7 bedroom detached house

The property is thought to have started life in the 17th century as a pair of cottages with an attached barn that were combined in the late 18th century to form the front wing of the current house. Three further extensions were added between 1799 and 1815 by the owner, a local brewer, Thomas Burt, who went on to create a flourishing brewery from The Old Malthouse and the surrounding complex of buildings that continued to operate commercially until the 1920s. Now Grade II listed, the property has immense charm and remains largely unchanged since the late Georgian period retaining many of its architectural features including fireplaces, recessed display shelving, ornate architraves, window shutters and an elegant main staircase. It is well presented and has good-sized accommodation throughout with scope, subject to planning consent, to create a self-contained annexe with two bedrooms. On the ground floor the central, L-shaped reception hall is flanked on one side by the drawing room and on the other by the dining room and adjacent study. Off the rear of the hall are the large kitchen/breakfast room with its own office area and the laundry room, which was formerly the pantry and which has an ingenious rotating dumb waiter through to the dining room. The kitchen has windows on two sides looking out onto the garden and is fitted with timber units, tiled work surfaces and a 4-oven AGA. Beyond it are two walk-in larders, a small, second kitchen, the study and a storage room housing a sauna. On the first floor off the galleried landing lit by twin rooflights are seven bedrooms, of which all but one are doubles and three have views across a field towards the thatched cottage modelled as Tess of the D'Urberville's home. The first floor also incorporates three bathrooms, a shower room and has a flight of stairs up to an attic studio in the roof space.

The Old Malthouse is approached off a country road via a short, no-through lane. The garden and grounds extend around three sides and are bound by a mix of tall stone walling and mature hedging. At the front is a gravelled parking area with space for several cars and to one side is a detached double garage draped in mature wisteria. The house is festooned with climbing roses with the private formal garden extending out from a paved terrace on its eastern side. The combination of lovely Marnhull stone walling and mature hedging create a very sheltered space comprising a central lawn fringed by deep, richly planted borders filled with roses, flowering shrubs and herbaceous perennials. On one side are two topiary Yew trees shaped into huge chess pieces and at the far end is a Yew avenue to a sheltered kitchen garden area. On the western side of the house is a gravelled courtyard containing a pair of integral period stables. The walls of the courtyard are covered with climbing roses and clematis and is trap for the afternoon and evening sun creating a wonderful space for outside entertaining in fine weather.

Marnhull 0.5 mile • Sturminster Newton 2.7 miles • Gillingham (Waterloo 2 hours) 6.5 miles • Shaftesbury 6.6 miles • A303 9.3 miles • Castle Cary station (Paddington 90 minutes) 18.1 miles • Bournemouth International Airport 29.2 miles (Distances and times approximate).

The Old Malthouse is one of a small group of period houses overlooking unspoilt countryside about half a mile to the south of the village of Marnhull. The village, which is a collection of conjoined hamlets, is an active community with excellent amenities including three churches, village hall, two primary schools, combined GP surgery and pharmacy, garage, two pubs and several local shops (see ). More extensive shopping, business and recreational facilities are available nearby in Sturminster Newton (2.7 miles), Gillingham (6.5 miles), and Shaftesbury (6.6 miles). There are direct rail services from Gillingham to Waterloo (2 hours) and from Castle Cary (18.1 miles) to Paddington (90 minutes),