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A perfect little Cotswold manor for sale, just down the road from ‘England’s prettiest village’

Penny Churchill

Latimer Manor stands in 14 acres of gardens, grounds and paddocks on the edge of the unspoilt Cotswold village of West Kington. Penny Churchill takes a look.

Described as ‘a perfect small Cotswold manor’ in Marcus Binney’s In Search of the Perfect House, Grade II*-listed Latimer Manor is a delightful house with a fascinating history and a wonderful location.

Boasting 14 acres of gardens, grounds and paddocks, it sits on the edge of the unspoilt Cotswold village of West Kington in Wiltshire, and is just over a couple of miles from Castle Combe – said to be England’s prettiest village – while the historic market town of Chippenham is nine miles away.

Currently for sale through the Cirencester office of Strutt & Parker and Carter Jonas in Bath at a guide price of £2.995m, the picturesque stone manor – classified a ‘farmhouse of the 16th and early 17th century’ in its Historic England listing – is believed to have been home to the Rev Hugh Latimer, one of the chief promoters of the Reformation in England, during his stint as rector of West Kington from 1531 to 1535.

Having gained Henry VIII’s approval by helping him divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, Latimer was appointed Bishop of Worcester. However, following the accession of Mary Tudor, a devout Catholic, Latimer eventually paid the price for his anti-Papist views when he was burnt at the stake at Oxford in October 1555.

The house that bears his name nestles within a farmstead of beautifully preserved 17th-century barns and outbuildings, some of which have planning consent for a separate single dwelling away from the main house.

The house itself boasts more than 5,000sq ft of living space, well modernised over the years to provide three main reception rooms, a modern kitchen, breakfast room, master suite, five further bedrooms and two further bathrooms.

Latimer Manor is for sale via Carter Jonas and Strutt & Parker – see more details and pictures.