Lansdowne Road, Bedford, MK40

IMPRESSIVE AND HISTORIC VICTORIAN VILLA ON A PRIME BEDFORD STREET – HALF A MILE FROM THE STATION

With well over 3000 sq ft, a beautiful, unlisted, 7-bedroom, late-Victorian detached home, complete with blue plaque, in leafy Lansdowne Road, a sought-after street within the conservation area of the market town of Bedford. A timber gazebo with power, heat and light stands in its lovely garden. The walled front garden and driveway has space for your cars, though every facility and amenity, including the railway station and great schools, is within strolling distance. In a wonderfully quiet and peaceful spot, this was the home of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, the great Antarctica explorer – this is an opportunity to follow in his footsteps.

Around the corner, the former gardens of a large mansion built for a London auctioneer, is now a super pocket park for tennis and for children to play. It was also a sports ground for De Montfort University, which took over many of the Victorian villas of Lansdowne Road, including this one, as student halls, before they were privately refurbished in 2010. It must have been inspiring for students to have lived in the birthplace of Cherry-Garrard, who recounted his experiences as a member of Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in his book “The Worst Journey in the World”, ranked by National Geographic as the greatest adventure book ever written. A first edition, as well as a poignant, framed photo (Cherry-Garrard seated 3rd on the left) comes with the house.

Bedford is the home of education - of the world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools; of the exceptional Free School; of Livingstone Primary, rated ‘Outstanding in Personal Development’ by Ofsted; and, amongst others, of the wonderful Polam School & Nursery – including Swim School - in this very street. And they’re all within walking distance for your children.

Leave your car charging in the drive and walk to the shops; to galleries and museums; to eateries and hostelries; to play and watch sport; to see up-and-coming bands – and names from the past – at brilliant music venues; and to wander around beautiful Victorian parks and along one of the finest river embankments in the Country. An exceptional family home with an inspirational story, in a peaceful area with everything on the doorstep, is quite a combination.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

A pretty silver birch shimmers in the sun in your walled front garden. A magnificent and prolific survivor of a former walnut orchard, complete with silver disc – no. 43 – watches over the gazebo in the peaceful garden at the back, children laughing and playing on the lawn below. Both bird-filled trees look down on beds of roses, sweet-scented Mexican Orange and other bee-friendly shrubs - with the house between.

Take a moment to appreciate the beautiful looks of your new home: the clay-tiled rooflines, with their bargeboards and timber finials; the string courses and other decorative detail; the bays, with their sliding sash windows; those wonderful gable curves; and, of course, the blue plaque set proudly on the gorgeous red brick to the side of the porch.

This was a house built to impress, with its wide front door, tall, corniced ceilings, lovely staircase and rather grand reception rooms. The developer, and Mayor of Bedford, Joshua Hawkins, recognised the need for large houses close to the station for wealthy business owners travelling to London – and for such prominent figures as Major-General Apsley Cherry, the future explorer’s father, who would have entertained extensively and employed several live-in servants. Fascinatingly, framed blueprints come with the house.

Designed with nine bedrooms, you now have one that’s currently used as a study and six that are larger than normal, including lovely, sloping-ceilinged rooms on a top floor that was once the servants’ quarters – they wouldn’t recognise it now – and your super, main suite, with its bath and dressing rooms. The bathrooms, of course, have grown in quantity, size and style since those early days.

As has the hub of the home, which stretches the depth of the house. Prepare meals in the contemporary kitchen, with its extra-thick granite and Neff appliances. Chat to the cook around the island. Breakfast, dine and relax on the sofa with coffee or the latest film. This is where the family can all be together without getting under each other’s feet. And where you can throw open the French doors to the terrace and garden come summertime.

Curl up with a book in front of the fire in the beautifully decorated snug, which was formerly the drawing room. If you want a formal dining room, you have one where a gym currently is and a library once was. It’s your choice. You even have a cellar, where the Major-General kept his wine. Today, pluck a bottle from your wine cooler, toast your good fortune and look forward to many happy family times.