An extended period property, immaculately presented, stands in the popular village of Harby, on the very western edge of Nottinghamshire, and is a masterful blend of the old and the new. The perfectly orientated house provides 5 double bedrooms, 2 ensuite and a family bathroom upstairs whilst the ground floor has copious amounts of freely flowing spaces including a large entrance hall, a sitting room and study, a huge kitchen dining living room, a utility room and splendid orangery. The garden is spectacularly landscaped and links perfectly with the house.

Lincoln is about 20 minutes’ drive east, so too Newark to the south with its fast train services to London and elsewhere, and the A1 directly west. The well served village of Saxilby is only 5 miles north which also has a train station with many connections.

• An immaculately presented, extended period property
• A lovely combination of old character and stylish modernity
• 16 solar panels on rear, south facing roof
• Underfloor heating in entrance hall, orangery and main bedroom
• Impressive entrance hall, 2 sets of double doors into kitchen/living room
• Over 24 ft. square kitchen dining living room
• Fitted kitchen with granite worktops
• Rangemaster Nexus range-style cooker with gas hob
• Log-burner and 2 sets of French doors onto patio
• Triple aspect orangery with bi-folds and French doors onto garden
• Inner hall with staircase
• Dual aspect sitting room with overhead beams and log-burner
• Dual aspect study with beams and cast iron period fireplace
• Pantry and extremely well-appointed utility room
• Downstairs WC
• 5 double bedrooms, 2 en-suite
• Quality, 100% lambswool carpets
• Large, fully fitted family bathroom with roll top bath
• Excellent amount of built-in storage throughout property
• Beautifully designed and landscaped, sizeable, mature garden
• Moon gate, raised pond, patios, decking, lawn, hedges and topiary
• Summerhouse which could be ideal separate office, gym or studio
• Generous, gravel, front drive with parking for several cars

Location

Harby is an attractive village about 7 miles west of Lincoln and 12 miles northeast of Newark. The area is excellent for sought after schools, even the village has its own primary school. There is also a refurbished, award-winning pub - the Best Dining Pub 2023 - The Bottle & Glass, and a village hall with an outreach post office twice a week and a playing field with sports pavilion, all within an easy walk from the property. Well-served Saxilby is just 5 minutes by car to the north providing a wide range of amenities such as a medical centre, a sports centre and a well-connected train station.

Doddington Hall & Gardens are a 5 minute drive where there is an excellent farm shop, café and restaurant. About 30 minutes away is Clumber Park as well as the Dukeries, whether after spa treatments, golf or country houses and gardens to explore. Historic Lincoln has plenty to offer with its cathedral and castle high on the hill, the popular, quaint Bailgate shopping area, indeed, everything you would expect from a major city, including a train station with direct trains to London taking around 2 hours. Newark Northgate station (20 mins) also has direct fast trains to London which take 73 minutes, meaning a commuter could be in central London in around an hour and 40 minutes.

Schools

The Queen Eleanor Primary School is in the village, rated Good by Ofsted and is a feeder school into co-ed Tuxford Academy rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Tuxford is about 12 miles away or 20 minutes by car although there is a school bus which collects from the village, so too others into Lincoln for The Priory Academy LSST (about 10 miles) also rated Outstanding and William Farr C of E Comprehensive about 15 miles away. In the private sector, the extremely highly regarded Lincoln Minster Schools (Prep and Senior) are 11 miles (20 mins) away in the city centre.

Seller Insights

“We have always loved the blend of old and new that White House has to offer. We’ve really got the best of both worlds, with the character and charm of the oldest part of the house which dates back more than 200 years combined with the more contemporary and newer living areas. We’ve lived here for almost nine years and during that time have done quite a bit of work to improve the flow of the house; we created the large entrance hall from the old garage, added the orangery in 2017 and moved the staircase in 2019 so it is more central within the house. We have decorated throughout using virtually all Farrow & Ball paints.”

“We really wanted to make the house work for us and as such considered the flow and positioning of all of the rooms, we also wanted to bring the outside in as much as possible. The garden which we have completely re-landscaped was another huge project. We did a lot of the planning in our first year, knowing that it would take a few years to get really established. The house is perfectly orientated and has an Indian sandstone patio to the south which stretches round to the west side where the bi-folding doors open and where we see amazing sunsets. But it is a great entertaining house whatever the time of year!”

“It is very much a family home. The kitchen dining living room is the hub of the house but there are plenty of places where you can sit quietly such as in the orangery, or the sitting room or study where it feels cosy and has some nice old features. When we first moved in we had three teenagers all needing space and the bedrooms are so large there was room in their bedrooms for a sofa as well as a double bed. Apart from the en-suite guest bedroom, all the beds are king size or, in the principal one, super-king. Seven of us were living here in lockdown and we didn’t feel on top of each other at all!”

“In winter, the log-burners heat the whole place as the heat travels everywhere, even all the way up the stairs making it an economical way of heating. The solar panels really reduce the electricity costs and give us a bit of an income each year. There’s an Immersun (i-Boost) system which will heat our water if there’s any spare electricity generated.”

“We refurbished all of the bedrooms and bathrooms, the family bathroom with its free-standing bath being installed in 2019. The ensuite to the main bedroom has Fired Earth floor and wall tiles and quality brand Crosswater accessories. The downstairs WC also has Fired Earth tiles and is fitted with a Heritage bathroom range.”

“The utility room is like a second kitchen - we call it the ‘back kitchen’. Fitted in 2018, it is a Wren kitchen with white gloss base and wall units, a built-in microwave, a sink, and space for a washing machine, a dryer and an American style fridge freezer. The large American fridge is our drinks fridge and it is perfect for summer entertaining as it leads straight onto the garden to the west.”

“The garden looks good in the winter with all the evergreen box and yew hedging and topiary but really comes into its own in the spring and summer. The garden design is carefully balanced on a theme of circles and curves to lend a sense of calm. The moon gate draws you into the circular lawn and the seven cypresses follow the pond and curve of the garden. The raised, reflection pond is home to some fish and there’s a block-sett path bordered by lavender that leads to a stone circle in the corner. This is centred by a white magnolia grandiflora which has a circular metal seat around it.”

“There are plenty of places to sit outside so the summerhouse has really just been used for storage. It’s pretty big and would make a great outside office or a gym or yoga studio. Another area on the other side of the house is laid with composite decking where we have our hot tub.”

“The garden is lovely and peaceful; we once had an open house and had eighty of our neighbours bringing their own picnics to eat in the garden! It’s a friendly community with a lot going on. A local oil syndicate lowers the price of our oil and there are village get-togethers, for example, for bonfire night, a family fun day and a Last Night of the Proms evening.”

“Harby is a great area for outdoor exercise. We’re right on the cycle path that takes you all the way into Lincoln. You can walk across the fields and be at Doddington Hall in about twenty minutes. It makes a really nice day’s outing as there is a farm shop, a homeware store, an outdoor clothing shop, a restaurant and a café. We often see barn owls skimming the hedgerows so we feel close to nature yet towns and cities are within such easy reach.”
Services: Mains electricity, water (not metered) and drainage; oil-fired central heating with bottled gas hob; underfloor heating in entrance hall, orangery and main bedroom; 16 solar panels
Local Authority: Newark & Sherwood District Council
Council Tax Band: E
EPC C Rating
Tenure: Freehold

Floorplans

5 bedroom detached house for sale