Lot 1 - The Beech Hill Estate, Beech Hill, Reading, Berkshire

Lot 1 - The Beech Hill Estate
Lot 1 - Home Farm
About 78.59 acres

Approached up a discreet hedge lined drive, with a gravel parking area in front, Home Farmhouse is a lovely Grade II listed house. It has four bedrooms and three bathrooms and excellent ground floor accommodation, including the recent addition of a significant kitchen/breakfast room formed from an existing building and integrated with the house. The house is wonderfully light and airy, combining traditional and contemporary decoration, to create a warm and homely feel. At the heart of the farmhouse is the open plan kitchen with a sizeable pantry/utility room and good ceiling height into the rafters creating a feeling of space. There are multiple accesses to outside, through French doors on the northern side, to a lovely patio overlooking the garden and farmland beyond, and on the southern side is another small patio area accessed by a stable door. The house dates back to at least the 17th Century and was extensively modernised in about 1720. Upstairs is a large dual aspect ensuite principal bedroom. There are three further bedrooms, one ensuite and two sharing a shower room. All of the bedrooms have wonderful views across the farmland.

Garden
The farmhouse is surrounded by lawned gardens, with patio areas to both northern and southern aspects and mature hedges and trees. Adjacent to the garden is a paddock perfect for ponies and parties.

Farm buildings
Immediately to the west of the farmhouse lies a wonderful courtyard of exceptional traditional buildings, including a fine timbered Threshing Barn dating from the late seventeenth century with a magnificent interior and a queen post roof with collar and tie beams. The building is in two parts with the northern end thought to predate the southern part. The central bay or transept has cart entrances on each façade to have historically allowed loaded hay carts. This barn, which is bursting with history and character, provides wonderful opportunity for numerous uses but would particularly make a wonderful party barn. To the east of the Threshing Barn is The Old Dairy, a brick built former dairy and on the south end of the barn is a timber framed cart shelter. Although this courtyard of buildings is not separately listed, we believe it is likely to fall within the curtilage of Home Farmhouse. To the north and west of the traditional courtyard, lie further modern agricultural buildings, including a portal frame grain store with roller shutter doors. In amongst the modern farm buildings there are a number of caravans, which have been in situ for well over ten years and occupied throughout that period. They have been let on Assured Shorthold Tenancies, generating rental income every month. The combination of caravans and the traditional farm buildings might create an exciting development opportunity for a new purchaser subject to the necessary planning consents.

The land
An excellent parcel of land runs with Home Farm, bordered to the east by Beech Hill Road, to the north by Cross Lane and to the west by Wood Lane. It has in the past been good sized arable fields but is currently in arable reversion.

Situation
The Beech Hill Estate lies in a fantastically convenient location to the south of the M4 and the north of the M3, sitting in delightful rolling countryside. It sits on the edge of the village of Beech Hill lying on the western side of the A33, which links Basingstoke to Reading. Once off the main roads, the Estate is accessed by a network of rural roads and small lanes.

Sporting and Recreation
The nearby pretty village of Swallowfield is surrounded by farmland and has a shop/post office, public houses (including the gourmet George & Dragon), doctor’s surgery, church, parish hall and a very active tennis club close by in Riseley. The delightful village of Hartley Wintney with lovely cafés and shops and the market town of Newbury are both within easy reach and provide more extensive shopping including a Waitrose. There are a number of nearby schools including Mortimer St John’s CE Infant School, Mortimer St Mary’s CE Junior School, as well as several highly rated independent schools nearby including but not limited to Downe House, Bradfield College, St Andrews, Pangbourne College, Reading Oratory, Elstree and Cheam. There is also the Wellington Farm Shop, Butcher and Cafe less than a mile away. The extremely popular Wellington Country Park is also just around the corner, offering lovely walks and entertainment for the whole family.