An impossibly beautiful — and enormous — house in the Cotswolds whose former use is hard to believe
With many house sales in the Cotswolds taking place off-market, a newly-launched home in a delightfully pretty valley looks set to cause a stir, says Penny Churchill.


With much of the activity at the upper end of the Cotswolds country-house market currently taking place behind closed doors, the open-market sale of The Old Rectory at Duntisbourne Abbots, at a guide price of £4.95m through the Cirencester office of Strutt & Parker, will hopefully encourage more vendors to break cover.
The Duntisbourne valley, between Cirencester and Cheltenham, is one of the prettiest and most unspoilt parts of the Cotswolds, characterised by charming small villages of period houses and cottages. Duntisbourne Abbots is the largest of these villages, located seven miles from Cirencester and 12 miles from Cheltenham, and it's a settlement that originally belonged to St Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester.
For 56 years, from 1945 to 2001, when it was acquired by its present owners, the imposing former rectory was a youth hostel, which probably explains why, apart from its entrance gates, the classic Georgian building is unlisted. It's hard to believe that this magnificent house would once have been populated by scouts and students traipsing through the hallways carrying backpacks and sleeping bags on their way to dormitories full of bunk-beds.
During their tenure, the owners transformed the substantial, 8,224sq ft main house — now the principal house in the village — from a wreck into ‘a proper family country home with decent-sized reception rooms, laying down the gardens and buying in extra land to create an idyllic Cotswold setting of some 22 acres in all,’ selling agent Luke Morgan explains.
The main house offers accommodation on three floors, including six fine reception rooms, eight principal bedrooms with five bathrooms, a top-floor playroom and kitchen, plus a boot room, utility room and cellars.
The Old Rectory also boasts a triple garage with an apartment above and a barn for conversion into a four-bedroom house, subject to the usual planning consents.
Services include mains electricity, private drainage, oil-fired central heating and super-fast broadband via Gigaclear, which makes it eminently liveable for those looking to work from home.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Not that there’s a problem getting to Britain’s cities as needed: Duntisbourne Abbots offers excellent communications in all directions, with Kemble and Swindon stations providing fast rail links to London Paddington, and the nearby A417 linking up with the M4 at Swindon and the M5 at Gloucester.
The area also offers a choice of highly rated State and private schools, including the ever-popular Beaudesert Park prep at Minchinhampton and the various Cheltenham schools.
Credit: Jackson-Stops & Staff
A picture-perfect cottage in the Cotswolds for the price of a flat in the suburbs
Time to get out of London? A perfect example English country cottage is on the market in the heart of
Bruern Holiday Cottages: A cosy Cotswolds getaway perfect for a winter weekend
Bruern Holiday Cottages are the perfect place to spend a winter weekend curled up by the fire, discovers Victoria Marston.
-
A mini estate in Kent that's so lovely it once featured in Simon Schama's 'History of Britain'
The Paper Mill estate is a picture-postcard in the Garden of England.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style: A whistle-stop history, from the Roman Baths to Hampstead Heath
Emma Hughes dives into swimming's hidden depths at the Design Museum's exhibit in London.
By Emma Hughes Published
-
A mini estate in Kent that's so lovely it once featured in Simon Schama's 'History of Britain'
The Paper Mill estate is a picture-postcard in the Garden of England.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Hidden excellence in a £7.5 million north London home
Behind the traditional façades of Provost Road, you will find something very special.
By James Fisher Published
-
Sip tea and laugh at your neighbours in this seaside Norfolk home with a watchtower
On Cliff Hill in Gorleston, one home is taller than all the others. It could be yours.
By James Fisher Published
-
A Grecian masterpiece that might be one of the nation's finest homes comes up for sale in Kent
Grade I-listed Holwood House sits in 40 acres of private parkland just 15 miles from central London. It is spectacular.
By Penny Churchill Published
-
Some of the finest landscapes in the North of England with a 12-bedroom home attached
Upper House in Derbyshire shows why the Kinder landscape was worth fighting for.
By James Fisher Published
-
Could Gruber's Antiques from Paddington 2 be your new Notting Hill home?
It was the home of Mr Gruber and his antiques in the film, but in the real world, Alice's Antiques could be yours.
By James Fisher Published
-
What should 1.5 million new homes look like?
The King's recent visit to Nansledan with the Prime Minister gives us a clue as to Labour's plans, but what are the benefits of traditional architecture? And can they solve a housing crisis?
By Lucy Denton Published
-
Welcome to the modern party barn, where disco balls are 'non-negotiable'
A party barn is the ultimate good-time utopia, devoid of the toil of a home gym or the practicalities of a home office. Modern efforts are a world away from the draughty, hay-bales-and-a-hi-fi set-up of yesteryear.
By Madeleine Silver Published