While cherishing and preserving its period features, this charismatic four-bedroom cottage has moved with the times and was extended seven years ago to create a 16ft-square sitting room, utility room and cloakroom on the ground floor and, upstairs, a family bathroom and chic en-suite bedroom.

The original part of Millstream Cottage showcases its wonderful heritage with vaulted ceilings, exposed beams, an inglenook, latched doors and cosy window seats. There’s a warm and welcoming 19x14ft farmhouse-style kitchen and equally large family/dining room. Upstairs are three further double bedrooms, all with fitted wardrobes/storage. The whole cottage is light, airy and beautifully presented, exuding a warm and welcoming vibe and making you feel right at home.

The striking appeal of Millstream Cottage extends to the third of an acre of gardens which has a lovely patio for al fresco dining and entertaining, a vegetable garden, extensive lawns for children to run and play, and even a babbling brook that’s perfect for summertime paddling. It’s something of a wildlife haven too with otters and deer among the regular visitors.

For those who work from home, the garden office is a peaceful bolthole and source of inspiration throughout the seasons. It has also doubled as a cinema room - perfect for children and their friends on sleepovers!

Add into all this private parking space for multiple cars, a village shop, pub and primary school within a ten-minute walk, plus easy access to the A420, M4 and mainline railway services at Swindon, and Millstream Cottage is hard to resist.

This is a superb family home or equally attractive as a turnkey property for relaxed weekends and holidays. Downsizers will also love the spacious rooms, scenic surroundings, endless choice of walks, fantastic foodie pubs and friendly community.

We know you’re excited to hear more . . .

A new life in the country

Millstream Cottage sits on a quiet lane in the hamlet of Kingstone Winslow alongside a handful of other mainly period properties.

Passing a lavender-filled border, the front door opens into the extended part of the cottage and an entrance hall with cloakroom – the oak flooring is underfloor-heated via an air-source heat pump. The cottage was completely refurbished by the current owners when they bought it 11 years ago and the neutral décor allows the core attractions to shine through.

With fitted cream units to echo the colour scheme of the kitchen, which is just across the hallway, the utility room is generously sized and equipped with a Belfast sink, plumbing for washing machine and tumble dryer. Being within a few steps of the front door, it could double up as a boot room for dealing with post-walk muddy footwear and grubby dogs!

There’s a cosy, relaxed ambience to the kitchen with its fitted cream gloss units, granite worktops and limestone floor tiles keeping everything super-bright in tandem with two windows and glazed back door. Original ceiling beams, a mighty lintel above the inglenook, and cosy window seat in the underhang of the staircase add that enviable period charm and there’s room for a nice big farmhouse table too. Integrated appliances include a Rangemaster stove with induction hob, Siemens dishwasher, Neff fridge and freezer and there’s also a wine fridge.

To the right of the entrance hall is the sitting room, a super-sunny oasis which revels in the lovely  garden views thanks to banks of bifolds on two walls and another duo of windows on a third. In the summer, the bifolds concertina back to create a seamless link between indoors and outdoors while, in the depths of winter, a log-burner keeps everything warm and cosy.

A door leads from the kitchen into the spacious 20x14ft family/dining room, which is perfect for keeping an eye on younger children while you’re busy in the kitchen. To make the most of this super room, you could have a formal dining area at one end – simply perfect for candlelit dinner parties.

And so to bed . . .

Located on the first floor of the extension, the spacious, vaulted principal bedroom is a private and peaceful haven with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.  The current owners planned it out carefully: “We incorporated the view out over the lower part of the village to the countryside beyond. The vaulted ceiling gives a real feeling of space and we love how calm and tranquil it is.” The built-in wardrobes reflect the generous amounts of storage space throughout the house, and the modern en-suite shower room adds a luxurious touch.

In the original part of the cottage, two further spacious double bedrooms enjoy those lovely views, and have built-in wardrobes, while the third bedroom is a smaller double, again with wardrobes. A good-sized family bathroom with a modern roll top bath completes the first-floor line-up.

Glorious gardens

The lovely paved terrace to the rear of the cottage is accessed from the kitchen and the sitting room. With the bifolds open you are at one with the gorgeous gardens and surrounding countryside, making family barbecues and entertaining friends both a breeze and a pleasure.

The gardens are beautifully maintained and sweep away, seemingly endlessly, in front of you. Fencing ensures the safety of toddlers in the lawned area, complete with Wendy House, near the cottage, while it’s real ‘Swallows & Amazons’ territory for older children with a trickling stream at the far end, crossed by duck boards. There’s plenty of space for creating a big play area with  climbing frame, swings, trampoline, sandpit and so on.

This long L-shaped plot is laid mainly to lawn with trees and shrubs offering shade and privacy, and there’s a vegetable garden too. It’s a dream set-up for serious gardeners with generous storage in four sheds – currently designated for garden tools, bikes, mowers and a potting shed – plus a greenhouse, three log stores and a bin store.

There’s space to park two cars on the lane in front of Millstream Cottage plus a designated gravelled parking space for at least four more via a five-bar gate to the right.

Round and about

Millstream Cottage is idyllically secluded in the hamlet of Kingstone Winslow, but the village of Ashbury is only half-a-mile away and well set up for everyday needs with a popular tea room and shop selling the everyday essentials (10am-2.30pm Tues-Sat), the Ashbury with Compton Beauchamp CE Primary School (Ofsted-rated ‘good’), a foodie ‘local’ – the 16th-century Rose & Crown which hosts Quiz Nights, televised sporting events and a local choir and has just been shortlisted for “Pub of the Year” in the Great British Pub Awards. The pub also hosts the local Post Office two mornings per week, and there is a village hall where the friendly community gather socially for events throughout the year.

The larger village of Shrivenham (four miles) has a convenience store, three pubs, a deli, coffee shop and GP surgery. Nip up the A420 to Swindon (six miles) to do a supermarket shop at Sainsbury’s or go in the opposite direction to Faringdon or Wantage (nine miles) where there’s a Waitrose, and Sainsburys supermarkets.

There’s secondary schools in Faringdon and Wantage, both Ofsted-rated ‘good’, and a choice of private schools including Pinewood, St Hugh’s, Cricklade Manor Prep and Marlborough College.

The picture-perfect countryside, at the foot of the glorious North Wessex Downs AONB and the Ridgeway national trail, is simply stunning and a rural paradise for those who like nothing better than to be in the great outdoors rambling, cycling, riding a horse or simply walking the dog. There’s an endless choice of scenic walks, some ending with refreshment in the excellent local hostelries.

If you enjoy eating out, you’re spoilt for choice. For fine dining it’s The Star at Sparsholt while The Burj at Foxhill serves delicious Indian food and Turkish dishes are on the menu at Fancy B in Baydon. Other good foodie pubs include Helen Browning’s Royal Oak at Bishopstone and the Eastbury Plough at Eastbury.

THE FINER DETAILS:

What3Words:   ///impressed.upcoming.vanilla

Square Footage:  1982 sq ft / 184.1 sq mtr

EPC:  C

Local Authority:  Vale of White Horse | whitehorsedc.gov.uk

Council Tax Band: D

Distances:         Swindon 10 miles (Trains to London Paddington approx. 59 minutes)
Wantage 9 miles
Oxford 26 miles
London 76 miles
Heathrow Airport 61 miles