No house ticks every single box for buyers... but it must be said that Old Came Rectory, just outside Dorchester, comes awfully close.
Down in the heart of Dorset, Ashley Rawlings of Savills is handling the sale of the restored, Grade II-listed Old Came Rectory.
Situated 1½ miles from Dorchester in Hardy country, it’s the former home of the Victorian scholar, poet and rector William Barnes, and it’s on the market at a guide price of £3.2m.
In all, the buildings provide 3,992sq ft of accommodation including a drawing room, dining room and kitchen/breakfast room on the ground floor.
There is also a study, music room and wine room.
Yes, that does bear repeating: it has a dedicated wine room.
And for the abstemious, the utterly glorious oak-panelled study/library is we’d the sort of place you’d love to squirrel yourself away in for hours. Maybe even days. Depends on how noisy the kids are being.
There are four bedrooms and three bath/shower rooms on the first floor, plus a further sitting room, double bedroom and bathroom in the coach house.
Old Came Rectory was built in the 1830s for the Revd William England in the romantic cottage orné style from a plan by John Nash. It was later the home of Thomas Hardy’s friend and mentor William Barnes, who was rector of Came from 1862 until his death in 1886.
Meticulously restored in recent years, the thatched former rectory and its adjoining coach house stand in 1¾ acres of grounds, which include an enchanting walled knot garden and a kitchen garden. These really do deserve special mention, with a real Secret Garden vibe that’s a dream for the green-fingered.
All this, and wonderful seclusion too: the whole property us surrounded by woods and fields with no near neighbours. And yet you’re in no way isolated; in fact, the centre of Dorchester is less than two miles away, and the house is walking distance to the station.
Old Came Rectory is for sale via Savills at £3.2m — see more details and pictures.
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