A detached freehold family home of character of 1956 architect design set
in 1.2 acre grounds in a charming village location.
This substantial 1950’s brick built house offers a mature
private garden with Northern mill stream boundry, woodland, orchard and paddock.
It has four bedrooms, master bedroom
ensuite, bathroom and separate WC on the first floor. Lobby with cloakroom off, hallway, living and dining rooms kitchen with
larder and washroom and an office are on the ground floor with integral garage and boiler room. The main ground floor rooms
have oak parquet floors, oak doors and staircase.
The village has a local shop, pub, modern medical centre and excellent
primary school. A mainline station to London is 30 minutes drive.
It is double glazed with original oil fired central
heating. Valued at £730,000 in 2004 the property is on offer at £650,000 for a quick sale with vacant possession.
The
extensive attic has potential for development.
DESCRIPTION
Brookfield House is set within
its own grounds of just over an acre and occupies an elevated position with views over the village of Fontmell Magna. The
gardens are extremely attractive, being private and secluded. The house comprises four bedrooms, one having an en-suite shower
room and a door onto a large south facing oak framed balcony. Downstairs there is an impressive inner hall with oak doors
providing access to a large sitting room, dining room and the rear garden.
ACCOMMODATION
Steps lead to a curved arch
open porch. Oak front door to
Hall: Coved ceiling, quarry
tiled flooring.
Cloakroom: White suite comprising
low level wc, pedestal wash hand basin.
Inner Hall: Coved ceiling,
curved display alcove, parquet flooring, double doors opening onto terrace. Double doors opening to
Sitting Room: 6m (19ft 8in)
x S.3m (17ft sin) Double
Kitchen/Breakfast Room:
S.2m (17ft lin) x 3.Sm (11ft 6in) Coved ceiling, range of floor and wall mounted cupboards and drawers, tiled work surfaces
and tiled splash backs. Fitted double bowl stainless steel sink and drainer, serving hatch opening through to dining room,
Leisure Range Master 110 oven with hob and hotplates, space and plumbing for dishwasher, cupboard housing washing machine
with areas of shelving.
Pantry: Area of shelving
and tiled worktop.
Rear Lobby and Study Area:
2.2m (7ft 3in) x 3m C9ft loin) Large built-in walk-in cupboard, door leading to outside.
Boiler Room: Potterton oil
fired boiler. Access door through to
Garage/Workshop: 2.9m (9ft
6in) x s.lm (16ft 9in) Side window and track sliding garage door.
Oak fitted stairs lead from
inner hall to
Landing: Cupboard with slatted
shelving and hot water tank with immersion switch.
Bathroom: White suite comprising
bath with Victorian style shower mixer taps and pedestal wash hand basin.
Separate wc
Master Bedroom: sm (16ft
sin) x S.31m (17ft sin) Two sets of built-in double wardrobes, double aspect. With Balcony: Walk out covered area with a southerly
aspect and oak framed banister rails. En-suite Shower Room: Tiled shower area and splash backs, electric shower.
Bedroom 2: 3.6m (11ft loin)
x sm (16ft sin)Double aspect, pedestal wash hand basin, two walk-in wardrobes, coved ceiling and picture rails.
Bedroom 3: 3m (9ft lOin)
x 3.9m (12ft 10in)Fitted wardrobe.
Bedroom 4: 4.32m (14ft 2in)
x 4.77m (15ft 8in) Built-in double wardrobe, picture rail.
SITUATION
The house occupies an elevated
position above the village with delightful established gardens an adjoining orchard and copse. Fontmell Magna has an established
local community with a thriving primary school, a village hall, public house (The Crown), post office/ store and church. The
Saxon hilltop town of Shaftesbury lies 6 miles) to the north and Blandford (7 miles) to the south offering a range
of services to cater for most everyday needs.
The communication links
are also extremely good with the A303 to the north giving access to London
and the South West. Mainline railway stations are at Gillingham, Tisbury and Poole, all providing
services to London Waterloo.
DIRECTIONS
From
Shaftesbury take the A3S0 heading south towards Fontmell Magna 5s miles) and upon reaching the Crown Inn on the right hand
side there will be a turning to Mill Street on the left. Then take the next right over the newly constructed brick built bridge
and continue forward up the drive to Brookfield House.
SERVICES
Mains water and electricity
and connected to the property. Private drainage, oil fired central heating and hot water. Council Tax Band G. Amount payable
for 2008/9 is £2.390.33
The present owners of Brookfield House, Jon and Liz Neilson, moved there in 1997
from their previous home in Blandford. They acquired the property from the Chris
& Pixie Snowdon who moved to Sherborne.
The Neilsons moved-in concurrent with Howard and Miranda Horstead's move to Estyard
House, next door. At that time, the garage that stood on the Coach House site was owned by Dick and Mrs Brown who lived in
a flat over the disused garage workshops. Opposite, the Crown Inn was run by Alan and Sheilagh Ball, as Hall and Woodhouse
tenants
It is believed that the name of Brookfield was taken from the ground on which the house
stands, being the field by the brook, and has no direct association with the Archers radio series, then in its infancy. Similarly,
Estyard House is derived as an abbreviation of Estate Yard House, originally the estate yard for the Rectory, now Fontmell
House.
Brookfield House was originally built by the Barratts in 1956, who owned and
ran the pub and the garage.
The house owes much to the taste of Maureen Barratt who commissioned an architect
to produce a design to be executed by W. Fanner and Sons Builders. The local, very hard, Gillingham
brick and Crittal steel framed windows were used throughout. All the ground floor doors, floors and staircase were constructed
in seasoned oak, to the best post-war standards. The central heating system was to then state-of-the-art specification with
'black iron' pipework and an oil fired boiler. The robust construction and ubiquity of the boiler means that spare parts are
still available today.
Where the Crittal steel windows provide tremendous security, they have the disadvantage
of providing poor heat insulation. One of the first of few alterations that the Neilsons made was to double glaze with UPVS
Georgian units. This enabled the benefit of the original expanded mica insulation under the attic floor to be obtained. Original radiators, the central ground floor Crittal windows and patio door have been
conserved, as little benefit could be seen in their modernisation.
After the untimely death of Mr Barratt, the estate was divided into three; The
Crown Inn, the Garage and Brookfield House to enable the best return. The deeds
to the Garage put a ban on the sale of alcohol from the premises to make the pub a more attractive proposition. This was of singular import to the Neilsons after they had acquired the Garage site from the Browns and
set up shop as The Old Coach House, where waitresses from the restaurant had to trip across the A350 with trays of drinks
from the Crown. Apart from an unlicensed restaurant and tea rooms, The Old Coach
House provided bed and breakfast accommodation, and an extensive emporium selling ladies and gents clothing, hair dressing,
aroma therapy, giftware, garden and household furniture and adornments, cards, candles, antiques and collectables. The inspiration
for the name of 'The Old Coach House' was based on the premise that The Crown Brewery opposite must have had some
requirement for stabling and maintaining horse drawn drays and also that the Garage had been a depot for a pre-war coach tour
operator. Local Sage, Lionel Christopher, asserts that his first job as an apprentice
at the Garage had been to clear old hay out of ancient iron mangers in the workshop.
The enterprise, although popular, did not prove to be successful (foot-and-mouth
outbreak) and, as the building was in a very precarious state, Peter Johnson, architect was commissioned by the Neilsons to
design a residential scheme for the site, which he did in spades on the theme of 'The Old Coach House'. Prior to this, the retirement of the Balls from the Crown had lead the Neilsons to contact Hall and Woodhouse
to inquire if they would contest the lifting of the ban on the sale of alcohol from the Old Coach House deeds. They said they
would be obliged to, but offered Liz and Jon the tenancy of the Crown Inn, which they accepted. This, for a brief period lead, to a return to the original Barratt 'empire'
where the Crown, the Garage site and Brookfield House were all under one tenure.
The result was a resurgence of the Crown with Liz and Jon voted 'Tenants of The Year' by the brewery, and the development
of the Coach House site to their design by Palmers.
The Neilsons have now left the Crown and have their own free house 'The Fiddleford
Inn' near Sturminster Newton. They have been able to purchase Fiddlers Cottage next door to the Fiddleford and are now firmly
ensconced in the village. Brookfield House, although much loved, is now superfluous
to their requirements and therefore up for sale. It is a beautiful warm house with many fond memories of a growing up family.
Part of the Coach House development was to provide a new driveway to Brookfield
House over a bridge shared with the Coach House from Mill Street.
This is a much safer and less precipitous access than the original route off the main road.
Traffic noise from the main road
is surprisingly unobtrusive as a result of the slow speed of vehicles through the double bend and intervening hedges. Sewage
disposal is to a septic tank in the roadside garden.
In conclusion, Jon and Liz have not had the time or resources to devote
to the upkeep of the house that they would have wished. Over the period of the move to the Fiddleford Inn, taking it
from rustic slum to four star status, they have at the same time been running their ladies & gents outfitters
in Blandford, 'Beresford and Neilson' and latterly, setting up home at Fiddlers Cottage. While there are absolutely
no faults that would prevent moving straight in to Brookfield House, it would be recommended that it should be rewired while
it is empty. There are no ongoing faults with the electrics - no constantly blowing fuses or dead circuits - but the
wiring and fittings are now over 50 years old and should be replaced. This cost has been allowed for in the price, as
have bathroom and kitchen refurbishment.
Brookfield House, Mill Street, Fontmell Magna, Shaftesbury, Dorset. SP7 0PA
Price: £650,000
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