IMPRESSIVE VICTORIAN FAMILY HOME, IN PEACEFUL SPOT OF THRIVING RURAL VILLAGE

A strikingly attractive, unlisted, 6-bedroom home, with double garage, possible annexe, driveway parking for several cars and about a quarter of an acre of gardens front and back. Within the conservation area of the historic, Bedfordshire village of Riseley, and with 3000 sq. ft. of space, light and character, Laburnum House, stands, peacefully, within a short stroll of the church, school, shop and pub, not to mention lovely countryside, and it's little surprise that this is the first opportunity for over three decades for any other family to live here.

Riseley is just minutes from the A6, far enough away to escape main road traffic noise, yet close enough for quick access to Rushden in one direction, with its Waitrose supermarket and Rushden Lakes shopping destination, and the county town of Bedford in the other, with its world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools and fast trains to London in 40 minutes. Luton Airport is just over 30 miles away.

Kimbolton School is only six miles across country, while the catchment secondary school and 6th Form is less than a 5-mile bus or cycle ride to Sharnbrook. How lovely, though, to be able to walk younger children, across the old brick bridge over the brook, to their little primary school less than a mile away within the village. Moreover, both Sharnbrook and Riseley schools have recently been rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ in all areas by Ofsted.

Pick up provisions at the village stores, meet friends for coffee at the delightfully named Giddy Goat Community Café and for dinner or just a leisurely pint at the Fox & Hounds, and wander along the lane to Sunday service at the wonderful, Grade I-listed, 12th century Church of All Saint’s. The village hall just down the lane hosts all manner of clubs and societies, with the playing fields, cricket pitch and play park alongside. Unusually, you even have a small police station here.

Grow veg. on an allotment set within the community meadow and, as well as your own garden apples, harvest different varieties in the orchard near the church, where over a thousand orchids also grow; and from where your dog can take you on miles of lovely countryside walks across fields and through woodland. Riseley is a great village for all the family.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

While modern housing has allowed Riseley to continue to flourish by adding demand for its facilities and amenities, the historic buildings with which the village is well-blessed, are a constant reminder of its heritage. Yet even amongst these, Laburnum House stands out.

Built in 1850 of Riseley brick, in distinctive chequerboard-style, both walls and clay-tiled roof have decorative features that only add to the eye-catching nature of your new home. No doubt, day to day, you’ll use the side door, through the lobby, where floor-to-ceiling cupboards ensure you’ll never be short of storage space.

Yet you’ll be proud to welcome visitors through the beautiful, wide, original front door, its leaded lights picking up the cute, little window set into what was once the external back wall, at the other end of the entrance hall past the gorgeous wooden staircase,

Laburnum House has evolved through three different centuries, its unusual rooflines telling the story of a home of modest beginnings being substantially added to soon after it was built, then extended again at the end of the 20th century and once more at the beginning of the 21st.

The substantial home it is today still oozes Victorian charm, with beautiful, original internal doors, floorboards and fireplaces. Its wooden sash windows are all now double-glazed, draft-proofed and slide effortlessly. Its original two bedrooms have tripled, including your huge main bedroom, and the vaulted-ceilinged bedroom over the garage, with a shower room below, that guests love, teenagers dream of, and which could be part of an annexe, or used for AirBnb.

Today, the house is full of flexible space, height and natural light, which pours into the study and to the dining and sitting rooms, both of which look out through beautiful French doors over the front garden, and towards the 300-year-old, former Red Lion pub and the Old Schoolhouse built just two years before your new home. And, once the cosy, winter woodburners die down and the summer’s sun comes up, yet another set of French doors, this time in the hub of the home, where you can cook, breakfast and relax with coffee, can be flung open to eat, drink and be merry on the terrace. And to a lovely, southwest-facing garden, which is a delight to the child with a ball, as it would be to the green-fingered garden designer. A super family home!