Thornham Magna, Suffolk

An attractive Grade II listed 16th-century house with partially walled garden and studio, situated within this well-regarded village.

Situated within this well-regarded rural village, Lambs Farm House is a fine Grade II listed home, believed to date back to the early 16th-century and built of traditional timber-frame construction under a reed thatched roofline.

The property has been a much-loved home of the present owners for almost 50 years, and during that time has been well-maintained and lovingly restored, cleverly enhancing the original fabric with bespoke high-quality detail and improvements throughout.

The original features are particularly notable, to include a wonderful, exposed timber frame, Tudor arches and carved bressummer, inglenook fireplaces, mullion windows and attractive period internal doors.

The accommodation is arranged over two floors, extending to around 2,300ft2 with well-proportioned rooms and a high degree of natural light comprising entrance hall with tiled flooring access to a laundry and shower room. The kitchen and breakfast room are fitted with traditional base and eye level units with marble worktops, twin Belfast sink with wood drainer, integrated two-drawer dishwasher, pamment floor and space for breakfast table and dresser, and fireplace.

The sitting room is a wonderful, elegant reception room, with tiled floors and underfloor heating, red-brick fireplace with carved wood mantel and door to the front entrance. The dining room enjoys a double-aspect, with inglenook fireplace and attractive frame.

There is a study/garden room with windows and glazed French doors to the rear garden as well as a ground-floor double-aspect bathroom with underfloor heating, with traditional freestanding ball-and-claw bath, low level WC and pedestal wash basin.

The stair hall features storage and a beautifully hand-crafted staircase leading to a first-floor landing. The four bedrooms are all of good size, with double-aspect overlooking the gardens, with three having their own storage and wardrobes.


OUTSIDE
Lambs Farm House is approached from the village lane onto a long gravelled driveway, with turning space and its own garage. There is an adjoining outbuilding to the house, with workshop/garden store leading through to a studio/garden room with wood-burning stove. The garden has an original well, together with computer-aided water irrigation system.

SERVICES
Mains water, drainage and electricity • Electric underfloor and storage heating • Council Tax Band – Mid Suffolk Band ‘F’ • Broadband: Ofcom suggest Superfast 80Mb • Mobile: Ofcom suggest all providers likely.

LOCATION
Being originally part of the Thornham Estate there are well established businesses and amenities that serve the village. The Forge Cafe and Beyond the Wall (a disabled gardening project in the Estate’s Walled Garden which is open for coffees and lunch a couple of times a week), compliment the Four Horseshoes public house for dining as well as the fine dining experience that is The Bull Auberge. There are over 12-miles of way-marked walks on the doorstep as well as two child's play areas, an allotment, bowling green, 12th Century church, hairdresser, art gallery and workshops, cricket pitch, weekly park run, and fishing lakes. There are two Ofsted outstanding primary schools and one secondary school within three miles. Being almost equidistant from Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Norwich and only six miles from the mainline station of Diss with twice hourly trains into London Liverpool Street; and just over an hour to Cambridge and less than an hour to Southwold, Aldeburgh, the wide open East Anglian coastline and The Norfolk Broads this property really does offer a wealth of opportunities for exploring the area.

LISTED BUILDING ENTRY
House. Early C16, stack inserted early C17, extended early C19, altered C20. Timber frame, plastered. Half hipped thatched roof. Small 5 bay, 3 cell cross passage plan, altered to lobby entrance. Always 2 storeys throughout. Lobby entrance to left of centre with a boarded architraved door, C19 gabled trellissed porch with cusped bargeboarding, C19 and C20 3-light glazing bar casements, 2 lights to right or service bay. Traces of panelled pargetting with zigzag patterning survive. Axial ridge stack towards left inserted in parlour. To rear left a clay lump and pantiled lean-to addition. To rear right early C19 red brick and clay lump, pantiled 2 storey service addition with a door towards front, further 1 storey addition. Interior: close studding, hall has stop chamfered cross axial binding beam, chamfered mid- rail, restored 4-centred arched door heads to screens passage, a single 4- centred arched headed chamfered dorway to service end with trimmer joist for original stairs, 3 and 4-light diamond, square and rectangular mullioned window openings, chamfered 4 centred arched gauged brick fireplace to stack replacing original smoke hood, reduced parlour has a stop chamfered cross axial binding beam and storey posts. First floor: arched braces to open truss, reverse curved arched bracing in closed trusses and in walling, chamfered tie beams, always ceiled. Crown post roof, square posts with cranked arched braces to collar purlin, downward cranked braces to tie beams, a gap for original smoke hood.