Link-detached house for sale in Vicarage Road, Waresley, Cambridgeshire SG19

Single-storey country living at its best - with beautiful new kitchen, windows and doors - in delightful surroundings

A beautiful, 3-bedroom, turn of the millennium barn conversion, in the conservation area of the historic Cambridgeshire village of Waresley, with no stairs or improvement work to worry about. All the bespoke windows and doors, the wonderful kitchen, and much more in Vicarage Barn, have been installed in the last five or six years. And, together with its exceptionally peaceful garden, weatherboarded garage and driveway parking for three cars, it’s all gorgeous.

Within the curtilage of the 17th century, former moated mansion, Vicarage Farm, to which it once belonged, Vicarage Barn is in a village full of interesting and historic buildings. For several decades, the famous sculptor, Laurence Broderick, lived in Vicarage Road, where there are also unusual, thatched cottages built by Octavius Duncombe for his estate workers, and after whom the pub at the end of the lane is named, which villagers hope will re-open. Duncombe also built the Church of St James opposite, designed by the great ecclesiastical architect, William Butterfield.

The village hall and the cricket club cater for the close-knit community, and you have Waresley Park Estate on your doorstep, set around a stud farm and a fabulous house and spa within 120 acres of rolling parkland. Go for an early morning dip in the lake there, warming up at the coffee shop or, perhaps, over breakfast at Waresley’s Garden Centre, where you can also stock up with locally sourced provisions from the farm shop.

Waresley’s first church stood a few yards from your new home in the other direction, a row of lime trees, where the nave once was, leading to a cross marking the position of the altar. Further on, walk through Wood Farm to Waresley Woods, ancient woodland carpeted in bluebells, oxlips and violets in spring. Pick up free range eggs from the farm on the way home.

Great Gransden Primary is just 1.5 miles away, with most children going from there to Comberton in Cambridge (10 miles), both schools rated outstanding. Travelling is a breeze, with Waresley being just the right distance from major roads such as the A1, and only 6 or 7 miles equidistant of the railway stations at St Neots and Sandy, and their shops, surgeries, supermarkets, pubs and restaurants. Vicarage Barn is close to every facility, yet in an enviably peaceful spot.

More about the property

A quiet no through lane takes you to Vicarage Barn, and a sweet-scented lavender path to a front door flanked by peach-coloured roses. Bird-filled, native hedging surrounds the front lawn, and honeysuckle and jasmine climb the beautiful red brick wall toward a slate roof that continues across a closed passageway between your new home and its neighbour. Barns where, respectively, sheep were once housed and cows milked are now delightful, single-storey forever homes, as much suited to a thirty as a ninety-year-old.

Everything is in keeping yet up to date. Wooden windows and doors are not only beautiful, they’re of the highest quality throughout. Immaculate decoration perfectly complements oak timbers restored to their natural state. The vaulted ceiling of the hall, which has seen some super dinner parties, adds to the feeling of space as soon as you step inside. Guests have been only too pleased to stay over in the delightful front bedroom, with its wall timbers, matching Roman blinds and wallpaper, books high up on the shelf below the sloping ceiling.

Your main bedroom has been cleverly divided by its dressing area. Even the cloakroom has not been overlooked when it comes to beautiful, fitted furniture. And you’ll love to spend time in your kitchen. Painted Shaker, in-frame furniture, designed to fit perfectly beneath gorgeous ceiling timbers, houses high end appliances, including an oven with a door that you’ll never tire of opening and closing. Oh, and the kitchen happens to have the most wonderful, 980-million-year-old, Norwegian granite working surfaces, with their captivating blue crystals.

Come home from that winter wander in the woods or in the beautiful countryside, to your cosy, yet stylish sitting room, vaulted ceiling above your head, the woodburner-style gas stove glowing in front of the exposed brick slips, lovely bespoke cupboards and shelves either side. Come summertime, fling open the French doors to the garden terrace. Sit out with glass of wine, bees gently buzzing around the honey-scented star jasmine, cotoneaster and other easygoing shrubs, and enjoy your peaceful, private piece of rural England.