The perfect home for newlyweds, a country house with excellent transport links and a little work to do
Claxby House is a brilliant starting point for a young family; close to Lincoln, stupidly pretty and within the budget of most people wishing to escape city life.


Congratulations! You’ve tied the knot, cut the cake and danced the night (and probably most of the morning) away. Uncle John may have retired himself early by getting to know the real ales a bit too intimately, but at least he kept his dinner down, unlike last time. The marquee is packed up, the in-laws have now (thankfully) left and real life is rapidly returning.
The question ‘when are you going to get hitched’ has been replaced these days by ‘when are you going to start a family?’. Obviously, this is a decision everyone makes in their own time, but one of the key conversations naturally revolves around space. Let’s be honest, London isn’t the cheapest place to buy a three- or four-bedroom house right now and budgets can be a little tight. However, do you really need to live in London? Or any big city? We all spend our weekends trying to make plans to get out to the countryside, so why not simply move there?
The important things to think about are price and location. As Theo James-Wright, from Savills’s country department, tells me, ‘location is key with any home purchase’ and that ‘most Home Counties home-hunters are still based in London for work, so being close to a good train station is gold’. However, with the increase in home working, getting to the office isn’t the necessity it used to be.
When it comes to price, he says ‘for those happy couples looking to upsize, it is worthwhile looking at investing in improving and extending, which, in turn, might relieve some of the burden of Stamp Duty’.
Nestling in a small hamlet in the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB, Claxby House is a delightful red-brick family house with four/five bedrooms, three reception rooms and four bathrooms (two en-suite). The property is securely wrapped by lawned gardens, with established hedgerows and long views across open fields.
Sutton-on-Sea, with its blue-flag beach status, is a mere 10 miles away and the city of Lincoln is 30 miles to the east, with a direct two-hour train to central London. A range of brick outbuildings offers two garages and a significant amount of storage space.
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James Fisher is the Deputy Digital Editor of Country Life. He writes about property, travel, motoring and things that upset him. He lives in London.
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