Four buildings combined to create the Old Mill at Upper Swell: The original mill, a baker's house, a 19th-century cottage and an ancient coach house.
In the Cotswolds, the Stow-on-the-Wold office of Knight Frank has launched a substantial mill house, Grade II-listed the Old Mill at Upper Swell, Gloucestershire, onto the market at a guide price of £2m.
The former mill stands on the edge of the quaint hamlet of Upper Swell in the Dikler Valley, a mile from the quintessential Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold and five miles from Moreton-in Marsh. The hamlet comprises about 14 houses, with the small Norman church of St Mary perched at its highest point, above the wooded terraces of the Old Mill.
The house stands alongside the weir that dams the River Dikler to form the wide mill pond, which was enlarged in the 18th century to create a more picturesque view. Prospects from the garden, which look out across the lake, the mill race and the river to the fields of the extensive Abbots-wood Estate, are remarkably private.
The Old Mill is made up of four linked buildings: the original mill to the east, possibly 17th century, now with a 19th-century iron water wheel in place; the original baker’s house, a broad cottage with an exceptionally large bread oven, which is now a splendid, two-storey kitchen overlooking the mill pond, with a study and galleried dining area above; to the west, a 19th-century cottage that extends along the back of the house; and, at right angles to that, a coach house.
This combination of buildings is clearly evident from outside the house, although all were joined together in the late 1990s to create an intriguing variety of rooms.
The Old Mill offers more than 5,000sq ft of accommodation on three floors, including a reception hall, three reception rooms, six bedrooms and five bath/shower rooms. The property can either be used as one large family house or divided to allow part of it to be used for holiday lets.
