The Househunter 26/2/16

So far so ordinary. Well, inasmuch as a three bedroom house in Hampstead on the market with Chestertons  for £3,750,000 can ever be ordinary. I mean, yes, there’s a lot of glass and yes, somehow, given the size of it you would expect more than three bedrooms.

But there are three receptions too. Although one of the bedrooms is tiny. And one of the receptions is a conservatory but, wait for it. Getting a hint below.

And there it is. A sunken sitting room with a painted and vaulted ceiling. No, I probably wouldn’t either but it’s quite an extraordinary thing isn’t it? It’s Moreton Lodge, part of Moreton House, a Grade II listed building designed by Thomas Gardner in 1896 for Frederik Sidney, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities and it’s 0.2 miles from the centre of Hampstead. Hence the price tag.

So d’ya fancy it or not? What about this then. Now I’m pretty sure you will like this and it’s £695,000 via The Modern House. Exactly – quite the bargain, comparatively speaking at least.

It’s a five bedroom house, near Stroud, that was originally built for a cloth merchant and is now two semi detached houses. It has recently been refurbished by Niki Turner.

The kitchen / dining room is a huge double-height space that formerly served as the house’s billiard hall. There is also a mezzanine study area above the kitchen. This is so turning into my ideal house…

The rooms are spacious, the features are all gorgeous and frankly there’s nothing to add apart from perhaps a rug in the sitting room below.

Do we need a quibble? Probably – if only to console ourselves that we’re not going to be able to live in it. Well, two of the bedrooms are pretty tiny. But then if you’ve got lots of living space that’s less of an issue. There’s also a conservatory and a ground floor studio space with skylights.

The first floor has three of the bedrooms, the largest of which is the master, and a family bathroom, pictured below, where you can see the bespoke fittings, formed from copper piping, which were designed by Turner.

Add to basket anyone? Race you to the checkout…