Royston Road, Wendens Ambo, Saffron Walden

This exceptional converted Victorian school, dating from 1881, offers a characterful family home which has been carefully reconfigured to meet all the needs of modern family life, while being set within one of the region’s most sought-after and well-connected villages.

The Old School House retains a wealth of original features from when the building first opened as a school on 25th April 1881. It was converted into a residential dwelling in 1947 and has been masterfully improved and extended by the current owners during their 22-year tenure at the property. The house is typical of Victorian architecture, finished in red brick with steeply pitched roofs, ornate gables and decorative 19th century windows. This house is an attractive feast for the eye with its ivy and hydrangea-clad facades, ornate brickwork and walled gardens. Typically for a school conversion it sees spacious rooms and plenty of natural light, peppered with cast-iron fireplaces, original Victorian tiles and awash with original features which will make it attractive to the most discerning of buyers.

Accessed via a public bridlepath leading to a sweeping driveway, the imposing property sits on one of the highest points of the village and has views over the surrounding rooftops to rolling countryside beyond. The centrepiece of the home is its incredible, vaulted kitchen which was refitted by the current owners using Knight’s Kitchens of Clare in Suffolk. Set within the kitchen is a wonderful 76 foot deep well, which has been turned into a feature with a reinforced glass top and spotlights which allows you to see right down to the water at the bottom. The kitchen has been perfectly designed for entertaining and has bi-fold doors out to the walled courtyard garden and a large bespoke-built kitchen peninsula. The kitchen leads to a spacious utility room and downstairs loo as well as a laundry room, which was carefully reconfigured by the current owners from a previous outbuilding and the original school loos which were previously in place. From the kitchen is also a charming breakfast room. Formerly the headmistress’s office, this cosy room has space for a farmhouse table and has the original Victorian chequerboard tiles and polished wooden floorboards, as well as an oil-fired Aga dating from 1947, which makes the room warm as toast in the winter months. This room then takes you to the rest of the house via a hallway. The hallway leads to a smart formal dining room, currently painted in the deepest of red colours, and which makes for an excellent entertaining area. From here is the formal drawing room which was originally the main school room. This light-filled room sees high set windows, typical of school conversions, and has double doors onto the garden. Painted in a pale neutral, it has made a wonderful room for Christmas gatherings and is one of the most eye-catching spaces at the property. This in turn leads to a cosy snug with a woodburner, and a rear hall with coat storage.

Upstairs the house has a split landing with one double bedroom to the front which has magical views over the rest of the village and to the church. To the other side, a further two large double bedrooms overlook the side of the house with the bridal path beyond. There is also a family bathroom with a cast-iron bath which dates from 1881, but which has been re-enamelled, as a focal point and an original cast-iron fireplace. There is also an additional spacious shower room which has floor to ceiling tiles and charmingly still has the bellpull for the school bell which is set on the side of the house over the courtyard. The fourth double bedroom with views overlooking the rear of the garden and open fields can be located adjacent to the shower room.

Outside, the garden is divided into three main areas. To one side is a spacious lawn which was previously a tennis court, and which has two storage sheds as well as a large outbuilding, currently known as the ‘man cave.’ This provides a brilliant party room, or could even be converted into a separate annexe, subject to planning permission. This part of the garden also sees a range of raised vegetable beds where the owners are currently growing rhubarb, asparagus, potatoes, broad beans, garlic, broccoli and peas. Immediately to the rear of the house and the courtyard is a pretty terrace, complete with a raised pond which is teeming with pondlife and a rose and clematis covered pergola. From the pergola is another large lawned space which is bordered by an original wall and has a designated sunken seating area where it catches the sun throughout the day. This would originally have been the school playing field and now is bordered by stunning flower beds planted with cowslips, daffodils, alliums and plenty of perennials. To the front of the house is further lawn and an idyllic pathway which leads down onto the road, known as the ‘woodland path.’ To the rear, the gardens at The Old School House back onto open countryside, bordering the Audley End estate, and offering incredible walking over miles of fields and woodland.

There is also an underground double garage.

Viewings - By appointment through the Agents.