Castle Barns, Bletsoe, Bedfordshire, MK44

FABULOUS BARN CONVERSION, RECENTLY REFURBISHED, WITH LOVELY PEACEFUL GARDEN

A beautiful, 4-double bedroom, 19th century barn conversion that’s been stylishly refurbished in the last few years. Part of an exclusive ‘90s development of Bletsoe Castle’s farm barns in the heart of the North Bedfordshire countryside, Gig House, has its own as well as communal parking, an attractive car port for two and a lovely, peaceful garden. All on one level, this is a rare ‘forever’ home that’s as perfect for the retired person as for the young entrepreneur, for a family as for a successful single person.

Cycling and walking country par excellence, Bletsoe is nevertheless only about six miles from the County town, its fast trains to London and elsewhere, its music venues, theatres and cinemas, and its world-renowned private schools. The catchment primary school is in nearby Riseley, while the secondary school and another primary school, along with surgery, shops and Mill Theatre, is in the larger village of Sharnbrook on the other side of the A6, the road that takes you to Luton Airport and which gives you access to other major routes.

Your new home once housed the Victorian carriages for the Grade II* Bletsoe Castle, just along the lane, where Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, the first Tudor king, was born, and where the moat is a scheduled ancient monument.

This lovely, little village is rich in history, full of historic buildings. Wander down the lane past open fields to Sunday service at the glorious C13th Church of St Mary, followed, perhaps, by lunch at the C17th Falcon Inn, where the garden runs down to the River Great Ouse. The village hall hosts all manner of events for the friendly community and the playing fields are particularly popular with the children of the village.

If you work from home, Gig House is hard to be beat. If you commute to work, coming home will feel like you’re on holiday.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

A pair of wooden 5-bar gates swing open to the red brick-walled, gravelled courtyard, lovely summer space for morning coffee at the end, an area for charging your car in the middle, raised flower beds to one side, open porch to the other, with its slate roof, terracotta floor, timbers and cast-iron supports – a place to kick off muddy boots, but also a hint of things to come.

Step through into the light-filled, oak floored entrance hall, with its distressed timber cladding and opening glimpses of the living space, and instantly fall in love with your new home. It’s not just that one room has an incredible, vaulted and beamed ceiling, with those eye-catching cast iron columns. It’s that every room does.

The oak floor continues throughout, too. Each bedroom is amazing, from the one with a single window to the stars, where a blind can be closed at the touch of a button to provide total darkness, to your lovely main bedroom, with its bank of bespoke fitted furniture and wonderful timberwork. One bedroom is currently used as an office, the other as a super children’s bedroom, with oodles of space for study and play. But it’s your choice.

And each bathroom is, naturally, gorgeous, with stylish vanities on beautiful, heated, marble floors, and wall tiles that ooze depth and colour. It’s one thing to have such dream, individual relaxation rooms. It’s another to have such a wonderful open space, too, albeit with distinct areas, in which to come together – and to entertain – beautiful, exposed brick walls and double-glazed porthole adding interest to a room that’s already blessed with so much.

Prepare meals on a high-end induction hob where the steam disappears downwards and in a smart oven housed in stylish, handleless, handmade furniture. Breakfast at the huge island. Gather around a bespoke dinner table topped with beautiful, matching quartz. Relax afterwards with logs ablaze in a stove that sends heat all around the house.

Throw open the French doors come summertime to your delightfully peaceful garden. Honeysuckle clambers through the Magnolia and Fragrant Viburnum. Birds flit amongst the well-stocked borders. Pluck a bottle from the wine cooler and follow the red-brick path that winds its way around the little lawns, beautiful lilac arching over the wooden gate set into the old brick wall. And toast your good fortune.