Estate agents use many different measures when it comes to valuing houses. Where is the house? How big is it? How many rooms? How much work needs doing? What is the price-per-square-foot in this particular neck of the woods?
So far, so relatively scientific... but the best agents also admit that there are a fair few intangibles at work in the calculation too. Is the place unique? Does it put a smile in your face, or butterflies in your stomach? What — for want of a better word — is the vibe?
All these things can move the valuation up, down, or sideways. While usually it's a bit of a nudge, sometimes there's so much going on that they simply rip up rules and go with their gut.
And so it is that a modest, three-bedroom bungalow in Dorset, extending to 1,800sq ft. and which hasn't been redecorated since the 1970s, is now on the market at £4 million.
Take one look at the pictures on this page and I doubt there is anyone at all who'd be remotely surprised at that price, because Shipstal Point is one of the most fabulous locations we've seen at Country Life this year. Set in the RSPB Arne Nature Reserve, accessed via an unmade road behind high, electric gates and protected from view by mature trees and shrubs, it's as private and secluded a spot as you could ever hope to find on the south coast — in stark contrast to the homes at nearby Sandbanks, for example, where most homes are shoulder-to-shoulder with their neighbours.
Yet as with the homes in Sandbanks, you have access to the water and the beach. Shipstal is just one of three private homes to have direct access to Poole Harbour, yet it's also tucked off to one side along the Arne Channel. Do we need to spell out that there is a private slipway? A boathouse? There is, and as you step past them you'll be straight out on to the beach.
The house itself is, as mentioned earlier, something of a timewarp — yet incredibly well kept and completely charming, the sort of place you'd imagine serving as a set for a Netflix series. There are wooden floors and floral curtains, 1970s-style ceiling tiles, unpainted wooden doors on the kitchen cabinets and more. The clever trick here is that it's been subtly updated (you'll note the huge gas hob and eye-level cooker, for example) without losing its period look.
In a similar vein, there's an original sauna room in the garden which, like the house itself, was built in the 1960s. The summer house has a similar look, with its painted wooden walls and sofa bed.
The big question is, how much of it will stay this way? Perhaps it's nostalgia speaking (I grew up in a house of a similar vintage) but it doesn't feel hard to love the quirkiness of the place just as it is. Yet the reality is that at this end of the market (that price-per-sq-ft works out at over £2,000, which is central London levels), and especially when dealing with an unlisted house, it's likely that whoever moves in will want to replace the house that stands here with their own vision for what Shipstal Point should be, particularly given that this is an area with good schools, lovely restaurants nearby, and a local station that gets you to Waterloo in just over a couple of hours. Let's hope that whatever its future holds, this place stays just as fun, fresh and beautiful as it has been for the last 50 years.
Shipstal Point is for sale at £4 million — see more pictures and details.
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20 breathtaking country homes for sale, as seen in Country Life
We take a look at some of the finest houses to come to market via Country Life in the past week.
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