Finding the balance between chic and comfort is never an easy thing, when it comes to designing a home. Under-play it and you risk losing the 'wow' factor that can make a country house feel special. Over-do it and you'll feel like you're living in a hotel rather than a cosy, comfortable home.
When you see somebody who's got it right, however, you can end up with a place that remains cosy and cool all at once — and that is the case with the gorgeous Wolverton House, situated in a hamlet not far off the A303 in Wiltshire. It's currently for sale with Fox Grant via OnTheMarket.com at a price of £1,450,000.
It's a big house. There are six bedrooms, three reception rooms and four bathrooms, plus separate home office, stables and workshop. It also has five acres of land, including a tennis court, all-weather manege and a paddock.
It's not the 3,705sq ft that makes Wolverton stand out, however, but the finish. The current owners have clearly lavished an incredible amount of care and attention on the place to bring it up to a wonderful standard, filling it with all manner of interesting touches. The kitchen, for example, has a bright red Aga placed at an angle in a kitchen which seems tailor-made for parties, connecting as it does to both dining room and the outdoor seating area.
Occasionally there are touches of whimsy which might be a little much for some tastes — the zebra rug in the sitting room, for example — but these decisions have been made in the furnishings rather than the fixtures and fittings, which work beautifully with this 17th century building.
Perhaps the finest example of the latter is the lead veranda, designed by the owner and built by local craftsmen, which shows how well loved the place has been. The gardens also speak to that, with a vegetable patch that's full of produce and an orchard that contains apple, pear, damson, plum, greengage and cherry trees.
Add the tennis court and three stables in to the mix and you have a house that's every inch the classic country home in a location just off the A303 and not far from the — making it easy to get to from Bath, Salisbury, Shaftesbury and London.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
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