This charming Grade II-listed 16th-century cottage and its three barn and cabin accommodations are set amid over 20 acres of land in the bucolic village of Knowl Hill, deep in the Berkshire countryside. The historic cottage is undeveloped and set across over 2,000 sq ft, with planning approved for a thoughtful restoration. The further three separate accommodations are already renovated and built to high standards, with total internal accommodation spanning a total of almost 5,500 sq ft across all four homes. The buildings offer great versatility of use; originally forming a dairy farm, they are set within an open landscape looking southward, with a series of fields, a half-acre organic kitchen garden, and additional gardens, planted with mature trees and shrubs, nearest the cottage. Knowl Hill is a 10-minute drive to Maidenhead Station, where trains run to London Paddington in 22 minutes and to other central London locations via the Elizabeth Line.

Setting the Scene

Knowl Hill is a pretty village in the civil parish of Hurley in Berkshire. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was the southern terminus of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travellers from the north to continue their journey to the west of England without going through the congestion of London.

Lower Lovetts Farm is situated to the south of the village at the end of a quiet country lane. The grounds form a complex of sorts, with the original 16th-century cottage and two barn accommodations centred around the main driveway and courtyard garden; a further log-pile cabin accommodation lies directly behind the cottage in an adjacent field, with its own separate driveway from the lane. The ancillary accommodations have carefully retained their original agricultural qualities so that the entire site continues to echo its original purpose as a working farm.

The Grand Tour

Electric entrance gates open from the lane to the pea gravel driveway and courtyard, with ample space for parking multiple vehicles. Walnut trees and a medlar tree surround this area, and the walled courtyard garden is formed of aged flagstones with square set banks of lavender, salvias, grasses and other flowers. The two barns have vernacular weatherboard elevations with red-brick foundation courses and clay tile-pitched roofs. The triple garage is also formed of a weatherboard construction with a similar roof design, so all three structures complement one another in unison. The cottage - once the farmhouse - is a late 16th-century structure extended in the mid-19th century. It is part timber framed with brick infill, part brick, and part flint. The roof is hipped to the rear and gabled to the front, with clay tiles and four chimney stacks in total.

Stone setts form a private terrace around Margaret River Barn to the south of the driveway, with entry to a large open-plan living room with exposed beams revealing the soaring pitched roof and wooden floorboards underfoot. The timber structure was created by hand, with hand-carved oak joints employed throughout. The room is L-shaped with a log burner and the kitchen has plank cabinetry. Sleeping quarters are separate, with an additional log burner and a cast-iron roll-top bathtub. A vast reinforced double wine cellar is discreetly located beneath this barn, extending underneath the yard to the rear and accessed by descending a cast-iron spiral staircase set beneath an electric trap door. Comprised of two spaces, they could also potentially be converted to either a home gym or possibly a home cinema, if required.

The main barn also has a stone sett terrace and is composed of three primary ranges of varying heights, with the tallest forming the living room. This vast, triple-height space features the entire exposed timber frame, and wide oak boards extend underfoot throughout the barn. A wood burner is positioned centrally here, and the heating and hot water for the barn run from it. A plank door leads to the principal bedroom suite; almost 30 ft in length, it has a separate en suite bathroom featuring a cast-iron roll-top bath. The exposed frame is limed in the bedroom to a calming effect, and there is a small kitchenette adjacent. The bedroom area has its own direct access to the stone sett terrace, in addition to French windows from the main living space. The north range of this barn is home to a secondary hall and boot area, laid with terracotta tiles. There is a large pantry here offering plentiful storage, and the current approved plans allow for this space to be opened to connect to the main cottage, if required, via a potential two-storey connecting addition.

The cottage, although requiring modernisation, is immensely characterful, with a series of charming rooms unfolding from a cross-passage hallway and box staircase. The house has a south-facing brick paved terrace outside the main elevation, and work has already started in the later single-storey addition at the west range to create a spacious new kitchen wing with an open pitch roof. There are currently five bedrooms on the second storey and four living spaces in addition to the new kitchen on the ground floor.

The recently built log-pile cabin is positioned in an open field directly behind the cottage and has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a large open-plan living room with a log burner and a separate kitchen. A wooden terrace wraps around the cabin and the exterior structure is made from horizontal logs, while the interior is weatherboarded. It also has independent access for vehicles with its own gated entrance.

The Great Outdoors

The four accommodations are set in the southwest corner of the 20-acre plot, and the surrounding land is exceptionally fertile. The acreage is mostly comprised of clover pasture and wildflower meadows, and there is also an enclosed walled garden to the rear of Margaret River Barn.

To the south, the vast organic kitchen garden is well established and stocked, offering an abundance of produce including asparagus, kale, pears, pumpkins, carrots, berries, tomatoes, chillis and flowers for tea.

In addition to the triple garage in the main courtyard, there is also a further large yard behind Margaret River Barn with log stores, while more vast log stores are discreetly positioned to the southeast of the land and there are also manure sheds, with the land extending all the way to Bottle Lane, to the very east.

Out and About

Situated in Knowl Hill, just outside Maidenhead, Lower Lovetts Farm is 10 minute’s drive from the town centre and enjoys easy access to excellent shopping and leisure facilities, including a choice of gyms and an Odeon cinema, while Knowl Hill Common, to the north of the farm, has sweeping views down towards Windsor, where its castle can be seen on a clear day. The village itself has three pubs: the Bird in Hand, the New Inn and the Royal Oak. It also has a café called The Square Deal Café. The surrounding countryside has a patchwork of footpaths on which to set out for the surrounding gastropubs and beauty spots, and the Knowl Hill Bridleway Circuit circumvents the south of the farm’s curtilage connecting to the beautiful villages of Littlewick Green and Waltham St. Lawrence.

Henley-on-Thames is just 15 minutes' drive to the north and is a town of charming medieval streets peppered with Victorian and Edwardian architecture lining one of the most beautiful stretches of the Thames. It has an excellent range of boutiques and art galleries, a three-screen cinema, a theatre and several very good restaurants and pubs. The town comes alive in the summer months for The Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Festival of Music & Arts. However, for daily and weekly provisions there is a Waitrose nearby at Twyford.

Local culinary opportunities are exceptional. The nearby village of Bray has two Michelin-starred restaurants, The Fat Duck and The Waterside Inn, while Marlow just to the north of Knowl Hill has Tom Kerridge’s acclaimed The Hand and Flowers restaurant and The Coach pub, both offering Michelin-starred fare. The Ivy Marlow Garden is also situated in Marlow, near to an eclectic mix of local independent and quality national purveyors.

There are countless outdoor spaces in the greater surrounding area, with wonderful walks available throughout The Chilterns AONB to the north of Knowl Hill, while the National Trust’s Runnymead park and gardens, and the 5,000-acre Windsor Great Park are a short drive away to the south. Cliveden House and gardens are also nearby, just to the north of Taplow.

Lower Lovetts Farm is also excellently positioned for horse riding and other country pursuits, with the surrounding area having further opportunities for sports, either participatory or merely spectator. Racing can be found at Ascot, Windsor, Epsom, Kempton and Sandown Park, while polo clubs include the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park, The Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club in Winkfield and Cowdray Park, slightly further afield. Golf aficionados are also well catered for with some of the best courses in the country, including at Castle Royle golf and health club on the edge of the village (facilities include a country club and gym), and Wentworth, Sunningdale, Swinley Forest, Queenwood and Foxhills. Rowing can also be found at Dorney Lake.

The choice of local state and independent schools is excellent, with Claires Court School, Highfield School, Furze Platt Senior School & St Piran’s School all in Maidenhead, while Knowl Hill CoE primary school (Ofsted-rated "Outstanding") is a five-minute walk away, in the heart of the village. Slightly further away are Reading Blue Coat School, St John’s Beaumont Prep School, Eton College, St George’s School in Windsor, St Mary’s Ascot, Lambrook School, Papplewick School, Heathfield School, The ACS and TASIS International Schools, Wellington College, Strode College, Salesian School, Sir William Perkins School and Wycombe Abbey for Girls.

Maidenhead station is a 10-minute drive from Lower Lovetts Farm, with fast services to London Paddington taking just 22 minutes. The Elizabeth Line also runs from Maidenhead station with direct services into the heart of the capital, including Canary Wharf in 50 minutes. The Sustrans National Cycle Route 4 also connects the house with a direct cycle path to Maidenhead train station, leading precisely from the farm’s entrance gates. Henley-on-Thames and Marlow rail stations are also easily accessible from Knowl Hill. By road, the M4 is three miles away and offers connections to the M25 and Heathrow Airport, which is just 20 minutes away by car.

Council Tax Band: Cottage - G; Main Barn - E; Cabin - A; Margaret River Barn - A

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