Detached house for sale in Beaford, Winkleigh EX19

Sheltered within a looping bend of the River Torridge and surrounded by 108 acres of pasture, woodland and water meadow, Blinsham enjoys those all too rare commodities: Beauty, peace and privacy. The combination in Blinsham's case is intoxicating. The house is built of local stone with wide windows under a plain clay tile roof and faces west which catches the best of the daylight throughout the day. At the height of summer this lasts well into the evening.

The grounds contain a mix of mature and young mixed woodland including a wonderful pinetum containing about 2,500 species of rare and exotic evergreen trees. This is the second largest collection of rare conifers in the country next to that at Windsor Great Park and all the main rooms in the house have views over the grounds and surrounding countryside.

The house is brimming with character and has well-proportioned accommodation throughout. It has also retained many of its original architectural features. These include inglenook fireplaces in the dining hall and drawing room now fitted with wood-burning stoves, oak beamed ceilings, exposed roof timbers, wide windows with leaded lights and stone sills and flagstone floors.
The house has three good-sized reception rooms and a fantastic kitchen/breakfast room with ample space for seating and dining areas, walk-in pantry and a two-oven Rayburn inset in an inglenook fireplace with an original Devon cloam oven built-in on one side.

Running along about half of the back of the house is the conservatory that looks across to a period stone barn with mature woodland behind. The conservatory also allows light to flow through into both the drawing room and study behind it, thereby increasing the level of natural light in both rooms. The first floor has four bedrooms off a part-galleried landing. The principal bedroom has its own en suite bathroom, whilst the others share use of the nearby family bathroom and the shower room downstairs.

The stone barn behind the house incorporates a former cow byre with ample loft storage above. Attached on one side is an open-fronted triple garage and separate plant room. In front of the barn is a lean-to propagating room incorporating a built-in watering system fitted with mist sprinklers. To one side of the ho se on the far side of the drive is a modern, steel-framed barn divided into three bays. In one bay is an integral office and the barn also houses two Wilson 15 kva generators, which provide electricity for the house.

The house is surrounded by beautiful and mature garden and grounds and is approached down a three quarter mile-long lane. The land is contained within a wide loop of the River Torridge bordering the Clinton Devon Estate. The property's 108 acres encompasses formal garden with an orchard, a mix of young and mature woodland, a magnificent pinetum, extensive well-drained pasture divided into separate enclosures and a water meadow with about 500 yards of frontage onto the River Torridge and the Woolleigh Brook. A small part of the grounds has been used for a successful conifer business (Kenwith Conifer Nursery) for many years. The pasture is currently leased to a local farmer for grazing beef cattle.

Blinsham has a very private setting beside the River Torridge about 2 miles as the crow flies from the small village of Beaford, which is a thriving community with a pub, parish church, village hall and a garage selling fuel and undertaking repairs. The nearby market town of Great Torrington has a wide selection of mostly locally owned shops and a handful of supermarkets providing most day to day requirements.

Umberleigh train station 9.5 miles away is on the Tarka Line running between Barnstaple and Exeter St David's (1 hour), with connecting trains from Crediton (45 minutes) to Paddington (2 hours 40 minutes). For the more adventurous Belle Vue Airfield, a single runway grass airfield for private aviation is only 5 miles away and Exeter Airport has a daily flight to London City Airport as well as offering flights to other domestic and international destinations.

The local area also has a wide selection of state schools (nearly all rated ofsted rated 1 Outstanding or 2 Good) with independent schools further afield including Exeter School, The Maynard School, and Blundell's.

Within the grounds of Blinsham and about half a mile to the north-east of the house is an Iron Age hillfort known as Castle Hill. The hillfort is an example of a slight univallate hillfort dating from the late Bronze Age to early Iron Age period and is a Scheduled Monument. From its construction it continued as a place of refuge that could be defended into the Saxon era. By the late 9th century, the Vikings had overrun the country apart from Devon and Cornwall and in 878 A.D. The remains of the Saxon army under King Alfred were holed up in the fort. It was here that King Alfred took shelter in the home of a peasant, who famously asked him to look after her cakes, which he then burned. The Vikings then tracked the Saxon army to the fort and besieged it as they considered it poorly defended. According to Alfred's biographer Asser, the Saxons burst out of the fortress one day at dawn and were able to overwhelm the Viking forces, killing their leader and over eight hundred of his men. They also captured the fabled "raven banner". King Alfred subsequently went on to expel the Viking invaders and consequently the battle has been dubbed as “The First Battle of Britain”. For further details visit under List Entry No. 1021417.