A magnificent country house in Somerset with impressive oak beams throughout, and a cute two-bed stone cottage in the garden
Whites Farm is a quintessential west-country period home that is just as equally captivating as it is wonderful. From the impressive wood features that run throughout each room, to the stone cottage — it's hard not to be charmed by this property.


Magnificent overhead timbers, cruck beams, a plank-and-muntin screen (no shame in googling either of those, incidentally) in the hall and two original bread ovens next to the log burner in the dining-room fireplace are only a few of the attractive period features at 17th-century Whites Farm, which merge seamlessly with the restoration and extension works done in 2003.
Currently on the market for £1.65 million via Jackson-Stops, the wonderfully presented home is believed to date back (in parts) to 1622 and beautifully balances old and new features.
Characterful and Grade II-listed, it has four bedrooms, a four-oven Aga in a smart modern kitchen and timber arches over the staircase.
An impressive Bressumer beam (there's another one for you) and deep sandstone sills help decorate the sitting room, whilst a the log burner in the dining room is complemented by a thick oak panelled wall.
There’s also a two-bedroom cottage within the 12-acre grounds on the edge of the Blackdown Hills AONB, a couple of barns, a calf house, open linhay and a kitchen garden.
Whites Farm is currently on the market for £1.65 million via Jackson-Stops — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details.
Buckland St Mary: What you need to know
Location: The village is located 8 miles south of Taunton, 6 miles from Ilminster and just under 6 miles from Chard. The A303 is easily accessible and the closest train station is at Taunton which provides a Great Western Railway service.
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Atmosphere: The village won 'Village of the Year' for Somerset in 2008 and has a small population. There is a parish church, village hall and several small independent shops. Further amenities can be found in Taunton and Ilminster.
Things to do: The village sits on the edge of the Blackdown Hills AONB, perfect to explore either on foot or bike. Nearby Taunton offers plenty to do and see and is home to numerous boutique shops and restaurants, has 3 major Green Flag Award parks plus the surrounding Quantock Hills. There is also the annual 'Somerset Live' music festival plus numerous community events.
Schools: There are a number of excellent independent schools in the area including Millfield School in Street, King's College, Hazelgrove Prep School, The Castle School and The Taunton Academy.
See more property for sale in the area.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
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Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.
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