An idyllic old rectory in Wiltshire that's for sale for the first time in more than 60 years
The current owners are saying goodbye having owned the place since the 1960s; and their predecessors had it in their hands from the time it was built three centuries ago.
There's something reassuring about a house that's on the market for the first time in decades. After all, nobody would hang on to a place that looked good on the surface, but turned out to have some glaring flaw. It's like buying a second-hand car: one owner from new is a powerful tool.
The Old Rectory in the Wiltshire village of Alton Barnes has an impeccable pedigree on that score: it's for sale on the open market for the first time in more than 60 years. What's more, its previous owners had the place from new: the Church of England sold off endless spectacular rectories in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but this one was in their hands until in the 1960s. Even they couldn't bear to part with the place. And even a cursory glance at the house makes it pretty clear why.
Alex Barton of Strutt & Parker in Newbury seeks ‘offers in excess of £2m’ for this most picturesque of Grade II-listed old rectories, set in the ‘highly desirable’ village that is Alton Barnes. This part of Wiltshire — the Pewsey Vale — is some eight miles east of Devizes and on the edge of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape.
The house itself is as beautiful and graceful as the landscape. It's an elegant Queen Anne-style rectory originally built in the 1720s or 1730s, with a rear block added in 1785 and further alterations from about 1830.
It offers more than 5,300 sq ft of pleasant family accommodation, including four reception rooms, seven bedrooms and two bathrooms.
On the ground floor you'll find a kitchen/diner, sitting room, dining room and family room.
The first floor has four bedrooms — one of which is an en-suite master bedroom — and a drawing room with wonderful views.
The house stands in two acres of gardens and grounds to the west of the ancient Saxon church of St Mary, and looks out over the surrounding hills and the famous Alton Barnes White Horse. It's the epitome of the idyllic country rectory.
The second floor has three more bedrooms, and plentiful storage space. There's also a separate, two-storey annexe with its own separate entrance; it makes the house ideal for multi-generational living.
The Old Rectory in Alton Barnes is for sale via Strutt & Parker at £2 million — see more details.
