How would you like to live in an extensive family home in the heart of the Hertfordshire countryside but still have the facilities you need on your doorstep, including easy access to London?

The Old Barn, as its name suggests, is a conversion from old farm buildings, its original features combining with a thoroughly contemporary design. With a total floor space of 6880 square feet that include everything from five ensuite bedrooms to a gym and an indoor pool, the Old Barn is the perfect place to live, entertain and raise a family.

The old buildings retain their period charm from the outside, while the interiors are a perfect blend of contemporary style and an antique feel. High ceilings and modern woodwork throughout combine with the original timber beams imaginatively incorporated into the modern décor.

Turning into the driveway from a quiet country lane, you enter from a large open space between the ranges and come through an entrance hall into the extensive sitting room, with a study just off it. The room's focus is rightly the elegant brick chimney breast and its stove, but there's plenty of space for anything from entertaining to family activities.

From here, you enter the equally large games room with a flagged floor. There's easily room here for snooker, table tennis and air hockey tables - whatever your preference. Beyond this is a space for relaxing after your games, with a built-in bar.

Beyond an enclosed courtyard, where you can relax outside in total privacy, you'll find the indoor pool. At 57 feet by over 16 feet, it's big enough to swim or to play - perhaps a safe environment for young children to learn to swim. It has a shower room at one end, and it's overlooked from the first-floor gym, which includes a substantial beam for hanging equipment such as punch-bags.

The five bedrooms - one on the ground floor, the others upstairs - are all ensuite and extensive enough not to feel at all cramped even with a king-sized bed. Your kids can each have their own special space. The upstairs rooms offer breathtaking views over the large garden and the miles of countryside around.

To the right of the entrance is a single-storey range, and it's here you'll find the kitchen/dining room. Its L-shape allows the large dining area to be kept separate from the extensive, fully equipped kitchen, whose contemporary design is offset by the traditional beams.

This range also contains a utility room, a large garage and a tool shed, while the house also offers a laundry room and a boot room - invaluable if you're coming back from a long ramble in the beautiful Hertfordshire countryside, perhaps with the kids and the dogs.

This quiet location will allow your children to grow up with a safe, intimate relationship with nature, but it doesn't mean you'll be cut off. You can be on the A10 within minutes, while ten minutes will see you at Ware station, where frequent trains will take you to either the City or the West End, for work or leisure - though the house would be completely convenient for working from home in peace, if you prefer.

Ware itself is full of charming, quirky shops and offers some excellent eating out, while for more substantial shopping, Harlow is only a 25 minutes drive. If golf is your thing, you have a 5-star hotel and golf course just at the bottom of the road.

There are a number of highly rated primary and secondary state schools for the kids. If you prefer, though, there are several top independent schools close enough to attend as day pupils, such as St Edmund's or Haileybury.

If an extensive, stunning family home in the countryside is what you dream of, then this is what you're looking for. Give us a call right now to book a viewing before someone else gets in first. You'll realise when you see it that the reality is even better than any description could convey.