Fine late Victorian country house offering extensive accommodation and a self-contained cottage together with attractive mature gardens and paddock.



Description

Tenantrees is a large family home constructed of brick, part rendered and colour washed elevations under a tiled roof with brick chimneys. The house is not listed and has over recent years been sympathetically restored and maintained.

The accommodation features well-proportioned rooms, high ceilings and is light and characterful. There are many original features including chimney pieces, fireplaces, parquet floors, panelled ceilings and cornicing, leaded light windows and intricate architectural ironmongery. The kitchen and breakfast room are extremely impressive and include a large range cooker and substantial island unit. A magnificent indoor swimming pool complex with WC was added on the north-west elevation in about 1995. A large self-contained office suite with WC and adjacent storeroom is ideal for anyone who prefers to work from home. The former Coach House (Lodge) was converted in 2003. This provides superb self-contained accommodation suitable for a dependent relative, live in staff or for generating an income stream.

Historical Note
Tenantrees was believed to have been built circa 1896 for Colonel Caledon Egerton who was the officer in charge of the 39th Regiment in Dorchester and for his wife Blanche Smith whose father Reginald had been the Rector at West Stafford. The house was designed by Charles Edwin Ponting FSA, a renowned gothic revival English church architect who designed a number of secular buildings and was constructed by the Salisbury builder Henry Kite. The imposing gateposts at Tenantrees are crowned by hounds in acknowledgement of the heraldic traditions of the Smith family.

Outside
A pair of electrically operated wrought iron gates set within imposing brick gate piers capped with stone hounds opens onto a gravelled drive which widens to form a parking and turning area at the front of the house. The drive continues around on the east to further extensive gravelled parking and on the west to garaging. Forming part of the house between the main house and the lodge is original garaging. At the rear of the house, there are a number of storerooms and a tool store. There is a separate gardeners wc. The gardens and grounds are an important feature of the property with stands of mature trees providing privacy. They extend to about two acres and have been carefully landscaped and planted over many years. The main garden lies to the north and west of the house.

A low brick wall at the front of the house divides the parking and turning area from the formal lawned garden with a wide stone path flanked by planted borders. The western garden is level lawn with mixed rhododendrons and a variety of trees. The rear garden includes a large brick paved terrace with access to the indoor pool and level lawn with magnolia, azaleas and other fine specimen trees. There is a rear timber pergola with mixed climbers and roses flanked by stocked borders and an apple orchard with mixed varieties located in a formal garden area. A large natural pond situated in the north-east corner of the garden has a variety of water flora and fauna including lilies and iris and a timber jetty. There is a working area with gardeners’ store and large composting facility. The adjacent level paddock (approximately 7.86 acres), with easily available water supply lies to the west of the garden across the lane.

Location

Tenantrees occupies a secluded position in the small hamlet of Lewell which is located close to the attractive village of West Stafford which comprises a collection of mainly period properties, together with a popular public house and historic church.

The county town of Dorchester, about 3½ miles to the west, has an excellent range of shops, schools and restaurants enhanced by the recent development at Brewery Square and the Kings Poundbury Development.

There is also the county hospital, a main line railway station to London Waterloo and services to Bath and Bristol as well.

There are excellent schools in Dorchester and the surrounding area including Sunninghill Nursery and Prep School, Thomas Hardye and St Osmunds, the Sherborne schools, Leweston, Bryanston, Milton Abbey and Canford, all within easy driving distance.

Other towns within easy reach include the coastal resort of Weymouth, the Georgian market towns of Bridport and Blandford Forum, Sherborne with its fine Abbey and the larger conurbations of Bournemouth and Poole.

There are good sporting and recreational facilities with golf at Dorchester (Came Down), Yeovil and Sherborne. Weymouth has a marina and is nationally renowned for its sailing facilities, together with its lovely sandy beach and safe swimming and the charming old Harbour.

Square Footage: 8,309 sq ft


Acreage: 10.67 Acres

Directions

From Dorchester, follow the signs to the A352 (Wareham). At the roundabout on the edge of town, take the left turn signed to West Stafford. Continue around the West Stafford bypass for just under two miles to a T junction. Turn left, signposted Woodsford, and continue under the railway bridge with traffic lights. Take the next left, signposted West Stafford, and then take a sharp right by a red post box (seen in a wall). Tenantrees is on the left.

Additional Info

Council Tax Band H

Mains water and electricity. Private drainage. Oil fired central heating. (Lodge has under floor heating from the same supply).