The Gate House is a delightfully intriguing seven-bedroom house in the Northamptonshire village of Syresham which plays with your perceptions in all sorts of ways.
And that starts with the architecture itself: this house, for which offers over £1.5 million are sought via Michael Graham at Onthemarket.com, looks at first glance from afar to be several hundred years old – in fact, it's yet to celebrate its 100th birthday.
An architect by the name of Biddulph Pritchard was commissioned to build a new home by the Loder family of nearby Whittlebury Lodge, and created around a 17th-century style courtyard.
The result is a strikingly pretty home with few of the maintenance headaches that you would expect from a much older building.
Inside, the accommodation is full of character: there are oak-panelled walls and stone-mullioned windows, grand stone fireplaces – and, best of all, secret doors from both the living room and study which open onto a connecting passageway and a back staircase.
It's rather like a Cluedo board come to life real – murder mystery parties in this lovely house would be an absolute hoot. Only the kitchen bucks the trend – it has a beautiful country touch with the Aga set in a recess, but the bright red colour scheme, while lots of fun, doesn't quite fit the Agatha Christie mould.
Upstairs, meanwhile, there are four large double bedrooms and a barrel-vaulted master bedroom, with the latter containing a second door which leads to the back staircase and a sixth bedroom, currently used as another study. There is also another small bedroom on the second floor.
For those that need more than those seven bedrooms, there are also two separate flats which could be rented out or reincorporated into the main house layout; and there's also a separate lodge that's incorporated into one of the garage buildings.
The outside space for this property isn't vast – the plot is about 0.8 acres – but it does offer no fewer than seven garages, several storerooms and some lovely outside space to relax in.
The courtyard around which the house is arranged is idyllic, and there are beautiful formal landscaped gardens enclosed by the stone wall and providing lawns, herbaceous borders, sun terraces and lily ponds.
There is also a kitchen garden with a greenhouse and raised beds.
The Gate House is available through Michael Graham at OnTheMarket.com for offers in excess of £1,500,000 - see more pictures and details here.
Cobthorne: A home that stands out for its grace, even in the beautiful town of Oundle
This striking town house in Oundle serves as home to the headmaster of the town's famous school.
Sir Winston Churchill's house in London goes on the market
This 'very special' home exudes the spirit of old Kensington.
Credit: Strutt & Parker
The magnificent apartment that hosted Lloyd George, Churchill and Conan Doyle
This exquisite apartment is situated in the former home of Arthur Balfour.
-
ChilstoneChilstone have been makers of fine cast stone garden ornaments and architectural stone since 1953.
-
Guild AndersonGuild Anderson’s work in country houses and historic buildings centres around the design and reimagining of domestic working spaces, chiefly kitchens, sculleries, boot rooms and pantries.
-
A lakeside farmhouse on the market in the beautiful heart of PembrokeshireA lake, streams, 15 acres and five bedrooms. Rogershook might have it all.
-
An idyllic countryside home that's light, spacious and comes with a Grade II-listed follyHagg House is a gorgeous family home that just happens to have a miniature castle in the gardens. Annabel Dixon explains more.
-
A historic villa for sale on the Via Nomentana worthy of Rome's rich historyThree floors, lots of balconies, and a private garden in one of Rome's loveliest neighbourhoods.
-
Eight bedrooms of unlisted Edwardian elegance with sweeping views of SomersetAshton House sits near the market town of Chard and comes with a wealth of amenities both inside and out.
-
A waterside cottage in Devon with a private quay, idyllic views and the prettiest summerhouse we've seen in yearsRight beside the picturesque Yealm Estuary, No 1 Noss Mayo is an idyllic home that feels like an escape from the world. Annabel Dixon takes a look.
-
This elegant Greek villa offers would-be buyers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the shadow of the AcropolisAthenian Legacy consists of two houses in walking —and almost touching — distance of one of the world’s most famous and precious landmarks.
-
Six charming homes up for sale, including one dubbed 'one of the most picturesque in Dorset', as seen in Country LifeOur look at the finest houses to come up for sale through Country Life in the past week is full of delights, from a new-Georgian mansion to a perfectly-sized Hertfordshire estate.
-
A Buckinghamshire mansion built for the speech therapist who set Churchill on his path to greatnessPenny Churchill takes a look at Rignalls, a classic Arts-and-Crafts home that looks like it's stepped out of the pages of an EM Forster novel.
