New Road, ASCOT

On a fine, summer’s day, Alison might well take her laptop into her beautiful Ascot garden so she can work in her outdoor dining hut. “I love it outside here because it is so peaceful,” she admits. “The house backs onto woodland which means it is tranquil and there are lots of birds and other wildlife.” Since moving to the house, the sizeable garden has been her great passion. “I have had it completely opened up and landscaped,” she explains. “I added a large patio and the dining hut, which is now one of my favourite things about being here. It is a lovely place to have dinner parties or to sit and work at my laptop on fine days. On warm evenings I can sit out there and hear nothing but the occasional owl. I will really miss it when I leave.”

PERFECT HOME

It was three and a half years ago now that Alison moved into the semi-house, which dates back to 1930. “I loved it as soon as I saw it,” she remembers. “It had the space I was looking for and had recently been completely renovated – everything in it was brand new, from the kitchen to the bathrooms. It had all been completed to a high standard and I like the style.” She continues: “The kitchen in particular was enormous and I knew it would be brilliant for parties, which it has been!”

A WARM RECEPTION

Set back from the road and featuring driveway parking, the property is entered via a reception hall. This leads to a ground-floor cloakroom and the snug or sitting room, with its bay window to the front. “This is a cosy room where it is nice to sit and watch television. There were double doors between this and the kitchen. I have sealed them up, as I like to have the separate spaces and wanted to create more of a snug, but new owners could open them up again very easily if they wanted to have one large open-plan space for entertaining.”

STYLISH KITCHEN

The capacious kitchen breakfast room sits to the back of the house, where it has French windows onto the garden. It has been cleverly designed to feature a generous food preparation and storage area, with a peninsula, as well as space for dining and relaxation. “It is a modern kitchen, with ample room for a table that can seat up to eight people,’ Alison explains. “There is also a sofa in there – it is such a comfortable place to be that we tend to spend much of our time in there. It is ideal for family life and for entertaining.”

COMFORTABLE BEDROOMS

The three bedrooms are all on the first floor of the cottage. “They are all good sizes,” she says. “Mine is a large double, with built-in storage and an en suite shower room, and it has leafy views over the garden towards the woodland. The other bedrooms have worked well for us too – even the smallest one has plenty of space for my son, who is at university, to come home and set up his computer.” The family bathroom is also at this level. Either of the guest bedrooms could also be set up as a study for someone wishing to work from home. Equally, it could be possible to build an office or studio if the garden, if new owners wished.

A QUIET LIFE

New owners could also consider adding a gate from the garden into the woodland, as others in the area have done. “People living here are also entitled to a key to the Great Park,” she says. “There are lots of wonderful walks there and elsewhere nearby. I like to walk from here around Ascot Racecourse and back before work every day; this is five kilometres in total. Then, if you continue on, you get to the high street, where there are shops, restaurants and everything else you need. We are also close to the train station.” Alison hopes to remain in the area when she moves. “I have really enjoyed living here,” she agrees. “The road itself is very attractive, with an eclectic mix of very different properties, from small cottages up to large houses, and it is a very peaceful place to be. I will miss the tranquillity greatly when I leave. I think it will be hard to find somewhere as quiet as this.”