6 bedroom country house for sale

A handsome early 20th Century country home with amazing uninterrupted views of the Avon Valley west towards Cranborne Chase.

The Merrie Thought was originally built around 1900 for Miss Christine Hulse of Breamore on land belonging to the Breamore family estate in an Arts and Crafts style. Since then, it has undergone several refurbishments and significant modernisation, yet retains all the elegant properties and features of a period home of its era, including a number of working fireplaces, beautiful tall ceilings, a cellar and attic rooms.

The house and the adjacent detached cottage offer extensive accommodation amounting to over 9,000 square feet (837 square metres) in total. The rooms in the main house are very well proportioned, with ceiling heights of 10 feet to both ground and first floors. The cottage has its own private garden and a useful studio suite overhead. In addition, there are extensive outbuildings, which include garaging for at least five cars, various garden buildings and workshops.

The gardens and grounds surround the house and are laid out as beautiful, landscaped gardens, as well as a swimming pool, a small lake, terracing and lawns, woodland, and paddocks. The total area of the house and grounds amounts to around 18 acres.

The current owners have lived there for almost 20 years, and it has been a much-loved family house, suitable for multi-generational living.

The Property:

- Traditional canopy entrance porch with stone detailing leading into a formal dining room featuring a brick-built open fireplace and tall windows with a glorious outlook over the rear gardens. Lit display shelving and wall cupboard for snooker cues

- Hall with main staircase to first floor accommodation, door with stairs leading down to the cellar, cloakroom with hanging space, hand basin and separate WC

- The elegant drawing room with an impressive triple aspect benefits from a beautiful fireplace with log burner on a tiled hearth and brick cheeks and a period pentagonal turret with a seating area

- South-facing conservatory with an impressive 10ft high ceiling overlooking the terrace and swimming pool area. Ceiling fan.

- East facing sitting room, which centres upon an attractive stone fireplace with brick cheeks and cast-iron log burner, double doors leading out on to the extensive rear terrace. Glass display shelves.

- West facing study to front aspect with built-in bookshelves

- Kitchen, which has been recently refitted and modernised to a high standard, including a blue four-door oil-fired Aga with Fornair extractor fan over. Extensive range of high quality base and eye-level cabinets and corian work surface. Breakfast bar/peninsula. Built-in coffee/drinks station with fold-back doors, laundry cupboard, pull-out larder unit and built-in wine rack. Plumbed-in American-style double fridge and freezer with water dispenser. Washing machine, a dishwasher and space for a second dishwasher or drier. Water-softening unit. Skylight. Attractive views through three windows across the valley towards Cranborne Chase. The comfortable adjoining breakfast/family room, with views towards the gardens, has a large Welsh dresser and television point. A door leads from this area to the terrace.

- Summer kitchen/boot room accessed through bifold doors from the kitchen. This has a beech worktop with a double electric oven with halogen hob. Back door leading to the terrace and garage block.

- Main and secondary staircases lead to a part-galleried landing and five generous first floor bedrooms with three bathrooms. Four of the bedrooms have air-conditioning.

- The principal bedroom has a triple aspect and features a pentagonal turret boasting far-reaching views across the Avon Valley. This fabulous room also has a door leading to a sun terrace/balcony. It also has a modern and stylish en-suite bathroom, as well as a walk-in dressing room with dressing and hanging space.

- Family bathroom with three-piece suite and separate shower room.

- Shower room on the half landing with walk-in shower, vanity basin and WC.

- Stairs from the landing lead to an impressive attic area, ideally suited as a study/work room. The adjacent part -boarded loft space (accessed through a door) houses the air-conditioning units for the bedrooms.

- The garage block comprises three garages (one with an internal workshop area), a large storeroom and cloakroom.

- The main garage has a laundry room plumbed and vented for a washing machine and dryer, as well as a large safe used by the previous owners to store their shotguns.

- At the back of the second garage is a room with a wall-mounted air-conditioning unit currently used for wine storage.

The Cottage and Studio

- The cottage comprises three bedrooms, a bathroom, a downstairs shower room with WC, a sunroom, sitting room and kitchen (with electric cooker and dishwasher).

- An external spiral staircase by the side of the cottage leads to a large studio suite with a triple aspect and rear balcony. This room has fine views over the gardens and is served by its own shower room and WC

Gardens and Grounds:

- The property is approached through pillared double electronic gates along a sweeping drive (with lamps) which leads to generous parking and turning areas adjacent to both the main house and cottage.

- There are a number of outbuildings, including two greenhouses, two summer houses, a large tractor shed, workshop, gardeners’ tea-room, log storage room and back-up generator shed.

- Heated swimming pool (recently re-lined) with large terrace (with steps down to the lawn beyond), BBQ area and shed for pool equipment (with WC). Bespoke wrought iron gates. The swimming pool area and gardens benefit from external lighting making them ideal for evening parties.

- Gardens and woodlands of about 7.26 acres. The attractive landscaped gardens, which are a particular feature of the property, include raised vegetable beds, a fruit cage, a large fishpond/small lake with a fountain and waterfall, and a smaller fishpond with fountain and statuary. Part of paddock one is adjacent to the existing lawned area and could easily be incorporated into the garden if desired.

- The garden benefits from pergolas, paved walks and seating areas and features many interesting mature trees, ornamental shrubs and other plants, including a fine monkey-puzzle tree, a blue cedar, flowering cherries, fruit trees, roses, rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias, as well as snowdrops and bluebells in spring. There are also some impressive trees and other attractive planting along the main access drive to the house.

- Paddock one, which extends to 5.42 acres, is flat and potentially suitable for horses or other animals.

- Paddock two has fine views across to Frogham Hill and is about 5.82 acres in area.

Situation:

Located in a wonderful, elevated position in the hamlet of Stuckton within the New Forest National Park, about a mile to the east of the Avon Valley town of Fordingbridge, which has a good array of shops including a Co-op and a Tesco Express.

Nearby are the New Forest villages of Frogham, Hyde, Godshill and Woodgreen, with local country pubs including The Three Lions, The Foresters and The Fighting Cocks just a short distance away. Other facilities include a local farm shop and primary school.

The New Forest National Park, which offers 140,000 acres of unspoilt open heath, moors, and stunning woodlands, is perfect for outdoor pursuits including horse riding, walking and cycling.

Water sports and yachting centres are within easy reach, in particular, superb marinas at Lymington and Poole.

The New Forest market town of Ringwood is a short drive away offering a superb range of shops, boutiques, cafes, and restaurants, as well as good access via the A31 to both Bournemouth (to the west) and Southampton (to the east).

The Cathedral City of Salisbury is about 8 miles to the north, offering a mainline railway station with regular services direct to London Waterloo in just under 90 minutes.

There are excellent schools in the vicinity, both State and private, and two local airports, one at Hurn (Bournemouth) and one at Eastleigh (Southampton).

Direction:

Exit Ringwood along the A338 Ringwood to Fordingbridge Road. Come off at the signpost for Fordingbridge, turn right at the T-junction signposted Godshill, B3078, continue along this road for about 1½ miles. This will take you uphill until you reach a left-hand bend where you then turn sharp right at the V-junction before Blissford Road into Stuckton Hill (signposted Stuckton). A pretty country lane will take you downhill and you will see the entrance gates to The Merrie Thought, which is the first dwelling on the left.