Sometimes a property is so chocolate-box perfect if's hard to believe — and in the case of this house, even the name is like something from a story book: Cubby Close Cottage, which is up for sale.
The house is a delightful three-bedroom, thatched home set in as pretty a slice of countryside as you'll find in the West Country, at the heart of the National Trust's 6,000-acre Killerton Estate.
Inside, the house has been recently refurbished, but it's kept many charming period features — not least a glorious country kitchen with a huge traditional Aga set in an alcove created from ancient gnarled beams that date to the cottage's 18th century origins.
The thatched roof, you'll be glad to know, was re-done in 2017, so you'll not need to worry about anything more than standard maintenance for some time to come.
It's not a huge place. There's a living room and the kitchen/breakfast room, plus a utility room, bathroom and conservatory downstairs.
Upstairs are three modestly-size bedrooms, and another bathroom.
The gardens are three-quarters of an acre, but you're entirely surrounded by fields and woodland, with the River Culm close by. And yet despite this bucolic, secluded feel, Exeter is just eight miles away — it's a thatched country dream that's eminently commutable.
The agents, Bradleys, have it listed at £650,000, which — given its status as part of the wider estate — you might have guessed buys you not the freehold, but a 90-year lease.
Still, the ground rent is set at £10 a year, so no outrageous service charges here, and we're fairly sure you can trust the National Trust not to pop a couple of extra zeroes on the end of that figure any time soon.
Cubby Close Cottage is for sale at £650,000 — see more details and pictures.
Credit: Paul Massey
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