St Johns Road, Moggerhanger, Bedfordshire, MK44

FORMER FARM BUILDINGS NOW A LOVELY, ENERGY EFFICIENT FOREVER HOME

A 19th century brewhouse and barn combine to become a delightful, easy to maintain, energy efficient home, with 2 of its 3 lovely double bedrooms downstairs. With a superb studio summerhouse in its Mediterranean-style garden and a garage that has scope for other uses, The Brewhouse is set around a former farmyard with just a handful of other gorgeous homes in an exclusive community, tucked away off a quiet street within the Bedfordshire village of Moggerhanger.

Formerly part of the neighbouring parish of Blunham, Moggerhanger is close to both the rivers Ivel and Great Ouse and is surrounded by glorious walking and cycling country. Yet the village is eminently commutable, being little more than a couple of miles from Sandy Station from where fast trains reach London in 48 minutes. The fastest trains to the capital from Bedford Station, just 7 miles away, only take 40 minutes and there’s a regular bus service to both towns. Luton Airport is less than 30 miles, Cambridge just over 20. At home in the Brewhouse, it’s easy to forget that you’re just minutes from major roads such as the A1.

The village has its own, highly thought of, little primary school, rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, with the catchment secondary in Sandy and the world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools less than 20 minutes away in Bedford.

Moggerhanger’s village hall hosts all manner of events and groups, and the Church of St John the Evangelist is also at the heart of the friendly community. Willington Danish camp on the River Great Ouse is a short cycle ride away. As well as lovely countryside walks, villagers have access to the wonderful wood and parkland of the Moggerhanger Estate, landscaped by Humphry Repton.

Meet friends for coffee and cake at the Orchard Tearooms, while children can play at the woodland playground. Pick your own fruit, veg. and flowers at The Secret Farm, a 10-minute stroll away. And just a few hundred yards from your new home, the 18th century country pub, The Guinea, is particularly popular for its Sunday roasts and great beer.

A stylish home full of character, close to facilities and major road and rail links, yet in a lovely, peaceful spot - it’s a fortunate new owner indeed who secures The Brewhouse.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

Butterflies flutter over Verbena, Penstemons, Alliums and rosemary on a gravel bank dotted with rocks, a row of upright sleepers, groyne-like, adding to the coastal feel - and whatever the strains of the day, it’s impossible not to feel calm and relaxed coming home to The Brewhouse.

Not only is your new home hugely attractive, with its beautiful brick and weatherboarding - and take a moment to appreciate the wonderful colours of its old clay tiles - but it’s fascinating for its history. Its origins are as an important part of the Moggerhanger Estate’s Manor Farm, which was owned by the Thornton family, cousins of William Wilberforce and prominent in the British movement that ended the global slave trade.

Yet the part of the house where ale was brewed for the harvest workers was standing in a slightly different place. It was rebuilt in 2017 to join onto the barn, each brick being cleaned and re-laid to replicate the original courses and corbel detail. It’s now your lovely, oak-floored sitting and dining room, with its original beam and stylish Nordpeis log burner, and the superb, vaulted-ceilinged bedroom suite above, where you can fall asleep beneath the stars.

And where once the cows were housed, you have another gorgeous, beamed and vaulted-ceilinged bedroom for those who wish to sleep downstairs – the sloping ceilinged third bedroom is an extension to the barn – as well as the main bathroom and a stylish, handleless, quartz-topped kitchen built around sophisticated pull-out interiors and high-end appliances, including a Neff induction hob with flexible zones and integral downdraft extractor.

Just as a stable door leads to a Mediterranean-style garden at the front, the stable door at the back opens to another, a slate path passing the wonderfully scented Daphne and the striking Spanish dagger, to the garden studio, with its double-glazing and French doors – a super place to work from home.

As at the front, the garden is designed to be easy to maintain, grasses rustling in the breeze, fragrant herbs growing amongst the gravel and slate chippings, bees enjoying the beautiful white flowers of the evergreen star jasmine – a perfectly peaceful garden in which to relax with a glass of Rioja rosé on a summer’s evening. Inside and outside, your new home is utterly delightful.