Willington Road, Cople, Bedfordshire, MK44

INDIVIDUAL, LATE-30S, FAMILY HOME, BACKING ONTO NATURE RESERVE, WITH A SUPER KITCHEN EXTENSION

Standing apart from its neighbours, a distinctive, 4-bedroom home, with open-plan living space that’s perfect for family life, and with a lovely garden from where a gate leads straight into a nature reserve. Having grown with its families from its 1938 beginnings, and with plenty of gravelled parking space, as well as an integral garage that could, if you wish, perhaps be incorporated more fully into the home, it’s little surprise that it is a wrench to ever move from here. Indeed, Brampton House, in the Bedfordshire village of Cople, which is only minutes from the County town, has apart from the builder only ever had two owners.

Your new home is well-placed for travelling, between 4 and 5 miles equidistant from Bedford and Sandy Railway Stations, from where fast trains reach London in only 40 and 48 minutes respectively. Just minutes away is the A421, which takes you the 12 miles to the M1, or the 4 miles to the A6 and onto Luton Airport, which is less than a further 20 miles. Cambridge is only about 25 miles away, too.

Not only is Cople so close to all the facilities and amenities of the county market town of Bedford, with its world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools, the outstanding Free School and Bedford Academy, the catchment secondary, but you can walk the children to their little Shearhatch primary school in the village itself. Both primary and secondary schools have been rated ‘Good’ in all areas by Ofsted.

The sports and social club, cricket club and playing fields are also within walking distance. And you can wander to the much-loved local, the 17th century Five Bells, with its open fire and huge beer garden that welcomes children and dogs alike. Your dog will also love to take you out of the back gate into the nature reserve, or just a few yards along the quiet road into the fields. Cople combines countryside, convenience and community in abundance.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

Set well back from the road, with honeysuckle tumbling over the front fence, beds of California lilac and Mexican Orange Blossom around the drive, and a young, dappled willow in the corner preparing to put on a show, Brampton House draws the eye with its distinctive, clay-tiled rooflines and timbered gable above its bays.

Mr and Mrs Wooding, the couple who bought it from its original builder, loved their home so much that they lived here for 55 years. There’s been only one other family since, and they have renovated and extended the house to suit 21st century living - without losing its immense character.

The staircase, with its lovely wooden handrail and square balusters, has been lovingly restored, in an entrance hall illuminated by natural light dancing through the quarry-tiled, porch and pretty, stained-glass windows of the original front door. A super shoe bench and coat stand has been fitted in the inner hall beyond the staircase.

Pleasingly, the original picture rails and doors, with their quintessential Art Deco ‘one o’er three’ design are still in place, upstairs and downstairs. Tasteful light fittings hang from tall ceilings, operated from lovely toggle switches.

The Woodings would be amazed at the space that you now have, at the stylish bathrooms, designer radiators and lovely bedrooms. Wake up to views of the nature reserve at the back or the pond and woods at the front, the owl swooping between, the kingfisher contrasting vividly against the beautiful weeping willow taking centre stage in the garden.

The original sitting and dining rooms are now one, with cosy open fires and with the lovely bay window at one end and open to the kitchen at the other - you could, of course, install Critall-style steel and glass dividing doors if you wish, without losing the open feel.

Either way, the living space flows through the kitchen, with its Shaker-style, solid wood-topped, painted furniture and an island designed both for breakfast and for cooking with a view of the garden; and into the coffee and dining areas, flooded with light through sloping ceilings high above your head. And extending out through French doors to the terrace in summertime, and to a gravelled path that leads between the lawn and sweet-scented lavender, herb and pretty flower beds, to another place to eat al fresco. Relax with a glass of something in the hot tub and enjoy it all.