Clifton Road, Newton Blossomville, Buckinghamshire, MK43

GORGEOUS, RENOVATED COTTAGE, RE-THATCHED, WITH PEACEFUL GARDEN AND AGA KITCHEN

An adorable, 18th century, 3-bedroom, thatched and clay-tiled cottage, with a summerhouse in its delightful garden that would make a super place to work from, and with a pantiled garage that could, perhaps, become an integral part of the home. Finch Cottage stands in the heart of the Buckinghamshire, riverside village of Newton Blossomville, alongside other lovely homes that have formerly played a huge part in village life, and has been renovated from top to bottom, with a fabulous, 30-amp AGA in its super, new, granite-topped kitchen.

Within cross-country walking distance of Bedfordshire’s Turvey, with its pubs, butcher’s, village stores and post office, as well as Buckinghamshire’s market town of Olney, with its numerous eateries, antique outlets, supermarkets and independent shops, not to mention a surgery, pharmacy and optician, Newton Blossomville has everything close by, despite being in the middle of wonderful countryside.

Glance at a map and it’s as if major roads were designed to leave the village in peace yet within easy reach to allow quick access to the M1, 8 miles away. Milton Keynes Shopping Centre is only 3 miles further on. For fast trains to London, you have a choice of Bedford, also just 8 miles away, or MK, from where you can reach the Capital in little more than half an hour. Luton Airport is just 30 miles from your front door.

Within the village itself, the Reading Room, hosts regular events and societies for the friendly community, from garden to arts clubs, WI to Harvest Festival. The 11th century Church of St Nicholas also plays a central role in the community, and The Old Mill Inn has reopened to the delight of villagers, as well as those from further afield who have already stayed there. Moreover, the village has its own primary school rated by Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.

To have all this in such a small village is one thing. But you can also wander across the lane and into fields with your dog, or pop down to the beautiful River Great Ouse for a swim or a paddle downstream, keeping your eyes open for otters. A lifestyle that rivals only the cottage itself for being delightful.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

Between tall beech and yew hedging, a stunning Gingko tree behind ‘Upper Finch’, the lovely summerhouse in which you might even set up your desk, watches over blossoming lilac and ‘La Paloma’, with aubrieta spilling over the low stone wall towards wild primroses springing from the lawn. David Austin roses vie for attention in scent and beauty, not least the Gertrude Jeckyll over the arch and the Shropshire Lad climbing the cottage walls.

A few moments in this gloriously peaceful and private cottage garden, perhaps with coffee on the little stone terrace or a glass of something on the seat at the top, the air alive with birdsong, and you might think that your new home was named after your tuneful feathered friends.

Not so! The Finch family lived here for decades, with William Finch, at only 21 in 1851, running the Old Mill pub across the lane with his 17-year-old wife, Harriet. They already had a baby and would go on to have nine, at the same time as running the village stores in Finch Cottage - from the outside you can see the hinges affixed to the window frame, from where the shop shutters probably hung. Harriet was still running the store at 82-years-old, and the cottage was in Finch family hands until 1960.

Its quintessential English country cottage looks have been thankfully preserved and its extension and restoration lovingly carried out in keeping. The roof trusses and thatch have been entirely replaced, and lovely, bespoke furniture installed in the bathroom, and in the kitchen, where the dovetailed timber drawers, beautiful granite, Belfast sink and AGA are top of many a person’s wish list. And where the old dresser coalescing happily in the new kitchen embodies everything about your new home.

Wake up in sweet bedrooms to views over that delightful garden or to countryside beyond the Manor Farm’s blossoming orchard. Any child given the little bedroom, as well as the attic room to hang out with friends, would think it a dream. Both rooms make great studies, too.

Come back from a winter walk by the river to logs ablaze in the stove of your cosy sitting room, with its pretty window seats. In summertime, draw back the Colefax & Fowler curtains and fling open the French doors to the garden, as well as those beautiful, glazed doors in the original back wall between the kitchen’s dining area and your wood-floored sitting room. A cottage home for all seasons, with which you cannot help but fall in love.