaculate pleached beech and hornbeams. Extensive gardens wrap protectively around the house. Laid predominantly to lawn, they include a particularly stunning double herbaceous border that runs down towards the flagged terrace along the western elevation of the house. The swimming pool is set within a pretty walled garden, with stone outbuildings to one side, housing a changing room and shower, plant/ pump room and music room. To the other side is the tennis court.
A charming stone cottage, belonging to the property, sits within its own sizeable garden. The accommodation comprises a kitchen, a sitting room with an inglenook fireplace with woodburning stove, dining room, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The stable yard is located at the head of the immaculate, post-and-rail fenced paddocks. A ridge of mature trees sloping up behind. There are three stables and a tack room. There is also a double-height barn comprising workshops and tractor stores, with a mezzanine with adjacent wood store. Behind the stables is a substantial, part-walled kitchen garden with a heated greenhouse. This garden opens through to an orchard of fruit trees, including pear, quince and damson, walnut and hazelnut.
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This is a rare chance to buy a wonderful country house in a peaceful and private position. As well as being a practical family home, I absolutely love the history of the whole place which goes back hundreds of years.
James McKillopProperty agent