Anchorwood View, Sticklepath, Barnstaple

Sandbanks is a detached bungalow on the outskirts of Barnstaple, and the first thing most people will remember about it is the view from the living room. Beyond the garden fence the fields fall away towards the Taw estuary, with the hills of North Devon rolling off into the distance. Built in recent years, the house has solar panels on the roof, underfloor heating and the remainder of its NHBC warranty still to run.

From the front, white render and slate grey weatherboarding sit beneath a slate style roof, with a block paved driveway leading up to the garage and front door. Young hedging and planting soften the frontage and will only get better as they fill out.

As you step through the front door, a wide L shaped hallway runs through the heart of the home. Every room opens off it, and there's a large built in storage cupboard for coats, cases and the vacuum cleaner.

The kitchen and dining room is where day to day life will happen. White high gloss handleless units run around three sides, topped with pale Silestone worktops, and a Rangemaster range cooker takes centre stage beneath a stainless steel chimney hood and glass splashback. The sink sits under the window, and a run of open shelving gives you somewhere to put the pieces you'd rather have on show. Even with all that storage, there's space for a proper dining table and a couple of sofas. French doors open straight onto the patio, so on a warm evening supper can move outside with very little effort.

Through wide sliding doors is the living room, and this is the room that makes the house. The ceiling is vaulted right up to a fully glazed gable, and beneath it a set of bifold doors folds back to the garden. Sitting here with the doors open, you look across open farmland to the estuary, and the sky seems to fill half the room.

A stove style fire under an oak mantel gives the space a cosy focal point for winter evenings. With the sliding doors pulled back, the kitchen and living room become one large open space for family gatherings, and closed again they give you a peaceful sitting room of your own.

The bedrooms are grouped together at the other end of the hallway. The principal bedroom is reached through its own dressing area, lined with a pair of built in wardrobes, which leads on to a private en suite shower room. A bay window to the front brings in plenty of light. Bedroom two is a comfortable double with its own built in wardrobe, and bedroom three works well as a single, a nursery or a home office for anyone working from home. The family bathroom has a bath, a separate corner shower, basin and WC.

The garage is a genuinely useful size, with a utility area at the rear, a side door to the garden and an internal door into the hallway, so the washing never has to go outside in the rain.

To the rear of the property, the garden is one of the best things about Sandbanks. A level lawn stretches back from the house, fully enclosed by fencing, with nothing but fields beyond. A paved patio runs along the back of the house, and because both the living room and kitchen open directly onto it, it becomes an extension of the house through the warmer months. There's room for a dining set, a lounge suite and the barbecue, with the estuary view as the backdrop. A side gate gives access to the front and a tucked away spot for the bins.

Barnstaple town centre is within easy reach, with its Pannier Market, shops, schools, supermarkets and the train station for the Tarka Line to Exeter. The North Devon Link Road puts the M5 within reach, and the Tarka Trail follows the estuary for walking and cycling towards Fremington, Instow and Bideford. When the weather's good, the beaches at Saunton and Croyde are a short drive away.