School Lane, Pimperne, Blandford Forum, DT11

A UNIQUE AND VERY WELL APPOINTED DETACHED THREE BEDROOM HOUSE IN A POPULAR VILLAGE LOCATION

Harrow House is a comfortable and highly individual detached house superbly converted from the former village school in 2016. Originally built by the Portman family in 1913 and later gifted to the Church, it operated as the village school until 2015 when a new school was built elsewhere in the village. Full of character, the original red brick slate roofed Edwardian style building has been sensitively preserved. On the inside the former school rooms have been cleverly reorganised to create a unique and very well appointed home extending to over 2,000 sq ft. A tiled porch opens into the original school hall, now a full height living room with a brick fireplace and wood block flooring which continues throughout most of the ground floor. Double doors open into a large family kitchen/dining room with an island, open fireplace with wood burning stove and French doors to the garden. Off this room there is a separate study which also opens into the garden and a practical utility/boot room. Back to the living room, a wide staircase and galleried landing take you to two ensuite bedrooms upstairs and for flexibility and future proofing, there is a third ensuite bedroom on the ground floor. Being recently converted everything is finished to a high specification and as well as high quality and stylish kitchen and bathroom fittings, the house benefits from new double glazed windows, gas central heating and a pressurised hot water system which all go to make it a very comfortable and practical conversion that works perfectly as a family home or as in the past, a second home and weekend retreat.

From the top of School Lane, a shared entrance gives access to a private gravel courtyard in front of the house with plenty of parking and a substantial timber framed carport. A gate between the carport and the house opens into a southwest facing garden that is enclosed by a combination of panel fencing, trellising and mature shrubs. Immediately behind the house French doors from the kitchen and study open on to a large sunny terrace with paved paths leading back to the front of the house and around to the back door and utility area. Beyond the terrace an easy to manage level lawn is surrounded by well planted nicely maturing borders.

Harrow House is quietly situated at the top of School Lane, a short no through road close to the centre of the village. About 3 miles northeast of Blandford, Pimperne is a thriving village with a primary school, a busy village hall, its own gym with a cafe and a pub (The Anvil). It is only a short drive from the village into Blandford where the Georgian market square is surrounded by a range of shops and other amenities including doctors and dentist surgeries, an M&S Food Hall, Tesco and Lidl superstores. Communication links around the village are good, it is an easy commute to Poole, Bournemouth and Ferndown making it a popular location for people who work in that area, and easy access onto the A31 provides a quick link to the M27 for Southampton and Portsmouth, and onto the M3 up to London. The A303/M3 via Salisbury is an alternative route to London and Salisbury is the most convenient train station (London Waterloo about 1hr 45mins). Pimperne is situated at the heart of the Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a brisk walk or bike ride will take you out in to the rolling countryside that this part of Dorset is famed for. There are plenty of other good opportunities for sport and recreation in the area with numerous golf courses and plenty of sports clubs in and around Blandford, and within about half an hours’ drive you can be enjoying water sports and sailing in Poole Harbour and Studland Bay, walking in Wareham Forest or along Dorset’s renowned Jurassic coastline.

All mains services are available at the property. Gas central heating. Good broadband service.