In chilly, dark January, few things are more cheering than a roaring log fire. Here are Arabella Youens’s favourite examples from houses currently on the market.
Devon, £375,000
Grade I-listed Flete House, near Ermington in south Devon, has a particularly attractive carved fire surround in the library.
Before you fall off your chair looking at the price, there’s a catch: the house is now divided into 29 apartments, but the good news is that the main rooms remain accessible for all owners to enjoy.
Dating back to the Elizabethan period and formerly the seat of the Mildmay family, Flete House was enlarged in the 1870s by Norman Shaw. The apartment currently for sale — which, as are the others, is available for people over the age of 55 — has two bedrooms and is set in the tower. Owners also have access to 12 acres of landscaped gardens and grounds including a croquet lawn and tennis court.
For sale via Luscombe Maye — see more details.
Devon, £2 million
There is much to recommend the Manor House in Bradninch, about three miles from Cullompton, including a bedroom in which Charles I slept when he visited in 1644 and an 18th-century dining hall with panoramic views across the gardens and lake.
Admirers of domestic architectural history will be drawn to the 16th-century drawing room, with an ornate decorative ceiling featuring pomegranate panels, oak panelling and a beautifully carved overmantel narrating the vicissitudes of Job.
For when the days are longer and warmer, the seven-acre grounds include a lake, a bridge-spanned stream and landscaped gardens designed by Jill Billington and Mary Payne.
For sale through Savills — see more details.
Dorset, £3 million
In 1966, Country Life’s then Architectural Editor Arthur Oswald wrote that Grade I-listed Sandford Orcas Manor, near the market town of Sherborne, was ‘one of the most charming manor houses in the West of England’.
It features not one, but two 16th-century fireplaces, in the Great Hall and the Solar room. Indeed, a watercolour of the Great Hall, painted in 1885, features a fire roaring in the grate. The opening is so vast that there’s room to accommodate enormous logs on either side, which can lie awaiting their fate.
Set in 12 acres, the property includes a manor cottage and stable flat — 10 bedrooms in all.
For sale with Strutt & Parker and Savills — see more details.
Worcestershire, £800,000
The Manse is a five-bedroom Georgian house at the heart of the village of Grimley, conveniently positioned for easy access to central Worcester. The original fireplace in the drawing room has been replaced with an easy-to-manage wood-burning stove, with plenty of room either side to store and dry logs in preparation for the following winter.
To the rear is a garden with a terrace and outdoor swimming pool.
There is also a brick-built garden store, which could be converted to a home office, subject to planning permissions. Trains from Droitwich Spa to Birmingham New Street take about 40 minutes.
For sale via Morgan Aps — see more details.
East Sussex, £3.6 million
Holford Manor is located just above the South Downs, a short drive from the village of Newick, which has a baker, butcher, post office and coffee shop.
Part of the six-bedroom house dates from the late 17th century, including, very possibly, the wood-panelled drawing room, which is home to a handsome fireplace with a marble surround.
The house has been carefully refurbished by the current owners, opening up views of the 5¾ acres of grounds and the Sussex countryside beyond. There is also an indoor swimming-pool complex, an all-weather tennis court and a separate two-bedroom cottage. Trains to London from Haywards Heath take about 45 minutes.
For sale with Jackson-Stops — see more details.
Best country houses for sale this week
A stunning Cornish farmhouse, a grand Yorkshire mansion, a delightful Arts and Crafts home in Surrey and a wonderful Cotswolds
