Flingers Lane, Wincanton

A pretty and characterful Grade II listed detached house just a short walk from the centre of Wincanton. The house offers a wide entrance hall, kitchen, dining room, sitting room, drawing room, library, study and cloakroom, together with six bedrooms, three bathrooms and a dressing room. Outside there is a wonderfully useful detached barn which was the original coach house, private parking for around four cars and the most beautiful garden, wrapping around three sides of the house.

Immediate Area - Wincanton is a proper working market town with a friendly atmosphere and plenty going on. The town has a great selection of independent shops. Coles Yard is a much loved grocery shop on the High Street which sells fresh fruit and vegetables along with organic dry goods, deli products and coffee, and has become something of a social hub for the town.
The are numerous eateries, pubs and coaching inns. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was named after the publication of the eponymous novel in 1852. The garden of the Nog Inn is a delight on a sunny Sunday afternoon and serves uncomplicated pub food. Wincanton Tandoori Takeaway is also excellent we are told.
Further afield in Bruton there is Hauser & Wirth, combining contemporary art, gardens, a restaurant and farm shop. The Newt, formerly known as Hadspen Estate has new landscaped gardens, restaurant, and spa. Osip restaurant at Hardway, is a Michelin starred taste sensation. Higher Farm near Castle Casy, is an exciting regenerative farm with a restaurant, swimming lake and sauna.

For keen gardeners there is Triffids Nursery in nearby Radstock, which offers exceptionally well grown plants. It’s open by appointment but well worth a visit. Otter Garden Centre is just beyond Wincanton Racecourse to the north of the town.

Castle Cary itself is a popular neighbouring market town, with a mainline station offering direct trains to London Paddington.

There is a good choice of primary and secondary schools nearby and the town itself has two primary schools and a secondary school.

The House - There were substantial fires in the Town in 1707 and 1747, so most of the buildings date from after these dates. 10 Flingers Lane appears to have been built prior to the first fire and constructed of local stone beneath a part stone and part tiled roof. When the gate closes behind you and the garden is revealed it is as if you are in the country, yet only two minutes from the High Street. Our clients have extensively but sympathetically restored the house and gardens over the last 17 years. Their attention to detail is clear throughout the house.

Interior - A door to the front takes you into a wide entrance hall with flagstone floor underfoot and the first of many fireplaces. In recent years our clients have thoughtfully arranged the house so that a friend could occupy one half independently. This works very well given there are two staircases and it is split by simply shutting a door in the entrance hall if you so wish. It is a house of two halves that works seamlessly as one.

Beyond the entrance hall, which doubles up as a lovely dining room, is what was the study, now converted into a kitchen/breakfast room for this side of the house. To the right is a small hallway, with stairs to the first floor, leading to the drawing room. The drawing room has a door to the front garden, flagstone floor, a fireplace with a wood burning stove and a built-in cupboard to the side. The drawing room opens up to the library at the rear.

Back across the entrance hall, steps take you down to the sitting room. This is a lovely space with double aspect windows, a door to the front garden, stairs to the first floor with spindles made by the local blacksmith and a fireplace with a wood burning stove.

The sitting room then has a door to the dining room, with the main kitchen off it to the side. The dining room has double Crittall doors taking you out to the garden, another fireplace with a wood burning stove, plenty of space for a sizeable dining table and an opening to the kitchen beyond.

The kitchen has solid wood cabinetry with slate worktops, stone splashbacks, a Falcon range cooker with gas hobs, further built in storage. It extends down to the rear lobby with space for a fridge/freezer and finally the cloakroom before another door takes you out to the garden.

The staircase off the entrance hall takes you to the first floor with two double bedrooms and two bathrooms (one with ensuite). The main bedroom this side has its original wide elm floorboards that are in superb condition. Another flight of stairs takes you up to the two charming attic rooms both with views across the rooftops and beyond.

The second staircase, off the sitting room, leads to two further double bedrooms. The principal bedroom is a beautiful, peaceful room with an exposed chimney breast and three windows overlooking the outside. A dressing room leads off the bedroom and, in turn, to the bathroom serving this side of the house.

Outside - A gate leads of the lane and into the garden of the house. It is here where you immediately forget that you are in a town at all. The mostly walled garden wraps around three sides of the house and really is an oasis of calm.

Our client says of when they moved in - “The garden was totally overgrown, with the odd surviving rare plant indicating that it had once been beloved. In the old WC there was a hand-painted sign which read, ‘Have you washed your tools?’ Well, quite.
Whilst we waited for listed building consent to be granted, we paced out the garden and drew up plans. The form was devised to accommodate some existing mature trees, a Yew and a Chamaecyparis obtusa, a cypress, an ancient apple tree of indeterminate variety and a conference pear. On first breaking ground we smiled with joy; the soil was black and stoneless, an indication of decades of cultivation. If you are a keen gardener, such a discovery is a form of heaven.”

To the front of the is a beautiful gravel terrace, a real suntrap given the house is south-facing. There are well stocked borders with rosemary, roses, box and much more. Steps lead down to the fruit and vegetable area, dominated by an impressive geodesic dome greenhouse. The local blacksmith was used again to create a number of iron framed raised beds and growing arches.

To the side of the house is the main lawn, which again gets the sun most of the day. Doors lead out from the dining room to a concrete and stone outdoor table perfect for alfresco dining in the warmer months. To the rear is a path that leads from the parking, through a gate, past another greenhouse to a small outbuilding which we presume was the old privy.

The Barn - Originally the coach house, this is a really useful building that would suit any number of uses. We think it would be the perfect art or pottery studio but would also suit an office, workshop or even conversion to an annexe (subject to planning). In front of the barn is a good-sized hard standing area with parking for at least four cars.

Services - Mains gas, electricity, water and drainage plus private water, via a well, if wanted.

Local Authority - Somerset Council – Band E

Summary - A detached Grade II listed house tucked away up a pretty lane just off the centre of Wincanton. Set within wonderfully private gardens, you feel a real sense of being in the countryside whilst still being within easy walking distance of everything the town has to offer.