When estate agents refer to houses having 'period features', they're usually referring to old fireplaces or elaborate ceiling cornicing. If you're lucky, the term might include a stained glass window or an elegant staircase, and perhaps a flagstone floor in the boot room.
What you don't expect is something which looks like a set from Lark Rise to Candleford. Yet at The Mill House — a splendid old home in Chesterton, just outside Leamington Spa, that's on the market at £2.3m — that's exactly what you get. The giant machinery from the eponymous mill sit within a wonderfully evocative 17th century building that's hewn from stone, centuries-old brick and wooden beams.
The mill machinery isn't the only element which survives from the building's history. The aforementioned fireplaces and mullion windows are present and correct, with a careful and sensitive restoration making a real feature of the exposed stone walls. The beautiful limestone façade is also worth mentioning, giving the place a particularly romantic first appearance.
The house itself — which is mostly built above the old machinery on the lower ground floor — has a beautiful sitting room and attached conservatory with views out across the lake.
There's also a kitchen/breakfast room. There's also a utility and boiler room below.
They key living space, however, is the huge double-drawing room, full of charm and boasting fireplaces at either end.
There are five first floor bedrooms, three of which are en-suite, with more accommodation in the nearby Bake House. It's a three-bedroom cottage ideal for use as extra space for family or friends, or potentially a holiday let.
The 21 acres in which The Mill House is set are a huge part of the appeal. There are lawns, lake and woodland, plus a paddock and several outbuildings. The lake — which accounts for 5.6 of the acres — is spring fed, and has hosted course fishing in the past; there are even wooden stages around the edge for those who wish to while away an afternoon seeing what they could catch.
The location is worth a mention as well. The village of Harbury is just over a mile away, a thriving place with primary school, doctor's surgery, shops and pubs. Leamington Spa and Warwick are four and five miles respectively, with easy access to the M40 and beyond, and Stratford-upon-Avon is a short drive.
The Mill House is for sale via Savills at £2.3 million — see more details and pictures.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
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