Grade II Listed, mid 18th century Palladian style country house positioned beautifully within its own parkland grounds at the end of a long private drive with breathtaking views.

Description

The Hewletts is a beautifully presented Georgian country house, Listed Grade II of architectural importance. The principal part of the house was constructed in the mid 1700’s with earlier origins and assumes a commanding position, high up on Aggs Hill to the east of Cheltenham.

The current owner acquired the property as their home in 2006 and having painstakingly restored and renovated the house to a high standard it presents very impressively, retaining much in the way of original features and character.

Characteristic of the Georgian architecture, the house has an incredibly inviting and welcoming atmosphere and makes for a wonderful family home. It has an excellent range of comfortable accommodation, which is extremely well balanced for family life and entertaining.

Perhaps uncharacteristic of many Cotswolds country houses, The Hewletts benefits from large sash windows which allow light to flood in to the rooms and the occupants to enjoy the magical views.

The house is constructed of Cotswold stone with the front elevation being of Palladian style and built of ashlar stone with a fine central pediment. Further enhancing its elegance is a stone parapet, moulded stone architrave and quoins with the main elevations being relieved by large sash windows.

The Hewletts is approached from the southern boundary via a long tarmac drive, which winds through the parkland and culminates at the front of the house with a gravel parking and turning area.

The accommodation is described briefly below and is shown by the floor plans within the brochure. Stone steps lead to the front door, which opens to the entrance hall and reception hall. The hall also serves as the stair hall with a superb staircase to the first floor.

The drawing room is wonderfully elegant, light room with its south-facing sash windows. A spacious room with high ceilings, decorative ceiling cornice, hard wood floor, feature fireplace and a French window leading out to the terrace and gardens to the south.

The dining room is similar in size and is positioned across the hall from the drawing room. An impressive and grand room with good ceiling height, sash windows, hard wood floor and an imposing fireplace.

The study/library is a good room of more intimate scale with a fireplace and fitted bookshelves, located beside the reception hall.

The kitchen/breakfast room is well appointed with a bespoke fitted kitchen, large-slab flagstone floor; 4 oven electric AGA and a good larder.

From the kitchen, glazed doors lead to a central courtyard seating area, which provides a sheltered space to the rear of the house with access via steps to the walled garden and garden stores. At the opposite end of the kitchen is a wonderful orangery with doors opening on to the lawns to the southern side of the house.

Centrally within the house and located just off the kitchen is a family room with a fireplace and log-burning stove, also providing access to the rear hall. The rear hall leads out to the north wing in which is an excellent games room and bar for entertaining family and friends in certain style.

There is a cloakroom, boot room and well-appointed laundry room. To complete the downstairs accommodation is a basement boiler/plant room and a wine cellar.

Upstairs, there are seven bedrooms and four bath/shower rooms.

The principal bedroom suite is an impressive room with fabulous southerly and westerly views across the gardens and parkland. Beyond are the intriguing views across Cheltenham to the Malvern Hills and Black Mountains in Wales. There are separate ensuite shower/bathrooms which were refitted a few years ago and finished to a high standard.

There are three further characterful bedrooms and a bath/shower room located on the first floor. No less impressive are the two additional ensuite bedrooms on the second/attic floor, with fireplaces and sash windows allowing in the light and wonderful views to the west.

As is currently the arrangement of accommodation, an interconnecting door on the first floor landing provides access to the integrated, but self-contained staff/guest flat, which has two ensuite bedrooms, sitting room, and spacious kitchen/ breakfast room with direct access to external stone steps to the rear of the house allowing independent access to the flat.

Location

The Hewletts occupies a fabulous, commanding position just outside Cheltenham on the south-west facing slope of Aggs Hill. The pretty village of Whittington is nearby and the increasingly popular town of Cheltenham is a stone’s throw, some several hundred feet below.

The property is beautifully situated within its own private gardens and grounds, enjoying wonderful rural views across its own parkland in the foreground to the fascinating birds eye views over Cheltenham, the racecourse and beyond to the Malvern Hills and the Black Mountains.

Accessibility to Cheltenham, a thriving cultural centre, is excellent and of course is home to numerous highly-regarded schools. The town offers an excellent range of services and facilities hosting an abundant range of shops, bars, restaurants, theatres and sport/leisure activities.

Communications are excellent with Junction 11 of the M5 motorway (about 5 miles) giving access to Bristol and the south-west and in the other direction, Birmingham and the North. Oxford and the M40 are accessible via the nearby A40.

Trains from Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington take from 118 minutes via GWR services, which have recently been upgraded to provide more frequent direct trains to London.

Sporting opportunities in the area include excellent riding and walking in the surrounding countryside with an abundance of nearby field sports opportunities for those enthusiasts. Racing at Cheltenham; Polo at Cirencester Park and Longdole Polo in Brimpsfield; Golf at Cleeve Hill, Lilleybrook and Cotswold Hills; Premiership Rugby at Gloucester.

There are a number of excellent pubs and restaurants nearby. There are numerous excellent schools locally including; Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies College, and Dean Close. There are variety of additional schools in the region and further afield.




Acreage: 45 Acres

Directions

Cheltenham (Central) 2.5 miles, A40 via Whittington 3 miles, M5 (Junction 11) 6 miles, Oxford 38 miles, London 95 miles

Additional Info

The house is positioned extremely well within its grounds, almost centrally, which is a rare and highly sought-after attribute in a country house. With its gardens, grounds and parkland completely surrounding it, The Hewletts is afforded a high degree of privacy. A number of magnificent trees are interspersed throughout the grounds with additional mature specimen trees in the parkland.

Enjoyed from all the principal rooms in the house, the gardens offer a degree of formality with well stocked borders around the house. The beautifully presented walled garden, located to the rear of the house, is formed of three terraces and hosts a comprehensive kitchen garden and various herbaceous borders including two ornamental ponds.

A stone paved terrace, accessed from the orangery, is the perfect area for al fresco dining and leads to the principal lawn, which is located to the south of the house and enjoys views across the parkland and beyond. This level area of lawn has been thoroughly enjoyed by the current owner’s family and friends for entertaining on a grand scale with plenty of space for a marquee taking full advantage of the breath-taking views to the west, including that of Cheltenham racecourse, which on race days provides an exciting spectacle.

Located beside the house to the north-east is the charming, period coach house. Constructed of Cotswold stone, the coach house comprises three good stores on the ground floor and the first floor has been converted to create an excellent, self-contained first floor flat providing substantial secondary accommodation for family, friends or staff. Alternatively, the coach house flat could generate valuable additional income.
There is a spacious open plan reception room integral to the kitchen, good size double bedroom and bathroom.

In addition to the Coach House there are several useful outbuildings including a good domestic store to the rear of the house and within the walled garden are a range of brick-built garden stores and a traditional glass house.

A modern agricultural barn is located further along the drive to the north of the house, which provides excellent storage for machinery or livestock. A versatile building, which has potential for a number of alternative uses including stables or garaging for example. It may be a requirement to seek planning permission for its alternative use.

The Hewletts extends to about 50 acres in all with a very pretty land holding of parkland grazing and agricultural pasture. The land surrounds the house and provides a wonderfully secluded setting offering diversity of scenery with its undulating features, mature parkland trees and woodland. An additional block of pasture is located to the north-east of the house and buildings.

The owner has let the pasture to a local farmer for the grazing of sheep and the agreement remains in place currently.