Football Green, Minstead, Lyndhurst, Hampshire, SO43

A gate at the foot of the garden opens directly onto open New Forest grazing land and beyond it, the horizon belongs to ancient woodland, free-roaming ponies and the timeless quiet of Minstead. This is not a view you see every day but it is a landscape you step into, morning or evening, with nothing between you and the Forest but a five-bar gate.

Wheatleys is a substantial and characterful detached house occupying a generous plot on one of the New Forest's most coveted small greens, offering deceptively extensive and wonderfully varied accommodation across two principal floors, all within easy reach of Lyndhurst, the M27 corridor and the South Coast.

Approached from Football Green across a gravel driveway with off-road parking, the house presents an attractive covered entrance porch, bay-fronted reception rooms and a Velux-lit roofline.

The impression on entering is immediately one of scale and of considered living: a well-proportioned entrance hall leads to a sequence of reception rooms that together form a very flexible ground floor arrangement.

The sitting room is the social heart of the house and a dual-aspect room of real presence, stretching from a feature stone fireplace housing a wood-burning stove at one end to a pair of French doors at the other, where tree ferns and a terrace give onto the garden and the pastoral view beyond.

Double opening doors connect this room to the snug/reading area with double aspect windows, while a separate family room to the front of the house offers further reception space with both rooms overlooking the green to the front. The dining room is accessed via a door from the sitting room and boasts twin Velux skylights, multiple windows to the front and generous proportions.

The kitchen/breakfast room has been fitted to an impressive standard with a two-tone shaker-style suite with an abundance of quartz worktops, an oak-trimmed central peninsula, and a suite of integrated AEG appliances including a double oven, combination microwave oven and an induction hob beneath a stainless-steel extractor. Furthermore, there is a fitted dishwasher, wine cooler, pull out pantry cupboard and bespoke corner unit. A flanking chimney breast houses a cast-iron wood-burning stove and is flanked on either side by full-height glazed dresser cabinets with internal lighting, a genuinely beautiful feature in an already beautiful kitchen.

The breakfast area comfortably accommodates a round dining table and flows seamlessly through to the sitting room via a further arched opening.

Another archway leads to a well-fitted utility room with matching cabinetry, mosaic-tiled splashbacks and space for a washing machine and tumble dryer with a door that opens separately to the garden. A further door leads through to an impressive sized utility storage space and houses the pressurised hot water cylinder.

The ground floor is completed by a study and a cloakroom with a fitted vanity unit, WC and window looking over the side access.

Upstairs, the landing is wide, light and generous and serves four bedrooms on the first floor.

The principal bedroom is a particularly fine room, with a pair of French doors with side panel windows opening onto a Juliette balcony from which the garden, the meadow and the Forest beyond unfold in an uninterrupted sweep.

A door leads to the en suite shower room which is a beautifully appointed space with large-format tiling, a full-height frameless glass shower enclosure and a pedestal basin with chrome fittings.

A dedicated dressing room across the hallway with fitted rails and shelving completes the principal suite.

The second double bedroom to the front of the house has a bay window overlooking the wonderful green with fitted wardrobes.

A third and fourth double bedroom both benefit from fitted wardrobes. These are served by the family bathroom which offers a panelled bath, a separate corner shower cubicle, a pedestal basin and WC.

On the second floor, you will find further attic rooms arranged as bedrooms, each with Velux roof windows and useful eaves storage. These provide excellent flexibility as additional bedrooms, a home office or hobby space.

Outside, the rear garden is a genuine delight. Lawned and richly planted, it is bordered by well-stocked beds and framed by mature trees, with a stone terrace providing an ideal setting for outdoor dining.

A timber log store and a painted Dutch-barn style outbuilding provides a substantial storage space and workshop. A versatile addition that could readily serve a range of purposes, from home office to studio, while the five-bar gate at the rear boundary leads directly onto the open grazing land of the Forest the property's most extraordinary attribute, and one that simply cannot be replicated. To the front, the house is sheltered from the green by a picket fence and a characterful mature magnolia, with a personal cattle grid and drive providing off road parking.

EPC RATING: Current ~ TBC Potential ~ TBC

COUNCIL TAX BAND: G

SERVICES: Mains water and electricity. Private drainage.

HEATING: Oil fired central heating.

BROADBAND: Ultrafast up to 1800mbps download (Ofcom)