An extremely attractive, immaculate, renovated stone property dating back hundreds of years, is not listed, but in Harmston Conservation Plan is considered a ‘Building of Note’. Positioned in the middle of the delightful Lincolnshire Cliff village of Harmston, opposite the church, set over three floors it offers 5 bedrooms, 2 en suite, a kitchen breakfast room, 2 reception rooms, a large home office, an adjoining double garage, an abundance of storage and a fabulous, private, professionally landscaped garden.

The location of this exquisite property is ideal if wishing for a village lifestyle with beautiful countryside on the doorstep yet is very convenient for reaching Lincoln only 6 miles north, and Newark and Grantham to the south for high speed train services to London.

“We have lived here for nearly twenty years; it is unlike us to stay anywhere so long which proves how much we like it, in fact we fell in love with it as soon as we saw it, although we have completely refurbished and extended it since then. Thankfully it isn’t listed, although it is a ‘Building of Note’, but it does date back a very long way not that we know exactly how far. Harmston Conservation Plan suggests it dates to 1850 but we are convinced the kitchen is much older, maybe built in the late 1700s or early 1800s. In our refurbishment, we moved the kitchen from where the dining room is, to where it is today – a mammoth task but well worth it, we feel! It’s lovely having the French doors opening onto the terrace in the summer. We also added the new front entrance and office with en suite bedroom above, and the adjoining garage, all in stone to match the original house.”

“When we began the refurbishment, we started with the kitchen which has a traditional feel but, liking a blend of old and contemporary, we became more daring and introduced the ultra-modern gas fire in the dining room and created the perforated partition within an oak framework. This trend is reflected in our choice of light fittings as well as master bedroom furniture which comes from the award-winning, top German brand Hulsta and may be available to purchase under separate negotiation.”

“The house is very warm with various combinations of gas central heating radiators, underfloor heating to the lounge, dining room and kitchen plus plinth heaters in the kitchen connected to central heating. Of course, the lounge has the huge 15 Kilowatt log-burner which needed to be that large to complement the vast but beautiful brick chimney breast which was already in situ when we came here. The windows are all double-glazed timber which we replaced about twelve years ago, and we had the internal, solid timber shutters handcrafted for all the tall windows in both the lounge and the dining room.”

“The traditional kitchen units have pippy oak doors, so called from the frequent little knots that pepper the timber, and solid granite worktops with integrated appliances such as two Neff single pyrolytic ovens with matching warming drawers, a 5-ring induction hob, concealed extractor fan above, a dishwasher, a full height fridge and an under-counter freezer. The utility room has fitted cupboards with worktops and a sink, with space and plumbing for a washing machine and tumble dryer. I should also mention the cellar which is underneath the kitchen; it is quite a large space kept at a constant temperature and makes the perfect place for storing wine.”

“There is a large amount of storage space here with a big loft above the double garage – it’s all boarded out with lighting and a retractable ladder, and there are two outhouses, a smaller stone one and a larger brick one, both with electricity.”

“The house sits on just under half an acre with enough garden and mature trees to give great scope. We employed a local award winning landscape architect to create the quite formal look which features gravel walkways amongst raised beds, some contained by dwarf box hedging, a large lawn bordered by a crescent of pleached lime and London plane trees, a square, shallow, mirror pond to reflect the surrounding planting, and three different paved seating areas to capture the sun at all times of day. It’s fully enclosed, completely private and designed to have colour all year round.”

“It’s been a wonderful place to live. I spent a few years commuting two or three days a week to central London with a 20 minute drive to Newark station followed by an hour and a quarter train journey, which was very easy. After nearly 20 years here, we have built a new house on the North Norfolk coast to be close to our grandchildren, otherwise we wouldn’t be moving.”

Location

Harmston is a much sought after conservation village, home to Harmston Hall, with many attractive stone cottages and houses located off the popular Lincolnshire Cliff Villages road (the A607) that leads north to Lincoln. There are excellent transport links in the district, including high-speed rail networks to London King’s Cross from Newark (75 minutes’ journey time) and Grantham (approx. one hour) as well as direct services from Lincoln. The village is 6 miles south of Lincoln, 14 miles northeast of Newark, 13 miles northwest of Sleaford and 18 miles north of Grantham.

The village is full of community spirit, for example, the residents joined together to save The Thorold Arms pub from closing, now serving good food under community-based ownership, and has All Saints Parish Church dating to the 11th century, still open for worship today. Just 1.5 miles north in the village of Waddington, there is a Budgen’s, a post office, a chemist and takeaways, and Navenby, 3 miles south, offers an even fuller range of amenities, whilst Coleby, only a mile south, has a good primary school and The Tempest Arms serving food. Being one of the Cliff villages, Harmston straddles the old Roman Road, Ermine Street, as well as the Viking Way, providing wonderful country walks and much local history.

Schools

Only a mile from the property, Coleby C of E Primary School is rated Good by Ofsted and for secondary education there is a wide choice in the area including the very popular Priory Academy LSST rated Outstanding, less than 5 miles towards Lincoln, with direct buses from Harmston.

Further options include grammar schools in Sleaford (about 15 miles/20 mins southeast), Carre’s Grammar School, and Kesteven & Sleaford High School (for Girls), and Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School and The King’s School (for boys), both rated Outstanding by Ofsted (about 20 miles/30 mins south) in Grantham. In the independent sector, in the centre of Lincoln, the co-educational Lincoln Minster Schools (prep and senior) are extremely well regarded.

Services: Mains electricity, water and drainage; gas central heating (underfloor heating in kitchen, lounge and dining room, the latter two electric)
Local Authority: North Kesteven District Council
Council Tax Band: G
Epc Rating: D