The Vatch, Stroud, GL6 7LB

Why We Love The Rifleman’s

Formerly home to British fashion and accessories designer Lulu Guinness, The Rifleman’s is the lock stock and barrel ideal of a quintessential Cotswold house with wonderful views from every window. 

Located in a picture-perfect backdrop with its pretty gables peeking out below the crest of the Slad valley, The Rifleman's is an attractive semi-detached Grade II listed stone house set back from a quiet country lane with off street gravelled parking. A lavender lined gravel path leads up to the front door which is flanked by acanthus and hellebores and topped by a hooded porch and climbing rose bushes. 

Inside the owners have created a joyous home combining an abundance of lovely period features with considered modern comforts in immaculate condition. Off the flagstone entrance passage sits a spacious family kitchen with marble-topped shaker fitted units including a large island, electric Aga, custom inbuilt bookshelves and a sitting area with sofa.  The kitchen’s pretty, gothic arched stone windows face Southwest with shutters and deep window seats looking out over fields and rolling hillside. 

Off the kitchen is a bright dining area with French windows onto an outdoor terrace, and a utility room including a WC and clever inbuilt cupboards with ample storage, washer dryer and extra larder space. The arched windows and views continue in the warm dual aspect family sitting room with limestone fireplace and log burner which sits to the other side of the front door.

The first floor comprises three bright and airy bedrooms, two of which are configured as generous guest bedrooms with king-size beds and the third is a charming child’s bedroom with handmade inbuilt bed and storage. A smart family bathroom with cast iron roll top bath as well as a separate shower is also located on this floor.

The second floor boasts soaring vaulted ceilings and beautifully revealed beams and contains a large home office/games room with bespoke storage and the generous dual aspect principal bedroom and ensuite bathroom with a marble surround bath.

Garden

A stone wall separates the quiet lane in front of the house from the garden which wraps around three sides of the house and comprises a lawned area to the front, a terrace to the side of the house and a courtyard storage area at the back including a slate roof wooden shed. 

Locality

Slad 0.8 miles, Stroud Train Station 2.1 miles, Cirencester 13 miles, Cheltenham 14 miles

For those seeking a glorious country idyl, look no further than the beautiful rolling countryside of the Slad valley, immortalised by local author Laurie Lee in Cider with Rosie.

The Rifleman’s is set in The Vatch, a pretty hamlet located just under a mile to the South of Slad village within the Cotswolds AONB. The house enjoys outstanding views from all angles over the valley, including the limestone grasslands of Swift Hill Nature Reserve which has a border very close to Rifleman’s back garden. The reserve supports over 130 species of wildflowers including rare frog orchids, bee orchids and early purple orchids and there is an abundance of local walking routes from The Rifleman’s doorstep. The local Stroud Slad Farm produces organic beef, lamb and apple juice and supports a small community vegetable growing enterprise, just down the valley.

Slad is the closest village, and it boasts a particularly wonderful 300-year-old pub The Woolpack Inn, which is a 15-minute walk away. The Woolpack used to be the local of Laurie Lee and it continues to serve nationally-recognised food and good cheer with a seasonal menu under head chef Adam Glover.

The enduringly popular town of Stroud is a short drive away and was voted best place to live in the UK in 2021 by The Sunday Times due to the quality of its schools, transport links, green spaces and unique independent spirit. The town was one of the birthplaces of the organic food movement in the UK and shoppers are spoilt for choice between a host of first-class independent retailers and restaurants.  Stroud has an award-winning local farmers market which is held every Saturday. There is also a strong cultural offering with the town hosting a number of annual arts festivals.

"The April sun spoke sweetly, and the scent of the earth reached me from burying fields, tilled and smelling as only land that is cherished and nurtured can."

- Laurie Lee, Cider with Rosie

Transport

For those wishing to commute, Stroud Railway Station is a 7 minute drive away and offers swift access to London Paddington to London with hourly direct trains taking just under an hour and a half. 

Fantastic Schools

Gloucestershire is noted for its excellent schools, both state-run and independent. Independents include Wycliffe College and Beaudesert Park schools in Stroud, Kings  School in Gloucester, Westonbirt School, and Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies and Dean Close in Cheltenham. The Marling and Stroud High in Stroud are great state options and there are also grammar schools in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

Chapters Past

“Form! form! Riflemen form!
Ready, be ready to meet the storm!
Riflemen, riflemen, riflemen form!”

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

The lush green valleys surrounding Stroud have been a lively hub of settlement and trade since well before the Romans arrived, thanks to their excellent grazing, and the county prospered greatly through the medieval period off the back of the burgeoning English wool trade. 

Developments in mechanisation of the fulling process led to the Five Valleys surrounding Stroud becoming a focal point of the cloth industry due to the fast-flowing valley streams which helped power water wheels for a host of local cloth mills. The area was famous for the quality of its woollen broadcloth, referred to as Stroud cloth and particularly noteworthy was the production of military uniforms in the colour Stroudwater Scarlet during the 18th and 19th centuries. 

The Rifleman’s itself is a 17th century former farmhouse which served as an inn to the local Vatch Mill during the 19th century. It hosted the training of militia on its rifle-range during Napoleonic times when there was palpable national concern of a French invasion. Alarm at this prospect galvanised volunteers to form local rifle companies right across Gloucestershire and the South of England, resulting in the distinctive name of this distinguished house.