A house being listed often means it is beautiful. It also means it can be difficult to mend, or extend, or modernise. Such is the price (literal and metaphorical) of beauty. It's always a treat, then, to find an unlisted home that, to our eyes at least really should be. The best of both worlds.
Step forward Ashton House, an unlisted eight-bedroomed Edwardian house of 7,600sq ft, near the south Somerset market town of Chard. It has come to the market with Strutt & Parker at an asking price of £2.95m.
It is set centrally in grounds of just under nine acres, in what selling agent Oliver Custance Baker describes as ‘an accessible rural location’. Crewkerne, Yeovil and Taunton are all within easy reach, as is Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast. Thanks to its elevated position, the house has spectacular views over rolling hills and the property has been designed to maximise these vistas with large bay windows across the ground floor.
The beautifully maintained grounds feature family-friendly amenities, such as a heated swimming pool with two changing rooms, a picturesque walled garden and an all-weather tennis court. There is a vegetable garden, croquet lawn, chicken run and many specimen trees dotted throughout the garden.
The house itself was built in 1914 with the Tudor-style rendering and timber work that was fashionable in Edwardian suburbs. Given that it was commissioned to his own design by a Col Noblett who was returning from India, it is possible that he was inspired by the half-timber façades often seen on houses built for homesick expatriates in hill stations such as Shimla.
An impressive entrance hall leads to a spacious drawing room and a separate sitting room. There is a newly created light-filled, open-plan kitchen with an Aga, family room and garden room where bi-fold doors open onto an extensive, south-facing terrace. Further ground-floor space includes a utility room, pantry, dog or boot room and two cloakrooms.
Upstairs are five double bedrooms and a bunkroom, plus a generous main-bedroom suite. A further two bedrooms and bathroom are located on the top floor and there is a home office above the garage, which is set up with an EV charger.
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