The Avenue, Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, MK44

EXTENDED, 19TH CENTURY COTTAGE, WITH DELIGHTFUL GARDENS AND PADDOCK, AMAZING VIEWS, ANNEXE POTENTIAL AND HUGE SCOPE TO ADD VALUE

A wonderful, unlisted, stone and old clay-tiled, 4-bedroom cottage in the conservation area of the lovely, little village of Bletsoe, which has been extended into two former barns, such that one wing could become a self-contained annexe. With around an acre of delightful gardens and adjoining paddock, incredible views and parking for numerous cars, Old Rectory Cottage is now ready to welcome fortunate new owners who wish to refurbish the property to create something special for their family.

While Bletsoe is surrounded by beautiful countryside, the village is only about six miles from the County town of Bedford, its fast trains to London in under 40 minutes, its music venues, theatres, cinemas, and its world-renowned private schools. The catchment primary school is in nearby Riseley, while the secondary school, along with surgery, shops and Mill Theatre, is in the larger village of Sharnbrook on the other side of the A6, the road that takes you to Luton Airport and which gives you access to other major routes. A farm shop between Sharnbrook and Bletsoe is less than a mile-and-a-half away. Rushden Lakes Shopping Centre is only 11 miles.

As the name suggests, your new home once belonged to the early 19th century Old Rectory next door and housed its head gardener. Both houses sit, peacefully, in a village full of historic buildings, not least the moated, medieval, manor house, Bletsoe Castle opposite, where Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII was born.

Wander across the lane to Sunday service at the glorious C13th Church of St Mary, followed, perhaps, by lunch at the C17th Falcon Inn, where the garden runs down to the River Great Ouse. The thriving village hall hosts all manner of events for the friendly community, with the playing fields particularly popular with the children of the village. And you and your dog can enjoy fabulous, circular field walks.

Some opportunities are even more exciting for their rarity, and this is the first chance for half-a-century to own Old Rectory Cottage. It’s not difficult to understand why.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

Whether you come home to Old Rectory Cottage through its bespoke oak gate set in the old stone wall and through a delightful courtyard draped in wonderful wisteria and hydrangea, or you turn off the country lane along the woodland drive that winds its way through to the beautiful gardens and field beyond, your spirits instantly soar.

Step into an entrance hall where you might find original quarry tiles beneath the carpet, and on into the kitchen and its remarkable, curved pantry, which leads through the utility to a hidden garden, complete with whisky barrel water butt, plum tree and ancient stone wall. Your mind may already be full of plans for your new home.

This is a house that has evolved over some 150 years, the last 50 as a much-loved home to the same family, never losing its character, and gaining a wonderful family feel that is as much about boisterous children in a safe and free environment as it is about entertaining friends inside and outside. It’s a home that’s seen nearly 30 lively children sit down for birthday celebrations in the light-filled, vaulted-ceilinged garden room, and the bespoke shutters closed in that same room for evening dinner parties.

Old Rectory Cottage is a home with some amazing spaces, not least your main bedroom, with its vaulted and beamed ceiling, and views that will have you leaping out of bed each morning. And the beamed sitting room, where you can look forward to roaring log fires in winter and throwing open the French doors in summertime both to morning coffee in the cobbled courtyard at one end and evening glass of wine on the flagstone terrace at the other.

Magnificent, bird-filled beech, oak and silver birch trees watch over the gardens and paddock, and a beautiful magnolia vies for attention with pretty flower beds in and around the lawns, one of which becomes a carpet of colour come spring. Look forward to summer garden parties. Children can play and build their woodland dens to their hearts’ content. A duck nests each year beneath the terrace jasmine before waddling back with its new brood to the Old Rectory’s pond - nature and family at one.

You will certainly want to put your stamp on Old Rectory Cottage, maybe changing heating and other fixtures, and even extending further into the garage, perhaps - but what a dream family home in a wonderful setting you will have.