Brook End, Chadlington, OX7

Sophisticated, beguiling and brimming with unique character and style, Wychwood House is peacefully positioned on the outskirts of Chadlington.  This elegant Grade II Listed three-storey, four-bedroom house celebrates more than two centuries of history while moving harmoniously with the times.

In recent years the current owners have completed a state-of-the-art refurbishment, creating a fabulous family home that’s now set for the next century. Improvements have included knocking through several small rooms to create the beautifully light and airy 21ft kitchen/diner with underfloor heating and a floor-to-ceiling wall of windows, refitting the three bathrooms, a total re-wire and installation of gas central heating and high-spec double-glazing throughout.

Other desirable features include a duo of cosy living rooms, one warmed by an open fire and the other by a woodburner, sunny home office, luxe en-suite principal bedroom, south-facing garden with a big terrace for summertime relaxation and entertaining, and parking space for three cars.

And Chadlington is definitely the place to be! It’s a fantastically friendly and well-served village with a great pub, primary school, two shops, café and butchers, and has the considerable kudos of being in the north of Oxfordshire near the buzzing market town of Chipping Norton, an area generally deemed the ‘coolest’ in the Cotswolds – the elite Soho Farmhouse members club and Daylesford Organic retail emporium are within a short drive while Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm shop, as featured on TV’s popular ‘Clarkson’s Farm’, is located on the edge of Chadlington.

Wychwood House is the perfect family-sized home in which to put down roots with plenty of room for everyone to ‘do their own thing’ while its peaceful seclusion also makes for an idyllic hideaway that would be perfect for weekends and holidays. Let’s tell you more . . .

All spruced up and ready to welcome you

If you’re hankering for a Cotswolds cottage then Wychwood House is for you! Freshly updated, it’s ready to go and a blank canvas for personalising as desired.

Standing at a right angle to the village road, the property is screened by Cotswold stone walls and beech hedging with parking for three cars on the driveway – the gardens are in front of the house.

A gated pathway leads to the front door which opens, via an inner lobby, into the largest of the two living rooms (14x14ft). This has an original ceiling beam and Cotswold stone open fireplace – it’s a lovely cosy spot for watching TV or relaxing with a G&T after work. 

To the right, via an inner hallway with staircase to the first floor, is a recently modernised shower room which doubles up as a utility room with a sink and storage plus plumbing for a washing machine and tumble dryer.

The focal point of the second living room (15x12ft) is a cream woodburner tucked in an alcove below an oak mantel – being close to the kitchen this room is perfect for family time with the children.

Beyond these a second front door opens into a boot room – the place for shoe racks, coat hooks and lots of mats as country walks often tend to be muddy affairs!

One of Wychwood House’s outstanding features is that every room is blessed with mellow wood flooring - much of it is the original parquet and beech floorboards but the current owners have ensured consistency by installing hardwood flooring where it didn’t already exist.

The current owners are particularly beguiled by their kitchen/diner, a really versatile space for both family meals and candlelit entertaining. They enthused: “With floor-to-ceiling glass this room is bright on the dullest days and when the weather is even remotely warm and sunny, it’s simply bliss!”

With 21ft of space at your disposal there’s loads of room for a nice big farmhouse table and chairs at one end alongside the window wall – and there’s French doors to the paved garden terrace which can be flung open in the summer for al fresco breakfasts, family barbecues and drinks with friends.

The kitchen occupies the opposite end of the room and is fitted with a good range of chic azure blue cupboard and drawer units and a Britannia range cooker. The sink is tucked under a window with a nice view of the garden.

At the far end of the kitchen/diner a door opens into the home office which is plenty big enough for a couple of desks and flooded with natural light via a duo of windows.

And so to bed . . .

Up on the first floor, the principal bedroom is generously sized and a wonderful place to rest your head, complete with bespoke fitted wardrobes and a duo of windows that let in lots of light. The en-suite bathroom is a haven of relaxation with a luxe freestanding bathtub, walk-in shower and linen cupboard.

There are two further bedrooms on this floor, whilst up on the second floor, there’s a lovely big bedroom under the vaulted and beamed eaves with an en-suite toilet and hand basin.

Into the garden . . .

All located to the front of Wychwood House, the garden is a generous but manageable size and laid mainly to lawn – perfect for energetic children to run around and let off steam. There are some mature shrub and flower borders but, for those with green fingers, the garden is a blank canvas for further cultivation as pleased.

There’s an attached single garage with power and lighting and a stone-built storage shed that’s big enough for all the garden tools, mower, bikes and so on.

Round and about

Many aspire to live in Chadlington, and it’s easy to see why with just about everything you could ever need day-to-day there on your doorstep or less than a 10-minute drive away in Chipping Norton.

It’s a friendly, vibrant village with two convenience stores – Chadlington Quality Foods and Café de la Post which, as its name suggests, doubles as a coffee shop and sandwich take-away. On a Saturday evening it metamorphoses into a popular pizza restaurant, eat in or take away, and sells its own Evenlode gin. There’s also the renowned Slatters butchers which has been in the village for more than 100 years.

The local pub, The Tite Inn, is at the heart of the community serving everything from Saturday morning bacon baps and coffee to its famous Sunday roasts featuring 28-day roast beef rump with all the trimmings. You can work up a thirst with a lovely walk across the fields to the pub on a summer’s evening.  Foodie pubs abound in this part of the Cotswolds – The Chequers at Churchill and The Bull at Charlbury are highly rated.

For supermarkets including Sainsbury’s and an M&S Foodhall, GP surgery, a super little theatre and leisure centre with pool, Chipping Norton (three miles) is the place to go. It’s a great little town with lots of independent shops and a brilliant antiques centre.

The local primary school, Chadlington CE, is Ofsted-rated ‘good’ as are the nearest secondary schools, at Chipping Norton and Burford. There’s a choice of private schooling within a ten-mile vicinity too including Kitebrook Prep, The King’s School, Kingham Hill School and Windrush Valley School.

Elsewhere in the village there’s always lots going on and the highlight of the calendar is the annual Great Brook Run, held just after Christmas and involving a one-mile run in fancy dress through boggy fields and up an icy brook! The sports and social club, memorial hall and bowls club are all thriving mainstays of the local community too, as is the parish church of St Nicholas.

Long leisurely walks are a given in the lovely Evenlode Valley, part of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it’s wonderful for cycling and riding too. There are three excellent golf courses in the close vicinity.

For commuters, the A44 offers fast access to Oxford and the M40 while mainline trains zip from Charlbury station (three miles) to London Paddington in about 70 minutes.

THE FINER DETAILS:

Tenure:                         Freehold

Square Footage:           2302 square feet / 214 square metres

Distances:                    London.                        80 miles
Heathrow                     65 miles
Chipping Norton           3.6 miles
Soho Farmhouse           9 miles

Services:                       Gas central heating, mains water and electricity

Trains to London Paddington from Charlbury, Long Hanborough