High StreetWylye, Warminster, Wiltshire, BA12 0QP

The Mill House is a handsome and well-proportioned family house, configured across four floors and yet very well-suited to modern family life.

The large kitchen/breakfast room has access to both the driveway and gardens, as well as the utility room behind. The mill race runs under room adjacent to the kitchen, and more might be made of this feature, should a buyer wish to. The first-floor drawing room, of approximately 40' x 20', is very light, thanks to its double aspect and is perfect for entertaining. A smaller, more cosy, library to one side of the drawing room is ideal for quieter evenings. Back on the ground floor there is an excellent conservatory which doubles as a daytime sitting room, and is linked to the kitchen and study by an open-plan dining hall. Unusually for a period home, The Mill House can easily flex to accommodate few or many people, as required, an example of which might be the principal bedroom suite being self-contained off one separate landing, or the converted attics, which offer an extensive children's playroom or perhaps a space for a hobby.

Both the Mill Stream and River Wylye run through the garden, meandering through to the water meadows. Fishing rights come with the Mill, and both the mill pond and river contain good size trout and grayling. The current owners have undertaken a lot of work to improve and nurture the watercourse and it's habitats. Considerable work has also been undertaken with regard to the water management, such as replacement sluices, a new electronically controlled mechanical sluice gate operated by the EA, and significant work to the water facing walls of the house.

The outbuildings are accessed from the gravel drive, namely a garden/mower store and a single garage adjoining. To the rear of the property is a paved area, with barbeque for outside entertaining and wonderful river views over the “Wylye Boy” and garden. The principal gardens in front of the house are laid to lawn, with a variety of mature shrubs, hedgerows and borders.

A pretty and slightly more formal garden, and also an orchard, lie on the other side of the river. These are accessed via a foot bridge from the house or by vehicular access from the village lane.

Despite being unlisted, The Mill House has a fascinating history. It is recorded in the Domesday Book as rendering 10 shillings. The London to Exeter road forded the river beside this mill until the first bridge was built in the late 18th Century. In the middle of the river stands a statue known as “The Wylye Boy”, depicting a sea sprite blowing a shell-like trumpet. According to Pevsner, it was collected by the Earl of Pembroke on the Grand Tour in the early 18th Century. It was later given by him as a memorial to a young postilion rider who drowned after saving a relation of the Earl from an overturned coach. The mill and its surroundings are also mentioned in William Cobbett's book Rural Rides, “... I remembered Wylye very well and thought it a gay place when I was a boy. I remembered a very beautiful garden belonging to a rich farmer and miller. I went to see it; but, alas, though the statues in the water and on the grass platt were still remaining, everything seemed to be in a state of perfect carelessness and neglect...” Idyllic as this sounds, the house and it's grounds are now quite the opposite.

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