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A cute, 17th century thatched cottage on the Dorset coast that is just a stone's throw from the beach

With its mix of charming interiors and idyllic location, Little Meggs is a delightful home that offers period living by the sea. Annunciata Elwes takes a look.

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(Image credit: Winkworth)
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Close to the clifftops and beaches of Highcliffe-on-Sea and on the fringes of the New Forest, 17th-century Little Meggs is supposedly the oldest building in the Chewton Common conservation area and has certainly come a long way since it was used as a school for Victorian waifs and strays.

(Image credit: Winkworth)

Grade II listed and recently re-thatched, the main house has five bedrooms and there’s also a cosy one-bedroom Cobb Cottage. 

(Image credit: Winkworth)

The property is currently on the market via Winkworth with a guide price of £950,000 and is surrounded by beautiful gardens. To the front, a gravel path flanked by flower beds leads to the front door, whilst the private rear garden is formed of a paved, York stone patio area, a summerhouse, mature trees and a log shed. 

(Image credit: Winkworth)

Yachting paradise Lymington lies to the east, Christchurch Harbour and Bournemouth to the west and fast trains to London Waterloo run from nearby Hinton Admiral. 

(Image credit: Winkworth)

Little Megs is currently on the market via Winkworth with a guide price of £950,000 — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details.

Highcliffe-on-Sea: What you need to know

Location: On the south Dorset coast, Bournemouth is about 9 miles to the west and Lymington is just over 9 miles to the east. A fast train runs from Hinton Admiral station to London Waterloo.

Atmosphere: The bustling seaside village is home to beautiful beaches, a large selection of restaurants and cafes, shops, a butchers, post office, medical centre and the renowned Relais & Chateaux Chewton Glen Hotel.

Things to do: This is a yachting and watersports paradise. The Highcliffe sailing club hosts a number of social events, including an annual Bournemouth Pier race, whilst the sheltered harbour waters are perfect for paddle boarding and kayaking. The New Forest National Park is also just a few miles to the north, with plenty of scenic walking trails and great local pubs.

Schools: Highcliffe St Mark Primary School, Highcliffe School and The Eaglewood School are all rated 'good' in Ofsted reviews.

See more property for sale in the area.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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Annunciata Elwes
Annunciata Elwes

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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