Bowridge Hill, Gillingham, Dorset

A fine period farmhouse with land in a quiet yet accessible position boasting far reaching views. Dating from 1737 the natural stone farmhouse is very well presented offering 3 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a huge garden. Outside is an excellent range of outbuildings including a wonderful stone barn with potential (stp), workshop and 3 fields, in total 11.02 acres.

Situation - The property sits in a stunning elevated position, enjoying far reaching views over Gillingham and the Blackmore Vale, as far as Hardy’s monument in South Dorset and the Mere Downs in Wiltshire.

Bowridge Hill is a small cluster of houses and farms on a quiet country lane to the north of Gillingham town. The town boasts a full range of facilities, including supermarkets, a leisure centre and a highly regarded secondary school. Communication links are excellent, with a mainline railway station, the A303 4 miles away, regional airports at Bournemouth and Bristol and Henstridge airfield 8 miles away for private aviation.

The area is renowned for its private schools which include Port Regis, Sandroyd, Clayesmore, Kings Bruton, Bryanston and the Sherborne Schools. Retail and recreation in Salisbury and Bath both within a 45-minute drive and the Dorset Jurassic coat within an hour. Golf courses at Rushmore Park and Wincanton, three horse racing courses nearby and the Theatre Royal in Bath.

The Farmhouse - Dating from 1722, this traditional Dorset Farmhouse is constructed of local stone elevations under a tiled roof and offers spacious and well-proportioned rooms extending to over 2500 sq.ft and boasting a wealth of character features including a greenstone fireplace, flagstone floors and exposed beams.

The farmhouse was substantially updated in 2010 with works including shotblasting of walls, re-roofing, new timber windows, re-wiring and plumbing, and the sun room added. The practical accommodation, with no less than 4 ground floor external doors, is shown in the floorplan.

Standout internal features include the following: -

•Farmhouse kitchen with island unit, triple plate Aga and extensive solid wood cupboards
•Vast inglenook fireplace in the Dining room with fabulous greenstone walls, bressummer, bread oven and inset woodburner
•Cosy sitting room with fireplace and inset woodburner
•Sun room with flagstone floor and full width folding glazed doors to the patio and lawn
•Master bedroom suite with dual aspect windows to enjoy the views, vaulted ceiling and ensuite shower room

Outside - The farmhouse sits centrally within its grounds enjoying vast level lawned gardens on the south and west elevations. The main feature of the lawns has to be the breathtaking views to the southwest and north. To compliment this are brick and paved patios, a variety of mature garden trees including sweet chestnut, pear, apple, copper beech, ash and fir trees, a rockery, a water feature and old iron double gates and staddle stones.

To the rear of the house is a large gravelled and concrete courtyard with plentiful parking space.

The Farm Buildings - Without doubt the feature barn is the 90ft long stone barn which offers scope for a variety of uses, subject to any necessary consents. With a loft over part and fairly sound stone walls, roof timbers and slate roof, the ground footprint is an impressive 1,750 sq.ft (163 sq.m).
Other buildings include:
•A general purpose steel frame barn, open on 3 bays and 1 bay is a workshop
•The old parlour building with stone and block walls and a lean-to currently used for parking and storage
•Former cubicle shed used for storage and could be a footprint for a replacement building.

The Land - Three fields of pasture land complete the property. The level and gently west facing fields have relatively free draining Grade 3 soil, mature hedgerow boundaries, a separate road access, a small pond and mains water troughs.

Bowridge Hill Farm extends in total to 11.02 acres (4.46 hectares).

Services - Mains water and electricity.
Private septic tank drainage.
Oil fired central heating including ground floor underfloor heating.

Local Authority - Dorset Council Tax Band E.
The house has a Certificate of Lawfulness granted in 2022 confirming non-compliance with an agricultural occupancy condition that was transferred to the house in 1993. See agents for further details.

Tenure - Freehold with vacant possession on completion.