Crystal Palace Park Road, Lawrie House, SE26

Set on the ground floor of Lawrie House on Crystal Palace Park Road, this one-bedroom modern garden flat extends to around 745 sq ft, with a huge 25 ft 9 in open-plan kitchen/living room, a 17 ft 5 in bedroom and a private rear garden measuring approximately 41 ft long. Offered to the market with no onward chain, off-street parking and a long lease in the region of 117 years.

The main living space is the obvious place to start. At around 25 ft 9 by 12 ft 6, it has enough room to create proper sitting, dining and working areas, and the current owners have done exactly that. There is a large corner sofa at one end, a full dining table in the middle and a desk beside the window, with plenty of open floor space between everything.

The kitchen runs in a long line along one wall, with simple white cabinetry, dark worktops, a gas hob, integrated oven, dishwasher and tall fridge/freezer. The green wall behind it adds some colour without dominating the room, and keeping the kitchen to one side leaves the rest of the space wonderfully open.

At the garden end, a broad section of glazing and a glazed door bring in plenty of natural light and give the room a direct connection outside. The doors open onto a paved terrace with room for a proper dining table and chairs, so in summer it becomes a very easy place to eat outside, have friends over or sit with a coffee without having to carry everything halfway through the building.

The garden itself extends to approximately 41 ft, there is a paved section immediately outside the flat, followed by lawn and established planting around the boundaries. It is enclosed and pleasantly green, with enough space for seating, pots, planting and a barbecue, while still being straightforward to look after.

Back inside, the bedroom measures around 17 ft 5 by 9 ft 10 and is another excellent-sized room. There is plenty of space for a large double bed, wardrobes and drawers, and the current setup also incorporates a proper desk at the far end. For anyone working from home, that gives you a choice of where to put a workspace without compromising the main living area.

The bathroom sits just off the entrance hall and is finished in pale neutral tiling, with a walk-in shower, pedestal basin, WC and heated towel rail. There is also a full-sized window bringing in natural light and ventilation.

Location-wise, this is a particularly useful stretch of Crystal Palace Park Road.

Sydenham Gate into Crystal Palace Park is around 0.1 miles away, so the park is only a couple of minutes from the front door. That puts around 200 acres of open space within very easy reach, with the lakes, dinosaurs, paths, sports facilities, maze and concert bowl all close enough to become part of normal life.

Brown & Green is over towards the Penge side of the park for coffee, breakfast and lunch, while the Crystal Palace Park Market runs every Sunday, with street food, bakery, deli produce, wine, beer and a rotating collection of independent traders. It is very easy territory in which to go out for a walk and accidentally return carrying sourdough and something you definitely did not leave home intending to buy.

Transport is excellent too, with several stations within walking distance.

Penge West is around 0.3–0.4 miles away, giving you Windrush line services alongside trains towards London Bridge. Penge East is around 0.4–0.5 miles away with direct trains into Victoria, while Sydenham and Crystal Palace stations are both approximately half a mile from the flat.

That gives you a useful choice depending on where you are heading: London Bridge and the City work well from Penge West or Sydenham; Victoria from Penge East; and the Windrush line gives straightforward connections through Canada Water, Whitechapel, Shoreditch and onwards towards Highbury & Islington.

For everything closer to home, you sit neatly between Penge and Sydenham.

Sydenham Road has the useful everyday shops alongside a growing collection of cafés, restaurants and independents, while Penge gives you another full high street, Maple Road and places such as Craft Metropolis and The Bridge House.

Head through the park in the other direction and you reach Crystal Palace, with the Triangle’s restaurants, pubs, independent coffee shops, vintage stores, galleries and Everyman Cinema. Haynes Lane adds the Saturday Crystal Palace Food Market and vintage market, so between that and the Sunday market in the park, the weekend food situation is fairly comprehensively covered.

Parking - Off street