Home is where the hearth is: Five picture-perfect cottages with glorious fireplaces
An imposing inglenook fireplace can be the natural heart of a home — and a characterful draw for buyers — as it radiates warmth and coaxes company towards that comforting glow.
Anyone who loves beams will be in seventh heaven in Chantry Farmhouse, as carved wood appears everywhere — within the walls and on the ceilings — giving the feeling of a walk back through time. The inglenook fireplaces have much the same effect and there are three of varying sizes, with carved bressumers to boot, to sit beside and think how much history has taken place within the walls of this eye-catching Grade II-listed Tudor hall house over the past five centuries. Modern comfort, however, hasn’t been sacrificed for character.
The two are intertwined, not least in the six bedrooms, and the partly vaulted kitchen, a later addition, is bang up to date with a comprehensive range of wall and base units and integrated appliances. Chantry Farmhouse’s location — the village of Denston — is only 10 miles from Newmarket and historic Bury St Edmunds and Cambridge is a 35-minute drive away.
For sale via David Burr — see more details
Grade II-listed North Tregeare Farmhouse is a ‘late-16th- or early-17th-century, possibly with earlier origins’ property that is accompanied by 19½ acres of land. Everything about this house in Tresmeer is unique — from the shape and size of its windows, one of them an ancient stone mullion, and its stone-arched door that leads into the front porch to its characterful nooks and crannies within. One of the biggest nooks of all is the imposing stone-backed inglenook fireplace that forms a focal point in the cosy sitting room.
The house boasts four bedrooms (one currently on the ground floor) and there are a further two in the spacious self-contained converted barn, offering a potential income stream for new incumbents. North Tregeare can be found at the end of a long no-through road, so the sound of the modern world is usually absent, with only the chirping of birds and the whistles of the wind audible.
For sale via Knight Frank — see more details.
The agent says of the four-bedroomed Mill Cottage in the village of Thurleigh that it offers ‘generous internal accommodation across two floors and, with scope for annexe-style living, the cottage is perfect for families, down-sizers, or multi-generational households’. On the ground floor, the kitchen/breakfast room features newly installed deep-green Shaker-style cabinetry, solid-wood worktops and a Belfast sink. Steps from this space lead into the spacious 26ft by 12ft reception room, where there is an eye-catching red-brick inglenook fireplace containing a woodburning stove.
Additionally on the ground floor, apart from a dining room and a garden room, there is that potential annexe mentioned by the agent with its double bedroom, family bathroom and second kitchen/sitting room, currently being used as a utility. Outside, the garden, laid mostly to lawn, abuts open countryside, giving a feeling of exceptional spaciousness.
For sale via Fitzjohn Estates — see more details
Sancreed is almost on the tip of Cornwall’s toe, so for a getting-away-from-it-all feeling, at the same time as enjoying close proximity to vibrant Penzance, there is probably no better place than Ennis Cottage. This property has been updated and modernised by the current owners and, when they were doing so, they paid heed to the historic features, including the two inglenook fireplaces, which sit within the spacious 28ft by 14ft sitting/dining room, one of them containing a statement Dik Geurts woodburning stove.
Outside, there is a detached studio above the double garage that is currently furnished as a fourth bedroom, in addition to the three within the cottage, offering the potential for a variety of uses.
For sale via Rohrs & Rowe — see more details
Characterful features proliferate within Holly Farm, a thatched, Grade II-listed, 17th-century property with three bedrooms (plus another one in an annexe), four reception rooms and a look that would be perfectly suited to the front of a chocolate box. It is the principal sitting room that contains the inglenook fireplace — but one with a difference in this day and age, for it has a range as an inset, on which kettles were once boiled and irons heated.
The annexe is currently let out regularly to holidaymakers, providing a potential income stream for the new owners. Continuing this theme, there is a paddock with five motorhome pitches, plus the possibility of converting the barn, subject to planning permissions. Holly Farm is within walking distance of the village of Happisburgh, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and its nearby beaches are sometimes wild, but always wonderful.
For sale via Winkworth — see more details.
This feature originally appeared in the February 11, 2026 issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
