Westbourne Gardens, Hove

* Guide Price £1,400,000 - £1,450,000 *

Offering space and style in abundance, this five-bedroom semi-detached villa in Central Hove is ideal for families and professionals looking for their forever home by the sea. Sitting in a hugely popular location, this deceptively spacious and beautifully maintained house is both peaceful and well connected to the city. Renowned as a family friendly and fashionable location, the residents here have easy access to some of the cleanest beaches on the coast, as well as some of the best schools and there are many amenities and foodie pubs to enjoy within walking distance. Hove, Aldrington and Portslade commuter stations are also equidistant, so you get the best of all worlds here.

As a semi-detached property holding a corner position, the garden wraps around the house with mature trees and plants creating an attractive space to return home to each day. Quintessentially Victorian, the house bears the architectural features of the era with sash bay windows and decorative plasterwork mouldings on its white façade, bathed in light from the west. A traditional path leads to the main front door which opens to a long and welcoming entrance hall with a line of sight through the depth of the house to the magical rear garden. The scale and beauty of the house become apparent, and it is clear the current owners have a refined eye for interiors, using colour and texture to create superbly styled spaces ready for the modern lifestyle. Period features have been retained and restored throughout each spacious reception room on the ground floor, with wood floors, cornicing and ceiling roses adding character, paired with contemporary and heritage wall colour.

Facing west to receive warming afternoon light through a wide bay window, the sitting room offers a space for relaxation in the evening, particularly in winter for cosying up alongside the open fire. The limestone fireplace mantel takes centre stage with an Art Nouveau cast iron insert pairing perfectly with dark wood floorboards and slate-grey walls.

Next door, the second reception room offers versatile usage as a sixth bedroom, sitting room snug, formal dining room or a generous home office for two. It is light and airy with a second bay window on the northerly elevation; frosted for privacy from the street. Bespoke cabinetry sits built-in to the alcoves provides useful storage and shelving for ornaments or books.

Spanning the rear of the house, natural light streams into the open plan kitchen and dining room from the east. Traditional Shaker units sit below solid oak worktops to echo the tone of the rustic wood floors, while a Smeg range cooker, a dishwasher and washing machine have been integrated alongside a butler sink, leaving space for a tall fridge freezer. There is space for a large family kitchen table in here for formal dining which can spill out to the garden during summer via French doors.

Facing east but with a southerly aspect, the garden is bathed in sunlight and is a fantastic size for somewhere so close to the city centre. Beautifully landscaped, raised and rendered beds bring colour, scent and privacy to the borders with taller trees and plants bringing some welcome dappled shade during high season. While it is leafy and green, the ground is paved, making it relatively low maintenance for those with busy lifestyles. A side gate makes it easy to bring bikes, buggies and sandy/salty paws through to the rear garden rather than traipsing through the immaculate house.

Returning inside, striped stair runner rises to the first-floor galleried landing where bedroom four sits to the rear of the house enjoying dual aspect leafy views over the garden. Next door, the family bathroom has a modern take on a period scheme. Patterned floor and brick wall tiles are a nod to the era of the house beside and below a freestanding roll top bath, while a second WC is separate – ideal in any shared space.

Bedrooms two and three are generous double rooms painted in restful, carefully considered tones colour drenching the walls and woodwork features. Built in wardrobes maximise their floor spaces which have ample room for king size beds and several pieces of freestanding bedroom furniture. Bedroom five is a roomy single – ideal as a home office or nursery as it sits next door to the larger bedrooms.

Elevated higher on the second floor, the peaceful principal bedroom suite is vast with a full width dormer ensuring headroom is never compromised. Parquet flooring in warm wood tones is paired with cool grey walls, while the glamorous en suite adds a pop of colour in Farrow & Ball’s Arsenic green to complement gleaming black oblong wall tiles around the shower. From the Velux windows you see only treetops and sky which allow for stargazing as you drift off to sleep.

Vendors’ Comments: - “This has been a wonderful home to renovate and then enjoy entertaining in with our friends and family. Each room has a unique character and the natural light throughout the house is stunning. The garden becomes a beautiful summer extension of the kitchen and dining room – and is incredibly peaceful and private for somewhere so central. We love to sea swim, so it is a blessing having the beach at the bottom of the road, then in summer, we walk along the prom into the city for an evening out. As commuters, the train station is an easy walk on the flat, or the A23 is easy to access by car. We no longer need so much space, but we will miss our time here.”

Education: - Primary: West Hove Primary, St. Andrew’s CofE
Secondary: Hove Park, Blatchington Mill, Cardinal Newman RC
Sixth Form Colleges: BHASVIC, Newman College, Varndean College
Private: Brighton College, St Christopher’s School, Brighton Girls, Lancing College

Good To Know: - Sitting in West Hove with Hove Lawns and Beach nearby, this incredible period home is perfectly located for families and professionals alike. There are several award-winning restaurants, gastropubs and wine bars nearby on Church Road – and many more in Poets Corner – and Central Brighton with its theatres, museums and North Laine Shopping District is only 20 minutes on foot (10 mins by bus) along the coast. The local schools, both private and state, are amongst the best in the city and transport links are excellent with Hove’s commuter station just 10-minutes away and buses to whisk you throughout the city and beyond, stopping close by.
Hove Lagoon is home to many water sport activities and there are beach saunas dotted along the coastline, plus sea swimming has become the favoured past time with locals – much like it was in the 19th Century when ‘sea bathing’ put Brighton on the map as the place to visit for its health benefits.

Brighton & Hove continues to offer some of the most prime housing in the country outside London, so this house will be appeal to those looking to move away from the Big Smoke to live a peaceful yet luxurious life, close to the countryside and the coast.