There is much that I want to say but can’t with regards to the day I have had. Mondays are tough, especially if you are someone in your early 30s who still drinks (and there are fewer and fewer of us, probably for the best), but the agonies of tasting real freedom on a Saturday and Sunday, only to be returned to the crashing thump of adult life, can be overwhelming.
Suddenly, the many emails that you have been ignoring for 48 hours can be avoided no longer, and as you desperately cast your eye around the home in which you work, in a vain attempt to briefly disconnect, all you can see is cracks in the walls, and things that need repairing and clothes that need cleaning. And then, a strong breeze blows all your plants off your windowsill and covers you in soil. I often take it upon myself to attempt to bring the countryside to the computers and tablets of the ordinary Londoner, but this was a little too literal, even for me.
Bringing the countryside to the good people of the city should be more like writing about homes like Sarsden Cottage in Sarsden, Oxfordshire. On the market with The Country House Department for the not insignificant sum of £1.75 million, the property is a five-bedroom thatched cottage that looks like it wants to pick you up and cuddle you. The agonies of adult life will find you everywhere, but at Sarsden Cottage, they will hurt a little less.
Situated in the triangle of Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold and Burford, the village of Sarsden (and its adjoining village Churchill) is about as peak Cotswolds as you can get. There is a nice church. There is a village green. There is a nice pub (The Chequers Inn) and, perhaps most importantly these days, Daylesford Farm Shop and the Soho Farmhouse are a short drive away.
The property itself dates from the 17th century, although it does benefit from some more recent additions. The current owners have carried out a tasteful refurbishment of the house, creating a home of period elegance that oozes cosiness. Observe the comfortable sitting room and its glorious fireplace. Marvel at the farmhouse style kitchen that is both modern yet traditional. The double aspect garden room, with its enormous french doors and windows, is a particular highlight (I also like the choice of paint colour).
The small garden to the rear is also extremely pleasant. Hardly massive, it is mostly laid to lawn with well stocked beds and shrubs, creating a space that is nice to look at, spend time in, but won’t demand every hour of your free time to maintain. It’s all very well thought out and the kind of welcoming, functional space that might not write its own headlines, but is exactly the kind of calming home I would like to retire to after a day like today.
Sarsden Cottage is for sale with the Country House Department for £1.75 million
A classic Georgian manor house in an ancient hilltop town in the Cotswolds
The Lammas is a spectacular Georgian house in one of the finest spots in the Cotswolds, as Penny Churchill explains.
Credit: Savills and Knight Frank
Six of the best homes in the Cotswolds (or just outside) for sale, as seen in this week's Country Life
If it's more than an hour from the Soho Farmhouse or Daylesford, we don't want to know about it.
Credit: Hamptons
A honey-coloured home in Wiltshire that sits at peace with its landscape
Rock Cottage offers four bedrooms and almost two acres of land in the pristine countryside near Turleigh.
A 'rare and exceptional' medieval estate with an Elizabethan-style house, a string of cottages, and a location an hour from London
The Allexton Hall Estate comes to the market, and Penny Churchill tells its story.
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Christian Bolt won't stop until he can revive the Renaissance sculpture technique of terra seccaAt his studio fringed by the mountains of Klosters, Swiss sculptor Christian Bolt is feverishly cooking up recipes to re-create terra secca, a material used in Renaissance Italy, not only to expand his own artistic horizons, but to help save the planet.
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A three-bedroom bungalow that's escaped from the 1970s... and it might be the most beautiful beachside home we've seenShipstal Point is for sale for the first time in its history — and it's the sort of place that can't help but put a smile on your face.
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A three-bedroom bungalow that's escaped from the 1970s... and it might be the most beautiful beachside home we've seen
Shipstal Point is for sale for the first time in its history — and it's the sort of place that can't help but put a smile on your face.
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A country house that's 'the finest-looking estate between the Humber and the Tweed' (at least according to Queen Victoria)Burn Hall is a treasure-trove of architectural features, from its sweeping staircase to its grand snooker room.
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Six beautiful homes around the world, from Portofino to Provence to Palm BeachAn exquisite villa tucked into a hillside? A A breathtaking apartment created to make you feel like you're flying through the endless blue skies?
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An idyllic home where the forest meets the sea, for sale for the first time in over half a centuryLittle Aston is a graceful, charming home with superb gardens and its own orchard, as well as some of the south coast's most beautiful areas right on its doorstep. Penny Churchill takes a look.
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'Just look at those stairs. Just as an art form, they are bewitching, like the shell of a nautilus': The lure of buying a stairway to heavenIt seems like madness to buy a house purely because you fall in love with the staircase — but sometimes, they are simply so beautiful that it's impossible to resist. Toby Keel takes a look at some glorious examples of staircases we've seen in Country Life in the last couple of years.
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The one-of-a-kind estate with two private beaches and a surf house on storied Martha's Vineyard islandBeach Farm on Martha’s Vineyard — a favourite summertime holiday destination with prominent American families — is a perfect melding of New England and Scandinavian design styles.
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The architect who created the MI6 building only designed a tiny handful of houses — and one of them is now up for sale in one of London's most bucolic spotsSir Terry Farrell designed the beautiful, light-filled, T-shaped Drum House in Petersham, with gardens laid out by John Sallis Chandler, who has won multiple RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals.
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'True waterfront homes are finite... miss one and it could be years before you see another like it again': Why the best waterfront property always hits the spotThere’s no denying the appeal of waterfront property, which now sells for some 51% more than its inland equivalent, finds Knight Frank. Annabel Dixon explores the shore.
