High Street, Turvey, Bedfordshire, MK43

AMAZING FAMILY AND ENTERTAINMENT SPACE IN 19TH CENTURY VILLAGE HOME - WITH SEPARATE INCOME-EARNING COTTAGE

An exciting, 3800 sq.ft. early 19th century family home within the conservation area of the North Bedfordshire village of Turvey, with 5 double bedrooms in total, a sauna and a wing of the house converted from a stone barn into gym, cinema and office space. With a back garden and courtyard parking between the main house and its delightful cottage annexe, which is ideal for Airbnb, Rickally House is quite a find.

Many villages no longer have a pub or a shop. Turvey has two of each, all offering something different, and a post office and butcher’s to boot. The Central Stores a few yards away on the other side of the street is particularly notable not only for having been a great shop for decades, in an amazing old building that was once the Tinker of Turvey Inn, but because it took the name of the shop that used to be in the sitting room of Rickally House.

The magnificent Saxon Church of All Saints stands at one end of the village with Turvey Abbey at the other. Rickally House and other historic stone houses, all with a fascinating story to tell, line the High Street in between. Playing fields, sports clubs and pre and primary schools are within a short stroll, and all manner of village events, including popular amateur plays, are staged for the friendly community at the village hall and elsewhere.

Within the catchment area of the Academy School & Sixth Form at nearby Sharnbrook, Turvey is just a short drive or bus journey from the County town, its world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools, its outstanding Free School and its fast trains to London St Pancras in less than 40 minutes. The village is just 3.5 miles from the market town of Olney, with its supermarkets and antique shops, and about ten miles further on, past the M1, is Milton Keynes, with its shopping centre and railway station, from where you can reach London Euston in just over half an hour.

Look out from the bedrooms of your new home and catch a glimpse of the beautiful countryside that’s awaiting you and your dog, with the River Great Ouse a short stroll away. Rickally House is a wonderful family home set on one of the most interesting, historic High Streets, with an unusual number of facilities on your doorstep and with gorgeous countryside at every turn. And you can enjoy it all while earning an income. This is some combination.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

Full of surprises as well as character, Rickally House is unusually versatile, too, allowing options that will suit your family’s lifestyle to a tee. The chance to create value in the cellar rooms adds to the exciting nature of your new home. And Little Rickally, from its charming front door, with little coffee area just outside, its inglenook fireplace inside, and its beautiful, beamed bedroom with stylish wet room combining tradition and style, is achingly romantic and perfect for earning an additional income – or as an amazing place for guests to stay.

On the first floor of the main house, though, you do have a lovely suite for overnighters, as well as super double bedrooms for children, all with views of the historic street scene or the enticing countryside beyond The Grange opposite. And a bathroom with old fireplace contrasting with contemporary bath. Leaving you with the beamed and vaulted-ceilinged floor above as your own domain.

A bank of windows to the courtyard bathes the kitchen in natural light. Breakfast beneath beautiful beams, the floor, as elsewhere, warm beneath your feet, wonderful wall timbers reaching up to the vaulted ceiling high above your head.

Dine in front of the unusual, cast-iron fireplace, where gorgeous floorboards continue into your lovely sitting room, with its window seat between floor-to-ceiling book shelving and original shutters closing off the outside world. Slump on the sofa in front of the stove, with striking Art Deco lights above which once graced a ballroom in The Big Apple.

Don’t be surprised if teenagers prove popular. A gym to work out in. A sauna to relax in. And an amazing space upstairs in the old barn. Once just for storage, now a fabulous cinema or social room, with beautiful beams, walls lined with timber reclaimed from a Scottish distillery, and a huge, cosy log burner - a great place for working, too.

And in summertime, barbecue on the stone terrace and entertain in the timber gazebo overlooking the pond, the trickle from the little waterfall mingling with the sound of birdsong. Pick your own plums and, on the other side of the clematis-clad arch, pluck eating apples from the old tree in the kitchen garden. Come back from that winter walk straight into the boot room, where the wet room can also be ideal for showering your muddy dog. Rickally House is a super home for every member of the family.