Cattistock, Dorchester, Dorset, DT2

Honeybrook House has a lovely, edge of village position, set back from the quiet village lane as it enters the southern side of the village and looking out across a beautiful stretch of open, lush countryside. It was built in 1883 as a guest house for visitors to the local Cattistock Hunt, whose pack of hounds live at the hunt kennels just outside the village. As such it was built to a high specification both for comfort and to impress and is a lovely example of a traditional family house of the period with walls of local stone and mellow red brick, a Welsh slate roof with deep eaves and an attractive, rendered front. The front of the house faces east with the principal reception room facing south. This orientation allows natural light to flow through the house providing a wonderfully light and airy feel. It is not listed and has retained many of its original architectural fittings including sash windows with working shutters, tall skirting boards, coving, moulded door frames and extensive timber floors. The house was sympathetically extended in 2004 creating two large, adjacent rooms at the back of the house: a large kitchen/breakfast room and a south-facing sitting room with exposed roof timbers, a fireplace fitted with a wood-burning stove, French windows opening onto decking and views of the church tower. The house has been the home of the current owners for twenty years and clearly has been much loved and well cared for over that period. One of the most recent improvements is the installation of an impressive kitchen/breakfast room incorporating base units including a central island equipped with a double Belfast sink, gorgeous pale granite work surfaces and a range of built-in electric appliances. There are three further reception rooms, one of which currently serves as an additional bedroom while another is a separate dining room. Upstairs off a well-lit, split-level landing are three double bedrooms. The principal and its twin across the landing face east thereby catching the morning sun, with the third bedroom in the roof space of the rear extension. This latter bedroom is entered via a walk-through dressing room that could serve as an occasional bedroom if required. Overall, there are three family bath/shower rooms in the house: one on the first floor and two on the ground floor, one of which doubles as the laundry/utility room.

Outbuildings & garden

The house is approached off the passing lane via twin wrought iron gates opening onto an attractive resin parking area with space for about four cars. Beside the parking area is a single garage. The garden surrounds the house and amounts to about a quarter of an acre. At the front behind dwarf walling surmounted by wrought iron railings is a formal garden encompassing a rose and shrub border split into quarters by paved paths that allow all areas to be easily reached. A pedestrian access gate opens onto a path leading to the front porch, which is flanked by bay trees carefully pruned into balls. The main area of formal garden extends out from the decking that fringes the southern side of the house, where the lawn drops gently down to a brook running along the property's western boundary. Alongside is an attractive garden shed and on the opposite side of the lawn a bank that is planted with a variety of shrubs underplanted with bluebells that provide a wonderful pale blue carpet in very early summer. The lawn extends around the back of the house and out beyond the parking area, where it feels like a woodland due to the fringing trees and shrubs. Overall, the house enjoys a good degree of privacy from its neighbours due to a mix of shrubs, close-boarded fencing and tall beech hedging.

Honeybrook House is situated in the pretty and sought-after village of Cattistock, which is set in unspoilt, hilly countryside about ten miles north west of Dorchester. The village is a self-contained and thriving community with a parish church, pub (The Fox & Hounds Inn with a children's play area opposite, shop/post office, village hall, tennis club and cricket club (see Maiden Newton has more amenities including a primary school, GP surgery and railway station linking to Dorchester, Bath and Bristol. Most day to day needs can be found in Dorchester and Yeovil, which are both within easy reach offering a wide choice of shops, local businesses and supermarkets including Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisson's. There are good nearby travel links too. The A37 is only about two miles away, Yeovil Junction Station, which is about 20 minutes by car, has direct services to Waterloo taking about two and a quarter hours. In addition, Bournemouth, Exeter and Bristol Airports are all just over an hour's drive away. The local area also offers a fantastic choice of schools from both the state and independent sectors. In addition to the primary school in Maiden Newton there are two more in nearby villages, which all feed into the highly regarded Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester for state secondary education. Local independent schools include Sunninghill, Leweston, Perrott Hill, the Sherborne schools and Milton Abbey.