Sheep Street, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, CV36

Lansdowne House is a substantial and imposing late C18 family home, with later additions, at the west end of Sheep Street, with off street parking and vehicular access to the main gardens from Darlingscote Road. The house is built of brick with the integral former cottage and barn built of stone. The property incorporates attractive period elements, with Georgian pane sash windows, high ceilings and exposed timbers and trusses, attractive fireplaces, traditional wooden doors, architraves and stair bannisters. The bathrooms are finished to a high standard with marble and vintage-style fittings.

With the accommodation over three floors providing high-quality reception rooms and bedrooms, with a 35-foot-long magnificent contemporary kitchen/breakfast/ sitting room, with fitted kitchen units with Corian worktops, Everhot electric range and double-glazed sink, with French doors to the garden, pantry and wine cellar. Spacious reception hall, with ceramic tile floor and cloakroom. The dining room has original recessed alcoves, and the drawing room overlooks the lovely walled garden. The large study/ sitting room is dual aspect, with bookcases built in.

The principal bedroom suite is large and impressive, with windows facing on to the garden, a range of wardrobes, dressing room with shower and en suite bathroom with a separate WC. The first floor has two further substantial, south-facing bedrooms and a family bathroom, with a further two double bedrooms and third bathroom on the second floor.

Garden and grounds

The mature, expansive, well-stocked gardens extending to about 0.5 acre are exceptional for a townhouse, with a side garden with a period-style greenhouse and a wrought-iron fence to Sheep Street and walled rear garden offering privacy and seclusion.

Manicured lawns are interspersed with established beds and borders, with an abundance of trees and shrubs, including two fine cedars and a cascading ash tree. Terraces behind the house are accessed from the kitchen, hall and utility room. A vehicular access off Darlingscote Road provides parking for two cars, and double wooden gates give access to the garden, with scope for additional parking or erection of a garage, subject to planning permission.

Sheep Street is Shipston-on-Stour's most prestigious location. Shipston-on-Stour was noted by the Sunday Times as one of the best places to live in the UK and provides an excellent selection of independent shops including a butcher, a greengrocer, bakery, cafes, boutique hotel, vet's, doctor's surgery, cottage hospital and pre, junior and secondary schools. To the north is the large town of Stratford-upon-Avon, providing more extensive shopping and leisure facilities and being the region's cultural centre and the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

South Warwickshire is renowned for its excellent selection of state, private and grammar schools, including the boys' and girls' grammar schools in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Boys' School and King's High in Warwick, The Croft School at Stratford-upon-Avon, Bloxham and Sibford Public Schools and Kitebrook in Moreton-in-Marsh. There are school and public bus routes through the town.

For the commuter, there is easy access to the M40 (J12), Banbury and Warwick Parkway for trains to London Marylebone, and Moreton-in-Marsh for trains to London Paddington.

Sporting and leisure activities in the area include a popular swimming pool and gym, rugby club and sports club in Shipston; golf at Brailes, Tadmarton and Chipping Norton, racing at Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick and Cheltenham, as well as easy access to world-class theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon and the art gallery at Compton Verney.