Main Street, West Ilsley, Newbury, Berkshire

The Old Rectory is believed to date from about 1842 and is a fabulous period country house set in beautiful grounds in the middle of the village. The property benefits from stylish and contemporary interiors, with elegant, well proportioned rooms and high ceilings, typical of a house of this period.

The front door opens into a large reception hall which leads through to an inner hallway with an impressive staircase to the first floor. All the main reception rooms are centred around the hallway, creating an excellent flow, and ideal for entertaining. The drawing room has an attractive open fireplace, and a beautiful bay window with large sash windows overlooking the formal gardens and filling the room with natural light. The dining room, study and family room all have French doors opening out to the terrace and gardens, and the library also has a wonderful outlook to the rear. The fantastic kitchen/breakfast room is well fitted with a range of smart bespoke cabinets, a central island and an Aga range cooker at the kitchen end, with plenty of space for a large dining table and seating area beyond. Stairs lead down to the cellar, and the kitchen conveniently adjoins both the utility room and boot room, leading in turn to a cloakroom and boiler room beyond.

Upstairs there are six good sized bedrooms, four bathrooms and a separate WC on the first floor, including the fabulous principal bedroom suite with a large en suite bathroom and dressing room. A secondary staircase leads up to the top floor where there is a further bedroom and bathroom.

There is additional accommodation in the barn comprising a party room, kitchen, shower room and mezzanine studio.

The property is set in over 6 acres and the beautiful gardens are mainly laid to lawn, with a wide, south-west facing terrace running along the back of the house, ideal for outside entertaining and enjoying the views across the garden. Smart clipped lawns with attractive stone steps extend up towards a post and rail fence and the paddock beyond. To the side of the terrace a pretty path flanked with herbaceous borders leads through to the swimming pool with a secluded partially walled terrace on one side. This in turn leads to the all-weather tennis court. The grounds behind the swimming pool and tennis court slope upwards and offer fantastic elevated views of the house and grounds, and the beautiful countryside beyond.

In addition there is a double garage, store and potting shed, and a timber framed stable block with three stables and a tack room.The property is approached through an electric 5-bar gate across a gravel driveway leading to a turning circle in front of the house. There is also a second entrance which comes in past the stables up to the back entrance, where there is plenty of parking for several vehicles.

West Ilsley is a sought-after West Berkshire village, just to the north of Newbury on the beautiful Berkshire Downs, surrounded by fabulous rolling countryside providing fantastic walking and riding opportunities direct from the property and along the nearby Ridgeway trail. There is a thriving local community, and a popular pub, The Harrow, in the village itself, and a well supported cricket club. Neighbouring East Ilsley lies approximately one mile away, and nearby Newbury, Wantage, Hungerford and Pangbourne offer a wide range of local amenities catering for most daily needs.

The village is highly convenient with easy access to the A34 linking with Didcot and Oxford to the north and the M4/London and the west country, to the south.There are mainline stations at both Newbury and Didcot providing fast train services into London Paddington on a regular basis.

There is a wide choice of highly regarded schools in the area including Elstree, Cheam, Bradfield College, Downe House, Radley College, St Edward's and Abingdon School.