The quintessential Georgian farmhouse owned by a make-up artist to the stars
Watkins Farm was bought in the 1990s by Amanda Jackson Sytner and James Wedge and has undergone an extensive refurbishment.
With its classic Georgian home and colourful Italianate garden, Watkins Farm is the epitome of rural tranquillity.
The property was acquired by make-up artist Amanda Jackson Sytner and her husband, artist James Wedge in the 1990s and has benefited from their good taste and keen eye for design. Amanda boasts a portfolio of high profile clients including Dame Helen Mirren, Jerry Hall, Dame Vivienne Westwood and Jane Seymour and has based in Dorset since she moved from London. Watkins Farm is now on the market with Humberts at a guide price of £1.45 million.
The five-bedroom main house has the symmetrical façade typical of Georgian properties. Inside, it is beautifully presented throughout with light and airy interiors, flagstone floors, good ceiling heights, double hung sash casement windows, picture rails, window seats and some exposed roof timbers.
In the well-proportioned drawing-room, there is a smart panelled window seat from which the garden can be admired, and there are doors from the dining-room leading directly out onto the terrace.
Beyond the private south-facing terrace and entertaining area lies the principal lawn, sweeping down to the duck pond complete with island and duck house. Beyond the pond there is an orchard, and the lawn breaks in to a more informal grassed area studded with trees, which in turn leads to a delightful area of young broadleaf woodland comprising of mostly oak and ash. To the south of the house is a colourful Italianate garden from which a gate opens through to an enclosed and well-screened kitchen garden complete with fruit cage, greenhouse and side access gates to the drive.
Among Watkins Farm's range of outbuildings is a cottage, which was converted in the 1990s from former farm buildings and is handsome in its own right. The planning permission allows it to be used for holiday letting purposes.
An exceptional Queen Anne-style house in the heart of the Blackmore Vale
Chetnole House at Chetnole has delightful grounds running down to the River Wiggle.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
A rolling Dorset estate with a picturesque 'Arts-and-Crafts' farmhouse at its heart
Blackdown House Farm at Briantspuddle was part of the once-great Bladon estate.
Credit: Old Came Rectory - Thomas Hardy's friend's house
A sprawling Dorset cottage for sale where Thomas Hardy met his inspirational mentor
Old Came Rectory is a delightful thatched cottage just outside Dorchester where one of Britain's greatest writers was a regular
Agnes has worked for Country Life in various guises — across print, digital and specialist editorial projects — before finally finding her spiritual home on the Features Desk. A graduate of Central St. Martins College of Art & Design she has worked on luxury titles including GQ and Wallpaper* and has written for Condé Nast Contract Publishing, Horse & Hound, Esquire and The Independent on Sunday. She is currently writing a book about dogs, due to be published by Rizzoli New York in September 2025.
-
What links myself, David Beckkam and The King? We all have an affinity for the Aston Martin DB6, a car that has been unfairly punished for not being in a James Bond filmThe Aston Martin DB6 is better than the DB5, and I am tired of pretending that it isn't.
By James Fisher Published
-
Great Danes: These gentle giants need space, strength and industrial-strength sofasGreat Danes were originally bred to hunt big game, but they’re more into cuddles than killing.
By Florence Allen Published
-
Five glorious properties for sale from the 11th to the 21st centuryA tithe barn, a Grade I-listed Norman keep, and a Georgian masterpiece all graced the pages of Country Life this week
By James Fisher Published
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
Dream of revolution inside the 18th-century villa once occupied by Napoleon's French troopsAn apartment inside historic Villa Gnecchi Ruscone is on the market and it comes with a grand ballroom rumoured to have been frequented by Napoleon.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
May the force be with you if you move into this London apartment block that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Cher) once lived inOliver’s Wharf was once the residence of megastar Cher and the actor Sir Alec Guinness — as well as Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
125 glorious acres of Elizabethan elegance for sale in Cheshire that comes with a moatIs this real life? Is it just fantasy? No, it's Holford Hall.
By Annabel Dixon Published
-
Look around this James Bond-themed house for sale in Nottinghamshire and release your inner MI6 agentNow, come, come dear reader, you get as much fulfilment out of Skyfall as I do, so why don't you admit it?
By James Fisher Published
-
The eclectic New York townhouse that Lily Allen sings about in her new, headline-making album is for sale381, Union Street is on the market just days after the singer’s latest album details the alleged infidelity in her marriage.
By Lotte Brundle Published
-
This Suffolk home is a perfect escape from the world and it comes with its own stretch of river and 20 acresThis idyllic home in Suffolk is the perfect village home.
By Julie Harding Published
