As its Grade II* listing suggests, historic Heale House at Curry Rivel, three miles from Langport and 10 miles west of Taunton, has long been one of the most important country houses in this pleasantly rural part of Somerset.

Brian Bishop of Jackson-Stops & Staff in Taunton quotes a guide price of £1.35m for the charming house in its private, carefully chosen setting within the scattered hamlet of Heale, which was part of the Heale Farm estate acquired in 1616 by Samuel Powell I, who, according to Somerset Heritage records, began building it in 1620.

A hundred years later, in 1720, his descendant, Samuel Powell III, added a substantial early-Georgian extension, also built of stone under a slate roof.

The older part of the house has great character, with beamed ceilings, interesting fireplaces and a large country kitchen; the more formal Georgian rooms, notably the drawing room and dining room, are elegant, with high ceilings and tall sash windows.

Now in need of updating, Heale House offers ample room for improvement, with entrance and staircase halls, three main reception rooms, a study, various domestic offices, seven bedrooms and three bathrooms.

It comes with substantial original outbuildings and traditional landscaped gardens, plus 20 acres of adjacent parkland (in different ownership) available by separate negotiation.

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