A historic mill conversion in Warwickshire that wouldn't look out of place on Grand Designs

There’s something to be said for houses being too boxy, don’t you think? Like, after however many hundreds of years of architecture, we seem to have settled on something a bit too familiar shape-wise. Everywhere you look, a square, with some windows in, and a roof on the top. What happened to our sense of adventure?

Thankfully, when Bouncing Bess was spotted in 1970s, the people who decided to renovate it had such a sense of adventure, and were more than happy to eschew the ‘square-house-with-some-windows-and-a-roof-on-top’ style and replace it with, well, lots of small houses, none of them really all that square, all kind of connected. The resulting property is The Mill, which is for sale with Hamptons for £1.95 million.

We like conversions here at Country Life, for reasons that I have bored you with before and I will bore you with again. They create buildings of architectural interest, and they refine and restore our built heritage. Perhaps most importantly, they are sustainable, re-using old materials to create new, interesting, modern dwellings. The Mill is a perfect example of this, combining a piece of machinery that is inherently linked with our industrial past, and turning it into a modern home of elegance and interest. What’s better than exposed brick, wooden beams, original gears and parts, interspersed with modern fixtures and fittings? 

With four bedrooms, three bathrooms and three reception rooms, there is also plenty of room in this odd collection of interlinked buildings, but, despite the unusual nature of its design, the property flows quite naturally. Of particular interest is the principal bedroom suite, which occupies two floors and includes an en-suite bathroom, dressing room and sitting room — the perfect place to hide from annoying children or visitors.

The property is also surrounded by well-tended gardens that make the most of the surrounding Warwickshire countryside, and feature a sun terrace that wraps around the structure. Surrounded by paddock land on all sides, the gardens also feature a detached garage/workshop, and an outdoor bar/seating area. 

The Mill is for sale with Hamptons for £1.95 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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