We tend to think of rivers as being solid ribbons of water, running silvery and unbroken for endless miles. That's almost never the case.
Particularly at the confluences where major tributaries meet our largest and longest waterways, the water and the land are split, rejoin and split again into a series of alternative waterways punctuated by islands. Thus it is that south-west London, where the River Wey joins up with the Thames, there are a number of islands which are self-contained homes.
Admiral Nelson owned one of these, gifted to him by a grateful nation after the Battle of the Nile (he called it Pharoah's Island). And if you fancy following in the wake of the great hero, a nearby private island is now up for sale. Trinity Island, just outside Weybridge, is a delightful spot that's on the market through Jackson-Stops at £1.25 million.
The island is small, but generous as house plots in this part of the world go: it occupies just under three quarters of an acre, accessed by its own footbridge, and with a couple of parking spots before you cross over the water. It's also quite wonderfully pretty, ringed by large, mature trees to create what has the feel of a very special enclave away from the Metropolis. It's hard to believe that this is all within a couple of dozen miles of one of Nelson's other London landmarks, Trafalgar Square.
The house that's currently on the site is a charming, wooden two-bedroom home with a design that's kept simple and sympathetic — there's almost a treehouse feel to it. The bulk of the space is taken up by an open-plan living space, but there are two bedrooms and a terrace.
If you feel the need for something grander or larger (and it's just 723 sq ft, plus a small outhouse, as things stand), planning permission is in place to rebuild, but of course buyers will have to satisfy themselves about how the agreed plans tally with their own vision.
That said, this is a property where the appeal isn't in the house itself, but rather the setting. Deer and wildfowl roam, the garden rolls away in all directions and the sound of the water running along the Wey is the soundtrack.
Trinity Island is for sale at £1.25m — see more pictures and details.
The first house built on the island given to Lord Nelson after the Battle of the Nile, with a heated swimming pool and a 90ft mooring
Sphinx, one house of a small community built on Pharoah's Island, is set on half an acre of land and
Credit: Alamy
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