With breathtaking views across the dramatic Dartmoor landscape, Lower Willsworthy House is a fine country house perfect for horse lovers, as James Fisher finds out.
Set in some 37½ acres of gardens and paddocks, with direct river frontage on the River Tavy, Lower Willsworthy House is a perfect example of a home with a thriving business on site. It’s for sale through Strutt & Parker at £1.75m.
Situated in the heart of Dartmoor National Park, the views from the lawned garden area would be the envy of any landowner.
The symmetrical main house, with its elegant façade, offers four bedrooms, three reception rooms and a home office over its three floors.
The heart of the house is the lovely family kitchen — with Aga, naturally — while the reception rooms all boast lovely views across the moors.
The gardens also make the most of the location, with a lovely lawn perfect for al fresco dining, where you’ll enjoy the vegetables that you’ve grown in the house’s walled garden. Or at least, you could. Probably easier just to get them from the farm shop — there are several wonderful ones fairly close by.
There is also a separate three-bedroom cottage, which has been immaculately refurbished, and offers income as a holiday let.
Willsworthy is the perfect place for those with a passion for countryside pursuits, with six paddocks, including one set up for jumping, dovetailing nicely with the indoor arena, with six large boxes, and the Dutch barn, with a further two stables.
Even if horses aren’t your thing, single-bank fishing on the River Tavy, a rifle range and a clay pigeon shooting meadow should provide plenty of weekend entertainment. There are also golf courses nearby, while the walking and riding (both on four legs and two wheels) across Dartmoor obviously speak for themselves.
The nearest town is Tavistock, 6.5 miles away, while the A30 and Okehampton is about the same distance away to the north. That makes both Plymouth and Exeter relatively easily accessible — though the great appeal here is a location so beautiful and unspoilt that leaving will be the last thing on your mind.
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