Water Stratford, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, MK18

An overview of The Old Rectory, Water Stratford Cont

A Victorian enclosed gabled porch with windows and encaustic floor tiles opens to the entrance hall with the main staircase with plain balusters and a moulded handrail. An open fireplace has a period marble surround with foliate console brackets. A door opens to the dining room and doors to the drawing and sitting rooms are accessed via an archway. To the left of the entrance hall is a front hallway which opens to an area with a secondary staircase to the first floor and a door accessing steps down to the 21 ft. long brick-lined cellar with the two (less than five-year-old) boilers. Steps up and a walkthrough access another lobby with doors to the wet room and the kitchen/breakfast room, which then opens to the study, the boot room which leads into the utility room, and the conservatory. The conservatory leads to the family room, as does the kitchen. Upstairs, the family shower room, bathroom and five double bedrooms, one with an en suite bathroom, lead off the first-floor landing.

Ground Floor

Kitchen/Breakfast Room

A feature of the ground floor is the open plan, part-vaulted kitchen/breakfast room which overlooks and has French doors to the rear terrace. The entire space has French stone tiled floors and the breakfast area has room for a table seating up to ten people and a bespoke wooden dresser which will remain. The kitchen area is fitted with handmade pine base and wall cabinetry with granite worksurfaces and upstands. There is a central island with matching but painted storage beneath, with a butcher’s block and a granite worksurface with an inset ceramic sink, and an electric hob. Another one-and-half butler’s sink is under a nine-paned window overlooking the garden. A five-door, oil fired AGA is housed in a fireplace with a mantle over. Integrated appliances include, an oven, a microwave (both Bosch), two Miele dishwashers, a separate full-height fridge, and a full-height freezer. A door accesses the walk-in over 9 ft. square pantry with a window and traditional slate shelves.

Boot Room, Utility Room, Shower Room

The kitchen area accesses the over 15 ft. by over 9 ft. boot room which has a slate tiled floor, a window overlooking the side, and an external stable door. There is converted built-in storage with a solid wooden worksurface and an inset Belfast sink with space beneath. The long wall has ample coat hooks with space below for boot racks and there is access to boarded storage space above. This room opens to the utility room, which again has a window over the side and a butler’s sink set in a wooden worksurface over storage, with space and plumbing for appliances. There are built-in bespoke floor-to-ceiling cupboards with shelves and hanging space; the floor has stone tiles.

Study/Playroom, Lobbies, and Wet Room/Cloakroom

The study leads off the kitchen/breakfast room which would also make it a convenient playroom. It has a casement window overlooking the drive, built-in bespoke floor-to-ceiling shelving, and a cupboard with shelves above. Next door, again with a door off the kitchen, is a lobby with a stone tiled floor and a Victorian gothic door opening, with a step down, to the drive. An extension of the entrance hall can be accessed from a door from the breakfast area or up a feature wooden step repurposing original house timbers which passes beneath an arch. This area has a door to a contemporary wet room, also with a window over the drive, and an automatic light. It has a tiled walk-in shower area enclosed by glass screens, a modern hanging vanity unit with a basin, and a WC.

Conservatory

Leading conveniently off the kitchen area is bespoke conservatory at the rear of the house, currently used as a further dining area. Built in 1990 on a stone base (externally), it has a vaulted ceiling with fitted window and ceiling blinds and painted casement windows. Measuring over 17 ft. by over 13 ft., it has French doors opening to the rear terrace and French floor tiles; a glazed door leads to the family room in the old part of the house.

Family Room

The last of the eight doors leading off the kitchen/breakfast room, opens to the family room (also accessible from the conservatory), which was originally the kitchen. Measuring nearly 16 ft. by over 15 ft., this room has a double casement window overlooking the terrace and a walkthrough to an area accessing the secondary staircase to the first floor and the door to the cellar. There is partial tongue-and-groove panelling to dado height under the window, and an original open fireplace (not in use) with a York stone hearth and a classical but simply moulded surround. To the left of the chimney breast is an original arched cupboard with double doors and internal shelving; there is moulded cornicing as in all the ground floor reception rooms.

Drawing and Dining Rooms

The main two reception rooms in the back of the house are similar, both measuring over 21 ft. by nearly 19 ft. and accessed from the entrance hall via deep door recesses with moulded surrounds and matching period panelled doors. Overlooking the rear garden, both rooms have similar walk-in, floor-to-ceiling canted bay windows with the original and working wooden shutters. The dining room has a panelled ceiling and window seats in the bay. It also has a built-in classically detailed dresser to the right of the chimneybreast and an open fireplace with a 19th-century marble surround with console brackets and a hooped grate above a marble hearth. The drawing room has a later plaster ceiling rose and an open fireplace with a Victorian gothic marble surround which includes a marble bordered hearth. In this room the panelling beneath the windows is continued by notably high moulded skirting boards.

Sitting Room

Accessed via a walkthrough with an elliptical arch above, the nearly 15 ft. by over 13 ft. sitting room has a full-height niche beneath a further decorative elliptical arch and built-in alcove bookshelves to one side. There are two double casement windows overlooking the drive with wooden shutters and two sets of panelled, built-in cupboards on the lefthand side housing fuse boxes. There is an original brick open fireplace with a classically moulded surround and a brick hearth. A structural beam bisects the ceiling, its moulding matching the cornice.

First Floor

Due to the layout of the galleried landing, a circular flow is possible (a delight for small children). The main staircase directly opens to bedroom two, and leads via three steps and under an arch to an inner landing with the principal bedroom, its en suite Jack and Jill bathroom, and bedroom three. The landing then leads round the front (past a window overlooking the drive), and under an arch accessing a short passage to the family shower room and bedroom four. A door then opens to another passage with the family bathroom and bedroom five. This passage can also be reached from the secondary staircase. The landing has a cupboard and a later ceiling rose.

Principal Bedroom Suite

The principal bedroom measures over 17 ft. by over 14 ft. It has a panelled ceiling, a sash window overlooking the garden with wooden shutters and panelling below, and a range of bespoke, classically detailed built-in floor-to-ceiling wardrobes. A door leads to the three piece Jack and Jill en suite bathroom which has a sash window over the garden and includes a free-standing roll top bath with clawed feet and an oval Roca wash hand basin set in a painted period chest of drawers with a marble top.

Four Double Bedrooms

Also overlooking the garden and with similar sash windows as the principal suite, bedroom three, measuring over 17 ft. by over 11 ft., overlooks the garden and has built-in floor to ceiling bespoke wardrobes and drawers along the southwest wall. Bedroom two – over 16 ft. by over 15 ft. – has two windows overlooking the front and a built-in wardrobe as well as a pedestal basin, in keeping with the Victorian casement windows. This room, in common with many of the restored rooms in the property, has column radiators. Bedrooms four is 12 ft. by over 11 ft. and has a casement window overlooking the front. Bedroom five, measuring nearly 16 ft. by over 9 ft. is at the rear of the house and has a sash window overlooking the garden and picture rails.

Family Bathroom and Family Shower Room

The three piece family bathroom has a bespoke wooden dresser with a Victorian style hand basin set in the marble top with cupboards below and above, and a flanking mirror with a light. It also includes a free-standing roll top bath with claw feet, a WC with a raised cistern, and a heated towel rail. A corner cupboard houses a hot water tank with an immersion heater. A casement window overlooks the flat roof of the kitchen wing with the date of the extension visible in expertly worked relief leadwork. Outside the bathroom is further loft access. The family shower room has a casement window over the front, a slate tiled floor, and Fired Earth wall tiles. Enclosed by a glass screen is a power shower operated by a pump; there are a corner basin and a WC.

Outbuildings

Old Stables Annexe

The stone under clay L-shaped Victorian stables, now an annexe, has a side door to the utility room and a front door into the kitchen/breakfast room. The utility room has two windows and a ceramic sink set in fitted storage units. A door leads to bedroom one with double French doors to the front and a modern en suite shower room. This bedroom leads to the kitchen/breakfast room with a wood effect floor and gothic arched casement windows overlooking the front. It has fitted full-height cupboards and base units with a Corian worktop and a stainless steel sink. Integrated appliances include an induction hob, an oven, and a dishwasher. The vaulted over 28 ft. long sitting/dining room has a window and double French doors to the front, exposed beams, an open brick fireplace, and triple built-in floor-to-ceiling cupboards. The two further bedrooms are vaulted with exposed beams, one has a window at the front, the other has a window, French doors, and an en suite Victorian style bathroom.

Garaging

Attached to the utility and shower rooms at the southwest end of the Old Stable is an open, clay tiled barn with three vaulted, open bays with timber supports, used for garaging. At the rear are three similarly-sized over 11 ft. deep period brick storage sheds. The first houses the boiler and pump room for the swimming pool, the central shed has a worksurface with an inset sink, and the third is used for garden storage. At the far end of the Old Stable, attached to the en suite bathroom, is a ‘gardener’s cloakroom’ with a stainless steel sink set in a worksurface and a separate WC.

Stable Block

Towards the rear of the garden, behind the swimming pool, is the timber stable block comprising two stables, an open hay store and a tack room. It has a pitched roof with an overhang, a concrete floor, and water and electricity connected. Near the yard are raised vegetable beds.

Swimming Pool and Tennis Court

Within sight of the kitchen window but sunk below the level of the lawn and retained by stone walls, is the swimming pool. Approached by a flight of stone steps, it has a York stone paved surround and the southwest side of the pool is enclosed by a wall partially obscured by yew and box topiary. There is a protective, over 9 ft. square clay tiled varandah at the far end of the pool, which has timber supports over a slate floor. Beyond the pool, the two-storey timber Wendy house, and the stable block is a hard tennis court. This was resurfaced in 2020, and has a net-fenced enclosure; it is partially sheltered by nearby trees.

Grounds

Front and Rear Gardens

Electronically operated gates open from the village to a gravel drive with parking for numerous cars. This drive passes the front doors of the main house, the covered garage area, and the entrance gate in the stone wall enclosing the Old Stable’s courtyard garden. There is a metal gate to the rear garden on the church side. Immediately below the house are formally planted shrub beds; the drive is bordered by deep, planted beds with a circular area of lawn and mature trees. The established rear garden is mainly laid to lawn with steps between the two levels. It is planted with mature specimen trees and overlooks the paddocks beyond. Adjacent to the rear of the house are a patio and a terrace paved with York stone flags. The garden is enclosed by clipped yew hedges, notably around the church, or by a variety of indigenous hedging, including beech. There are formally structured herbaceous borders with pergolas, rose arches and lavender hedges, which are articulated by more (truncated)

Paddocks

Separated from the garden by traditional estate fencing are three paddocks which, combined with the garden, make up the 10 acres. These paddocks are bisected by a river and are bordered by indigenous hedging with farm fences and mature trees. In the wildflower meadow nearer the garden is a notable mature oak tree and there are more recently planted immature trees with protection from deer.

Locality

Water Stratford is a village of period stone buildings and a close community north of the River Great Ouse. It has traces of a Roman road and was cited in the Domesday Book. There are numerous walks in the surrounding wooded countryside. The restored 12th-century St Giles Church, adjacent to the property, retains early features, notably the Norman south door. The village shares the shop, post office, village hall and public house of nearby Tingewick (1.6 miles). Local primary schools are in Finmere and Fringford; further schools, including the Royal Latin School (grammar) are in the historic market town of Buckingham (3.2 miles), which has amenities such as shops, a Waitrose, doctor and dental surgeries, a library, buses to Milton Keynes, Aylesbury, Bicester and Oxford. Independent schools include Stowe, Tudor Hall, Bloxham, Rugby, Winchester House, and Beachborough. Good road connection via the M40 and MI place Oxford, Milton Keynes and the Midlands within easy reach.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Services: Mains electricity, Mains Water and Mains Drainage Local Authority: Buckinghamshire County Council Council Tax: Band H EPC Rating: E