Village Road, East Orchard, Shaftesbury, SP7

A handsome country residence with wonderful rural views, extensive & versatile accommodation, outbuildings and delightful gardens.


PROPERTY
Oaklands is a fine detached house with red brick & stone faced external elevations under a tiled roof and is thought to have been built around the time of the First World War. Over the years the property has been altered, improved and extended with single storey additions resulting in the creation of an excellent family home with a lovely feel as well as extensive, versatile
and spacious accommodation which includes a useful separate studio/annexe. Of particular note is the marvellous, far-reaching outlook over farmland and the Dorset countryside.
The well-presented accommodation is arranged over three
floors and lends itself to be utilised, adapted and updated in a
variety of ways. The property is accessed via an entrance porch and lobby to a welcoming tessellated tiled reception hall which leads to the double aspect sitting room with a woodburner, a library/study with a Morso woodburner and doors to the triple aspect garden room. A charming family room has a bay window to the front, Morso woodburner and an archway to the fitted farmhouse style kitchen which in turn is open to the south facing dining room which has an Alpha range and leads on to a storeroom. Also on this level is a cloak/wet room, rear hall with a secondary kitchen area, utility/boot room, walk-in larder and a store.
Upstairs on the first floor are four well proportioned double
bedrooms all of which have either an en-suite bath or shower
room and two of them have access to their own roof terraces
overlooking the garden with views beyond. The second floor
has two double bedrooms, both with eaves storage space, and a shared shower room. Although a sizable property, with its solar panels and air sourced heating, it is a relatively cost-efficient one to run. For a number of years, Oaklands was run as a successful bed & breakfast business.

OUTBUILDINGS
Oaklands benefits from having a number of outbuildings which include a detached annexe to the rear of the house comprising a hall, kitchenette and shower room at ground floor level and stairs leading up to a studio/potential bedroom with a balcony overlooking the pond. Set back from a parking area is a two bay oak framed car barn.
The good-sized barn includes an implement garage/store,
general store and a woodstore with an adjacent greenhouse.
Attached to the house and accessed via a covered area is a
useful workshop which could be converted into an office or
studio or be incorporated into the main living
accommodation, possibly as an annexe.

OUTSIDE
The property has extensive grounds amounting to around 0.82 of an acre and won the accolade as the Dorset Wildlife Friendly Garden of 2018. These include areas of lawn, well stocked and established flower, shrub and rose borders, a magnificent iron framed wisteria walk, open and covered seating areas, an ornamental pond (not in use), small vegetable garden, wild garden and a variety of mature and ornamental trees. A particular feature is the large, attractively landscaped pond with a wooden jetty and large summer house from which to enjoy the garden’s diverse flora and fauna.

SITUATION
Oaklands is located off a country lane in the small rural hamlet of East Orchard and is surrounded by the glorious countryside of North Dorset’s Blackmore Vale, famous for its gently undulating dairy farmland. The charming market town of Sturminster Newton is just 4.5 miles away and known for its picturesque stone bridge and mill on the River Stour. It has a good range of independent shops, a supermarket, primary and secondary schools, doctors’ surgery and traditional inns.
The Saxon hilltop market town of Shaftesbury, famous for the steep cobbled street of Gold Hill, and Blandford Forum with its fine Georgian architecture, both offer further shopping and educational options as well as cottage hospitals. The nearest railway station is at Gillingham (8 miles), which has mainline services to London (Waterloo) and the West Country.
The local road network gives ready access to the other towns in the area including Bath, Dorchester, Poole, Salisbury, Sherborne, Warminster and Wincanton as well as to the South Coast whilst the A303 trunk road, linking with the M3 motorway, makes London accessible for the motorist. There are several well-respected private schools in the area including Sandroyd, Port Regis, Clayesmore, Hanford, Bryanston, Canford, Sherborne, Downside and Milton Abbey.
East Orchard is an ideal base from which to explore the beautiful countryside of North Dorset and for a variety of rural pursuits such as walking, riding and cycling as well as traditional field sports. There are golf courses at Blandford, Salisbury, Tollard Royal and Warminster with racing at Bath, Salisbury and Wincanton and sailing at Poole Harbour. There are many places of interest to visit in the locality such as Old Wardour Castle, the Longleat Estate, Sherborne Castle, Stourhead Gardens, Wilton House and Kingston Lacy.

TENURE
Freehold.

SERVICES
Mains water and electricity, private sewage treatment plant, air sourced heating supplemented by oil fired Alpha range and solar panels.

LOCAL AUTHORITY
Dorset Council.
Council tax band F

EPC
D (55) - Please refer to the agents for the complete certificate.

BROADBAND
Wessex contracted speeds: Download 250Mbps, Upload
125Mbps.

VIEWINGS
Strictly by appointment with Rural View.