Castle Hill Terrace, Maidenhead, Berkshire

This exceptional mid-19th century villa, built in the Regency style, lies within the Castle Hill Conservation Area in Maidenhead, Berkshire and sits within a generous half-acre plot. The house has recently undergone an exhaustive programme of works to completely reimagine the interior spaces to an exceptionally high standard of finish and design, while carefully retaining the beautiful original proportions and architectural elements, including fine plasterwork and joinery. The house unfolds over two storeys, with four bedrooms set across over 3,000 sq ft of internal accommodation, while the expansive landscaped gardens encompass a home gym/studio space, coach house, outdoor swimming pool and floodlit football pitch. Maidenhead is just 22 minutes by train from London Paddington and is also on the Elizabeth Line, for additional central London destinations.

Setting the Scene

Castle Hill is one of the oldest parts of Maidenhead, with a large Roman villa once sitting on the site, just above Maidenhead’s now-town centre. Castle Hill Terrace runs parallel to Castle Hill itself, set back behind mature woodland down a quiet no-through lane made up of a mixture of Edwardian and Victorian detached homes, all set in generous wide plots and facing south, with the terrace’s entrance at the cross-section of College Road. For more information, please see the History section.

The Grand Tour

The house is set back from the terrace behind wooden gates and a large gravel-laid carriage driveway with space for parking several cars, while two enormous cedar of Lebanon trees standing proud nearest the entrance from the terrace.

The house has a pleasingly elegant and symmetrical appearance: it is double-fronted, three bays wide and stuccoed with rusticated quoins, to create the main elevation. This is punctuated with new double-glazed sash windows that carefully replicate the originals, set in the original boxes and framed with moulded and decorated architraves, and stone cills with small brackets and blind hoods. French casement windows are set on the ground floor. The home is crowned with a hipped tiled roof, with chimney stacks at either end and wide cut bracketed eaves with ovolo moulding resting underneath. The most prominent architectural feature is the fine original raised iron veranda featuring a pent hood; it spans the whole width of the house, with decorative balusters acting as supporting posts.

A further secondary driveway and pathway laid with stone setts are positioned to the side of the house, leading the coach house and offering service access to the rear garden. There is also an EV point positioned here, for electric vehicle charging.

Entry to the house is through the central four-panel half-glazed door, with a transom light set above, and opening to the spacious hallway featuring wainscotting, with the winding staircase lying directly ahead through a decorative archway. The entire ground floor has underfloor heating, with the hallway laid with encaustic tiles, while elevations are painted in ‘Purbeck Stone’ with fine cornice and a picture rail.

The house has been redesigned by the design studio Neville + Neville, known for creating rich, textural interiors. As part of the exhaustive works, all electrics and plumbing were renewed, including the installation of a 5-amp lighting circuit and a remote-operated Nest heating system with independent zones. Aged brass electric plates from Corston Architectural are employed throughout the house and there is a new alarm system installed for security, while all internal and external paint colours are by Farrow and Ball.

On either side of the central hallway are two reception rooms, both with pale machine-cut oak flooring extending underfoot. The west room has been designed as a cinema room, with panelled walls painted in rich ‘Studio Green’ to create an enveloping space and a brick-laid hearth in a herringbone pattern is set within the panelling.

The east room is the drawing room, a larger space with elevations featuring elegant fine mouldings that lend a sense of depth to the room and with walls painted in ‘Green Smoke’. A particularly excellent design of plasterwork frames the ceiling in this room and forms a grand architrave to the rear, while a contemporary Arabescato marble chimney piece surrounds a gas wood burner. Both rooms have the original sliding shutters, enclosing the French windows at nighttime.

The kitchen lies to the rear of the plan, a brilliantly bright and open-plan space almost 30 ft wide, with 11 ft high ceilings and painted in ‘School House White’. The space encompasses the kitchen itself, and both a dining and separate breakfast area, with reeded plaster walls and a built-in banquette upholstered in golden velvet; the larger dining area is positioned by French Crittall-style windows overlooking the garden.

Pale oak, laid in a herringbone pattern, extends throughout the entire space, with a kitchen area composed of simple painted bespoke cabinets with brass handles, and an island unit positioned centrally, near the tall, rounded bay window. Pale, durable Silestone is used for worksurfaces, and there is a double butler sink with an aged brass Quooker tap. The Nexus black enamel range cooker has induction hobs – a brilliant modern convenience – with a brass pot filler tap by deVol set above. The dishwasher is integrated.

A generous pantry is set behind a reeded glass screen from the kitchen, with the same cabinetry painted dark blue ‘De Nimes’ and open shelves illuminated. Integrated double fridge freezers are located here, cleverly concealed behind cupboard doors.

Behind the kitchen is a glamorous guest WC painted in ‘Pink Coral’, with reeded plaster walls and a deep copper wash basin that reflects the seductive lighting design. The boot room/laundry room is directly opposite, with convenient side access to the exterior stone setts-laid side passageway; the same joinery as in the kitchen has also thoughtfully been used here. Additionally, a wine cellar and three further storage rooms are set within the basement. The spaces here are full height and the floor is brick paved.

The first floor is home to the principal bedroom suite, a separate dressing room, and three further bedrooms. The rooms on this floor are heated by cast-iron radiators, and pale oak continues underfoot in the bedrooms and landing space, laid in a traditional plank formation.

The three double bedrooms have panelled walls with bespoke joinery and wardrobing, with one south-facing bedroom also having its own en suite shower room. The main bathroom is set off the spacious landing, with patterned floor tiles by Bert & May with a bateau bathtub set beside the window. The separate shower enclosure is designed to resemble a hammam, encased in hand-glazed ivory-colour rectangular tiles. A sink is set into an oak vanity unit and brassware throughout is in an antique brass finish by Lefroy Brooks.

The principal suite is set to the rear of the plan, fully panelled with a dado rail and with garden views through a large, rounded bay window. A pocket door leads to the en suite bathroom, with further Burt and May patterned tiles lining the floor and dark blue matt subway tiles used for walls. A white resin bateau bathtub is positioned centrally and there is a separate shower enclosure. Brassware is also by Lefroy Brooks in the same antique brass finish, and Arabescato marble has been used for the shower entrance architrave and upon the oak sink vanity and open shelf above. The adjacent room currently acts as a dressing room for the principal suite, lined with bespoke wardrobing, however could be used as a fifth bedroom, if required.

The Great Outdoors

The gardens surrounding the house are exceptionally well landscaped, with the rear garden forming a peaceful and private idyll, set in a wide plot almost 200 ft in length and surrounded by mature trees, affording a brilliant degree of privacy.

Nearest the house is a wideset limestone terrace, a brilliant spot for seating and entertaining. The garden is planted with a diverse selection of trees, shrubs and flowers, including hydrangeas, verbena, grasses and buxus, all fed on an irrigation system. A limestone path leads to the side of the expansive verdant lawn, to the air source heat pump-heated outdoor swimming pool. The pool is surrounded by a further limestone terrace with space for sun loungers; a charming Tiki bar is also positioned to one side.

Adjacent to the pool area is an outdoor studio space, currently used as a home gym. The structure is of a contemporary design, with a shallow pitched roof and clad in blackened millboard. The elevations are thoughtfully punctuated with expansive Crittall-style floor-to-ceiling windows, to both the north and south. This space has electricity and is fully heated, with a water feed in place if a change of use is required. It could also make for a brilliant home office or possible overflow guest accommodation.

A cedar wood seating deck is positioned to the rear of this ancillary studio space overlooking a floodlit football pitch, cleverly hidden from view from the house by the studio. The pitch employs Easigrass as a surface, edged with reclaimed railway sleepers. To the very end of the garden is a wooded area, which could also make for an excellent kitchen or cuttings garden.

A further ancillary building is also positioned off the driveway, to the west of the house, in the form of a two-storey former coach house with internal floor space of almost 500 sq ft. Still unmodernised, this could make for brilliant staff accommodation, or for older teenage children or elderly relatives subject to approved planning consents. To the rear of the coach house is a large storage room, for gardeners’ equipment.

Out and About

Situated in the historic Castle Hill area of Maidenhead, this home is half a mile from the town centre and enjoys easy access to excellent shopping and leisure facilities, including a choice of gyms and an Odeon cinema.

Local culinary opportunities are exceptional. The neighbouring village of Bray has two Michelin-starred restaurants, The Fat Duck and The Waterside Inn, and is one of the world’s top culinary destinations, while Marlow just to the north of Maidenhead has Tom Kerridge’s acclaimed The Hand and Flowers restaurant and The Coach pub, both offering Michelin-starred fare; The Ivy Marlow Garden is also situated in Marlow, near to an eclectic mix of local independent and quality national purveyors.

There are countless outdoor spaces in the area, with wonderful walks available throughout The Chilterns AONB to the north of Maidenhead, while the National Trust’s Runnymead Park and gardens, and the 5,000-acre Windsor Great Park are a short drive away to the south. Cliveden House and gardens are also nearby, just to the north of the charming village of Taplow.

Castle Hill Terrace is also excellently positioned for horse riding and other country pursuits, with the surrounding area having further opportunities for sports, either participatory or merely spectator. Racing can be found at Ascot, Windsor, Epsom, Kempton and Sandown Park Park, while polo clubs include the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in Winkfield and Cowdray Park, slightly further afield. Golf aficionados are also well catered for with some of the best courses in the country, including at Wentworth, Sunningdale, Swinley Forest, Queenwood and Foxhills. Rowing can also be found at Dorney Lake.

The choice of local state and independent schools is excellent, with Claires Court School, Highfield School, Furze Platt Senior School & St Piran’s School all within walking distance. Slightly further away are Reading Blue Coat School, St John’s Beaumont Prep School, Eton College, St George’s School in Windsor, St Mary’s Ascot, Lambrook School, Papplewick School, Heathfield School, The ACS and TASIS International Schools, Wellington College, Strode College, Salesian School, Sir William Perkins School and Wycombe Abbey for Girls.

Maidenhead station is a 10-minute walk from Castle Hill Terrace, with fast services to London Paddington taking just 22 minutes. The Elizabeth Line also runs from Maidenhead station with direct services into the heart of the capital, including Tottenham Court Road in 38 minutes, Liverpool street in 43 minutes and Canary Wharf in 50 minutes . By road, the M4 is three miles away and offers connections to the M25 and Heathrow Airport, which is just 20 minutes away by car.

Council Tax Band: H