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.
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
-
Dawn Chorus: 2,400 pristine acres of The Highlands for sale, plus the ultimate boiled egg in a mere 32 minutes -
Which of Henry VIII's wives was just 19 when she died? And nine more brainteasers in the Quiz of the DayHow much is that house? What's that crazy picture? And which of Henry VIII's wives was youngest when she died? It's all here in Tuesday's Country Life Quiz of the Day.
-
A 17th century country house estate for sale in Yorkshire that's not too big and not too smallTake a look inside one of the finest private houses in the north of England that's perfectly manageable as a family house.
-
Two-thirds of us buy a house and immediately set about refurbishing itWe spend more buying our houses than on anything else in our lives — yet the first thing we do on moving in is set about changing the place. Annabel Dixon takes a look at what we do and why.
-
Dawn Chorus: Audrey Hepburn’s Swiss villa hits the market for £17 million and research reveals that looking at art can, quite literally, help you live longerEverything you need to know today: The Swiss home that Audrey Hepburn lived in for 30 years prior to her death is for sale, those who regularly engage with art have a 31% lower risk of dying early and an iconic Palm Beach hotel teams up with interior designer Ashley Hicks.
-
Five beautiful homes for sale around Britain, as seen in Country Life -
On Devon's Saunton Sands, the future is FerndownThis modern masterpiece, for sale with Savills, boasts 12,000sq ft of luxury contemporary living with beach views.
-
A fairytale castle peeking above the treetops of Cumbria is for sale at just £2 millionAugill Castle has a wonderful backstory and a lifestyle business attached. .Annunciata Elwes tells more.
-
A Paragraph 80 house hidden in the rich woodlands of WadebridgeBy its very definition, Trehytte will be a five-bedroom home of 'exceptional quality' built to the 'highest architectural standards'. It could be yours.
-
Interiors that inspire in a four-bedroom cottage in HertfordshireCome for the Grade II-listed family home an hour from Central London, stay for the interior-design inspiration.
