Country houses for sale

An eight-bedroom Queen Anne home in Hertfordshire with perfect gardens and a party barn

Dancers End House is a family home seemingly made for entertaining.

Launched onto the market this week at a guide price of £5m through Knight Frank, Grade II-listed Dancers End House is classic Queen Anne, built in the early 1700s of chequer-patterned red brick under an old tile roof. Set in almost 17 acres of lovely gardens and grounds with panoramic views over the surrounding valley, it lies close to the Hertfordshire border, 3½ miles from Tring and 14 miles from Amersham station.

We promised perfect gardens and Dancers End House has provided them.

Arranged on three storeys with attics and basement, Dancers End House and its traditional courtyard of period barns and outbuildings have been meticulously renovated by the current owners, who conducted the entire operation using local builders and tradesmen, selling agent Edward Welton reveals. The main house provides some 5,800sq ft of light and airy accommodation, including a reception hall, four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, three bedroom suites and five further bedrooms.

Delightful plasterwork in the ceiling of one of the reception rooms.

The interiors are a mix of colour and styles, with plenty of contrast between modern spaces such as the kitchen and dining room and the more period styles of the reception rooms and bedrooms. A particular highlight is the large first-floor bathroom with its green colour scheme and matching bath.

This green bathroom is bewitching.

The courtyard of buildings has been carefully renovated to provide a large party barn, garaging, a small stable block and a two-bedroom guest/staff cottage. Additional equestrian facilities include nine further loose boxes, a tack room and pole barn.

The barn. Good for parties. Probably.

Inspired by the gardens at Highgrove, those at Dancers End House have been painstakingly created over time, each area having its own story to tell: they include a kitchen garden, a hidden tennis court, pleached lime walk, small croquet lawn (created by the previous owners), parterre garden and water features set against the backdrop of the surrounding landscape.

One last look at the house, view and gardens.

Dancers End House is for sale with Knight Frank for £4.75 million. For more information and to see more pictures, click here

Additional reporting by James Fisher