Brook Lane, Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, PE28

VENERABLE AND EXCITING, FORMER FARMHOUSE, WITH NEWLY RIDGED THATCH AND LOVELY GARDENS

A remarkable, Grade II-listed, 5 or 6-bedroom, thatched farmhouse, built between 1590 and 1610, with a later, Georgian extension, which was at one time five cottages, and which is now one, wonderful, wisteria-clad, family home of over 3000 sq. ft. With gorgeous interiors and with the fabric of the house, as well as a third of an acre of delightful gardens, having been lovingly maintained, Thodays, in a quiet country lane of the sought-after Cambridgeshire village of Molesworth, is quite beautiful.

Living in a rural, no through village, most of which is a conservation area and of such special interest that even the K6 telephone box is Grade II-listed, cannot help but create a calm yet inspirational environment in which to raise a family. To think that the legendary USAF 303rd Bomber Group ‘Hell’s Angels’ flew from RAF Molesworth during the war – no planes fly from the base today.

Within minutes of the A14, you can be at Huntingdon Railway Station in 20 minutes, and in London 47 minutes later. Oundle School is just 12 miles, and Kimbolton, another great school, is only 6 miles away. The A14 also takes you speedily the 30 miles to Cambridge, as well as to the M11 towards Stansted Airport.

If you prefer to leave the car in your gravelled drive, the ‘Tiger on Demand’ minibus service can be booked to the market town of Kimbolton and other surrounding destinations, while there should be a school bus service to Hinchingbrooke Academy & 6th Form, and to the Primary School in the adjacent village of Brington – though you can easily walk the children to their lovely little school on a cross-country footpath. A great farm shop is 5 minutes away in Catworth.

Wander along the lane and up to the Grade II*, 13th century Church of St Peter, with its remarkable wall paintings of St Christopher and St Anthony, and to the village hall, which plays an active role in the community, hosting a pop-up pub, tearoom, breakfast club, scout group, pilates and quiz nights. Opposite the hall is a multisport activity area for tennis, 5-a-side football and other games - a brilliant community facility. Moreover, your dog will love to take you on miles of countryside walks straight from your front door. It’s little wonder that only two families have lived at Thodays in over three quarters of a century.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

It’s difficult not to fall in love with Thodays as soon as you set foot in the sitting room, which along with the utility - once the kitchen - is the oldest part of the house, with its cosy open fire and understatedly elegant, relatively recently commissioned, chimneypiece. Beautiful beams and wonderful wall timbers, oak sliding sash windows and French cast iron radiators continue throughout the house. Lovely floors run from old red brick, to quarries, to original stone flags and slate. Take a moment to study the inglenook bressummers for fascinating apotropaic marks. Notice where knives have been sharpened in the stone. From room to wonderful room, there’s something of interest at every turn.

The lovely dining room was added in 1640; with the rest of the house following in 1801, the year of the ‘Inclosure Act’, a major catalyst in the Agricultural Revolution. The kitchen, with its delightful, upholstered stone seating, is unfitted with a Belfast sink, range cooker and gorgeous, bespoke, reclaimed pine furniture, including a peninsular section on castors, to move around as you wish. Linked to the study, the snug was once the village post office, then a bedroom for a relative, next to the stylish wet room, with its Fired Earth sanitaryware, travertine and bespoke shower screen; now it’s a gloriously peaceful place to relax with friends - or just a good book.

Upstairs is just as versatile. Exciting bedrooms are hidden away through rooms that would make great dressing or shower rooms, one being so delightful that even with its low ceiling and even lower door, guests demand to stay there.

Climb the other, wide, staircase to a complete suite of rooms, your main bedroom’s vaulted ceiling, by contrast, high above your head, its charming floor undulating beneath your feet, a cute little window one side, a wrought-iron one on the other that looks very old but is also a recent commission. Original, wide oak floorboards are still in place. Two bedrooms are currently His & Her’s dressing rooms, one with bespoke, limed oak furniture. Wallow in the claw-foot, cast-iron bath, in a bathroom with expensive Czech & Speake taps and bespoke Thunderbox loo seat.

Slide open bedroom windows to the scented garden, with its pretty cherry blossom, lilacs, and mock orange bushes. Like the house, the gardens are full of year-round interest, with rare oak and wild-service trees, crab apple and medlar. Harvest your own delicious greengages, mulberries, walnuts and Czar plums. Birdsong fills the air. Bees busy themselves amongst an array of old-English roses. Relax with a glass of something in the suntrap near the lily pond and enjoy it all.