It'd be crazy to buy this 500-year-old farmhouse just because of its utterly gorgeous Aga — so thank goodness that the rest of this place is also really nice

'It’s the heart of the kitchen. I love the warmth and the wonderful welcome. If I had to live without one, I’d loathe it.' Not our words, but those of Mary Berry — sorry, Dame Mary Berry — who is a devotee of the Aga, the quintessential ingredient that every English country kitchen needs.

Yes, yes, other stoves are available. Everhot make wonderful ones, and The Boss swears by his. (N.B. By 'The Boss' we're referring to Country Life's editor-in-chief Mark Hedges, rather than Bruce Springsteen, but we're pretty sure New Jersey's rock laureate would probably also like them if he gave them a try.) On top of that their original purpose as a source of heat for an entire abode has been lost in the days of central heating and radiators.

(Quite why the invention of a Swedish lighthouse architect came to be so associated with countryside homes on these shores is a whole other matter — one which Martin Fone explained a couple of years ago.)

Yet despite all those caveats, there's still something absolutely irresistible about seeing a proper old Aga in the kitchen of a farmhouse with ancient beams and stone floors — and the Aga at Perry Mill Farm, in the Worcestershire village of Peopleton, is as irresistible as it gets. The Aga is for sale at £795,000, and for that they'll even throw in the rest of the property at no extra charge.

Joking aside, the rest of Perry Mill Farm is just as beautiful as its kitchen. This Grade II-listed Tudor farmhouse — which once doubled as the village Post Office in Peopleton, near Pershore — is a beautifully restored, four-bedroom house at a price which would barely stretch to a suburban semi if you lived up the M5 in Birmingham.

Period features are everywhere in this house, including in the dining room, which has exposed timbers and a large inglenook fireplace that will definitely keep those chills at bay on frosty winter evenings.

It's spacious too, with a 19ft triple-aspect sitting room that's big enough to swallow a grand piano.

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And for all its period charm, this is a place that is set up for the 21st century living. The gardens are landscaped a gravelled driveway provides plenty of space for car parking, there's super-fast broadband, good road and rail links nearby, excellent schools, and even a decent pub a short stroll away.

Perry Mill Farm is for sale via Morgan Aps and Finest Properties — see more details.