A magnificent, sprawling farmhouse that blends the 16th, 20th and 21st centuries, with double-height music room, a superb pool and a 'Spitfire barn'.

Older farmhouses scattered across rural, deeply wooded areas on the Surrey and Sussex border have lost nothing of their appeal in the 21st century. A perfect example is Williards Farm, which two years ago was featured in Country Life’s architecture section, when Jeremy Musson wrote a beautiful piece about the work that’s gone in to what is an exemplary renovation and extension.

Now, we’re featuring Willards Farm once again, since this Grade II-listed property near Dunsfold in Surrey has come to the market through Knight Frank in Guildford, with selling agent Nigel Mitchell quoting a guide price of £8 million.

Willards Farm stands in 23 acres of gardens, paddocks and woodland, half a mile from the picturesque village of Dunsfold, 6½ miles from Godalming and 11 miles from Guildford. It’s one of an estimated 3,500 historic farmsteads located within the High Weald National Landscape, which covers 564 square miles across the counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

The focal point of the charming small estate is the central main farmhouse, a four-bay, 16th-century timber-frame building of two storeys under a clay-tile roof, which was extended to the north in the 1930s and to the south in the 1980s.

The latest renovation, completed in 2019, was the work of Dorset-based Stuart Martin, a successful country house architect and a member of the architectural advisory panel of The Lutyens Trust, which promotes research into the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens. ‘It’s not difficult to see the work at Willards as a 21st-century response to the great architect’s work,’ Jeremy wrote in his 2022 piece, ‘which is unsurprising, as Lutyens grew up in the area, gaining inspiration from these kinds of farmhouse and barn groups.

‘The new work at Willards is both a reflection and a concentration of the house’s original character. It remains a picturesque house of Surrey vernacular charm — framed by oaks and the typical rolling wooded landscape of this area — but with a memorable new dimension’.

Essentially, the brief from the owners was to provide extra space without losing any of the character of the 16th-century core. The 1980s additions at the south end of the house were removed and a new pergola and summer-house, both designed by Mr Martin, were added to the garden at this end. The modest 1930s addition to the north was replaced by a much larger extension that was carefully integrated into the existing house.

The front door opens onto a large reception room, which branches off to the original wing of the house in one direction and the modern wing in the other. The modern wing comprises a fully equipped, open-plan family kitchen/dining room, next to which is a grand, double-height music room, reminiscent of the 1920s music room designed by Lutyens for Country Life founder Edward Hudson at Plumpton Place, East Sussex.

The old wing comprises a study, snug and the original drawing room, which boasts a fireplace and traditional wooden beams that date from the 16th century. The vast, newly installed cellar comprises a media room, shower room and sauna, wine cellar, laundry area, plant room and utility room. The first floor houses principal and guest bedrooms with bathrooms en suite, four further bedrooms, a family bathroom, shower room, and ‘a den with a starry ceiling’.

Ancillary accommodation is provided in various outbuildings. The Barn, converted from a historic cart barn, is now an ‘all-singing, all-dancing’ party barn; The Byre is a new, self-contained three-bedroom annexe to the house; the one-bedroom Garden Cottage has planning consent to extend; The Granary is a cosy two-bedroom cottage; the Spitfire Barn is a quirky, one-bedroom barn conversion. All residential buildings, bar The Granary, have underfloor heating and/or ground-source heat pumps.

The gardens are a playground for children of all ages. Amenities include an all-weather tennis court and a swimming pool with a ‘Cornish rock pool’ design and a spectacular pool slide (the latter available by separate negotiation).

Elsewhere in the grounds are a large pond with a controlled flow system, a vegetable garden and greenhouse and an apple orchard and store. The rest of the grounds are laid to paddocks and woodland, with a stream running along the western border.

For sale with a guide price of £8 million — see more pictures and details.