Description
A period, detached five bedroom equestrian property, with a separate annexe, stables, barns and outbuildings with stable yards and garaging for at least six cars, set on an approximately 5 acres plot of garden, manège and paddocks surrounded by farmland. Stone built with brick detailing under clay tiles, the core of the property dates to the 1750s when the bones of a 1620s barn were turned into a house. Three reception rooms in the front survive from this mid- 18th-century rebuilding, as do decorative fluted pilasters in the entrance hallway. During the 19th-century the house was remodelled and extended, creating a functioning farmhouse with outbuildings. More work was undertaken in the 1980s, and the current owners created an open plan kitchen area in 2014. Original features have been retained, notably the 19th-century panelled staircase, and glazed doors with decorative arches or stained glass have been painstakingly replicated. Pond Farm House is now a family home with versatile accommodation and extensive equestrian facilities set in approximately 5 acres of grounds, including an enclosed rear garden, paddocks and a pond, overlooking open farmland in a village with only six private houses.
Overview The house has approx. 4,780 sq. ft. of versatile accommodation arranged over two floors. At the front of the house, a Victorian stone porch with encaustic tiles and an original front door, opens to an inner doorway and passes along a passage with doors on either side to the dining and sitting rooms. The passage joins the inner hall with a further passage to the sitting room/office, which also opens to the panelled Victorian staircase with authentic turned balusters. The inner hall has a door leading to a store cupboard and a further door accessing two utility rooms, or via an arch and up steps to the kitchen and family areas. The kitchen/breakfast room is open plan with the family area and has doors to a pantry and a back lobby, which has a door to the gym and stairs to a shelved storage area within a pitched roof space. The galleried landing has doors to all five double bedrooms, two with en suite bathrooms, a dressing room, and the family bathroom.
Kitchen/Breakfast Room The kitchen/breakfast room, overlooking the yard, retains the exposed structural roof timbers including the tie beam. An original exposed brick chimneybreast has a fireplace housing an AGA wood burning stove, with flanking doors to the shelved walk-in pantry and the back lobby. The kitchen has Shaker style base and wall units with granite worksurfaces and an inset one-and-a-half sink with a Zipp Hydro Tap and a waste disposal unit beneath. The central island has breakfast seating for three, storage, and a vegetable sink in the matching granite worksurface. Beneath a mantel with an extractor, is a three-oven electric module AIMS AGA. Integrated appliances include a Liebherr wine fridge, a Miele dishwasher, a Fisher & Paykel fridge/freezer and a Neff microwave and combi oven with a pyrolytic cleaning facility.
Family Area and Utility Rooms Open plan with the kitchen/breakfast room, the family area has the same ceramic tiled floor with underfloor electric heating. Beneath a stained-glass bull's eye window, handmade oak French doors with flanking windows forming a flattened arch, open to the patio and garden. There are four electrically operated Velux windows in the vaulted ceiling and additional side windows.
Accessed from the kitchen area via steps, or from the inner hall through a partially glazed Victorian door, is a storage cupboard and a passage with further original cupboards, panelling, and a window. This accesses the first utility room or boot room, which has a window and an original cottage door to the canopied outside paved area. There is a worksurface over built-in units, an inset sink with Fired Earth tiles above, and shelving. This room opens to another utility room with a window, now used as a laundry, with the oil fired boiler, hot water tank and fuse box, and space and plumbing for appliances.
Three Main Reception Rooms Three reception rooms form much of the original 1750s building at the front of the house, although much updated. They all have exposed spine ceiling beams and sash windows with wooden shelves beneath, which overlook the front drive, the ha-ha, and the paddocks beyond. The drawing room, to the right of the porch, has an open fireplace with a classically influenced marble mantelpiece on a stone hearth, flanked by arched, built-in alcove storage with double doors (partially glazed on the left), with display shelves.
The centrally-placed dining room has a Karndean wooden floor and a deep chimney breast housing an open fire with a refined white marble mantelpiece. A raised, double-doored cupboard on a back wall probably replaces an 18th-century window.
The sitting room/office has an ornately carved wooden mantelpiece around a fireplace with a wood burning stove effect electric fire.
Inner Hall, Cloakroom A partially glazed door with flanking windows opens to the inner hallway which is key to accessing much of the house. It has the ceramic floor tiles that continue throughout most of the ground floor. There is a fireplace with an oak lintel, and an inset wood burner on a York stone hearth. Raised on one side of the hall is the original servants' bell board for the house. A door accesses the cloakroom with a WC with a high-level cistern, a basin, an obscured window and a cupboard with the internet hub and controls for the external lights.
Gym Beyond the kitchen area, a back lobby with a door to the yard accesses the gym. The gym has wood effect laminate flooring and double-glazed French doors overlooking the rear garden and a window over the yard. This double aspect room, with internet and TV connection, could be easily repurposed if desired.
First Floor
Principal Bedroom, Dressing Room, and En Suite Bathroom Over 15 ft. by over 13 ft, the principal bedroom, like bedrooms two and three, is in the older, front part of the house, with sash windows overlooking the drive, the ha-ha and the paddocks. There is a wooden mantelpiece with a contemporary electric fire. Steps lead down to the newly fitted en suite four piece bathroom with underfloor heating. Overlooking the side, this room has a wooden floor, panelled walls to dado height and includes a panelled bath and a walk-in Aqualisa shower. Another door from the bedroom leads to a dressing room which is fitted with handmade oak shelving, drawers and hanging spaces, made by a local craftsman.
Bedrooms Two and Three and En Suite Shower Room Accessed, like all five bedrooms from the galleried landing, bedrooms two and three are in the original 1750s part of the house, each with single, Victorian sash windows overlooking the front. Reached directly from the head of the stairs, over 15 ft. by nearly 14 ft. bedroom two has a built-in wardrobe with hanging space and shelves. Only slightly smaller, bedroom three, on the corner of the house, has a three piece en suite bathroom with tiled walls and floor, and a walk-in in shower.
Bedrooms Four and Five and the Family Bathroom Bedrooms four and five are at the back of the house with bespoke double-glazed casement windows overlooking the garden (bedroom four) or the yard, bedroom five. Bedroom five has a built-in wardrobe with hanging space and shelves and the decorative outline of a vestigial arch visible in the wall. Both bedrooms share the four piece family bathroom.
The family bathroom has a tiled floor and underfloor heating. It has a panelled bath with a shower over and a tiled wall behind. Like the other bathrooms, it has a matching WC and pedestal basin, and a heated towel rail.
Annexe Built of stone and brick under clay tiles, the annexe is a converted 19th-century stable block with a modern stone extension for the three piece bathroom. The partially glazed front door, accessed via York stone steps leading from an enclosed patio, opens to a wooden floored entrance hallway. This leads to the kitchen/living area with ample space for a dining table and a sofa. There are base and wall units, a worksurface with an inset sink, space and plumbing for a half-size dishwasher, a washing machine, and a fridge. There is an integrated Neff oven and hob with an extractor over. The back of the annexe, overlooking the yard, has glazed panels above and within the original (inoperative) stable doors and a conventional window for the bedroom.
Outbuilding There are various converted period and modern purpose-built outbuildings positioned in the two hardstanding areas of the farm the yard and the stable yard. (The stable yard has two external water taps.)
Garaging At the rear of the annexe, a timber-clad, single garage with electric double doors and a personnel door faces the stable yard and joins the annexe at right angles. There is parking for at least six more cars. Across the yard from the house, another 19th-century stone and brick under clay tile stable block has been converted to create two separate workshops, each with a window, a stable door and power connected. The front workshop accesses a double garage, with sliding doors to the yard, a concrete floor, and an inspection pit. Also, with double doors to the yard, and positioned between the workshop garage and the rear of the annexe, is a further garage with a concrete floor, a personnel door and space for four cars. On the corner of the annexe, close to these garages, is an EVC point.
Tack Room and Barn Overlooking the stable yard, abutting the end of the four-car garage and an open barn, is a timber tack room with two doors, the left door opens to a two piece cloakroom. The tack room, with a raised window, has a worktop with an inset sink and space and plumbing for a washing machine. On the right of the tack room is a timber-framed barn on a stone plinth with a pitched roof and a concrete floor. This comprises on the left, an enclosed space with double, lockable timber doors, on the right is an open area with two bays divided by a braced, central timber strut.
Stables The single span, metal framed American barn has an Onduline pitched roof, timber cladding and a concrete floor with stable matting. The barn is divided into four stables and has a sliding door in the front opening to the stable yard. At a right angle to the American barn is a Warwick Stable with two bays, an overhang at the front and stable doors opening to the stable yard; the floor is concrete with mats.
Further Outbuildings Within the stable yard are two further barns: beyond the Warwick barn is an open fronted tin feed barn, divided into three bays. Backing onto the manège and used for the same purpose, is a smaller, timber barn with a metal gated open front and solar lighting.
Just off the drive is a timber barn for wood storage and in the garden are: a potting shed, a greenhouse, a garden shed and a mower shed (not on floor plan).
Grounds
Manège Directly off the stable yard is a 164 ft. x 72 ft. manège with a sand and fibre mix surface, enclosed by raised side panels with deer netting to enable its use for polo practice.
Paddocks and Garden The front of the house, which is on a raised site, is approached via a gravel drive, which curves round the front of the house, leading to the yard. A path continues to the annexe patio, with gates to the stable yard. The lawned edge of the drive is defined by a ha-ha, beyond which are the front paddocks, with a stream and a naturally fed pond. The paddocks, mainly to the south and east, are enclosed by post and rail fencing and a stream, as well as indigenous hedged boundaries with mature trees.
The vendors currently rent a further 4-5 acres from the adjacent land owner, who has indicated that continuing this arrangement is possible.
A York stone patio adjacent to the rear of the house, is accessed from the gym and the family area; there is a canopy outside the utility room door. The garden, mainly laid to lawn, is enclosed by low brick walls and clipped box hedges. There are herbaceous borders, raised vegetable beds with irrigation, and a pergola. The garden has established planting, including Bramley, pear, and plum trees; A Victorian privy is ideal for flower pot storage.
Location Lillingstone Dayrell is a small, rural village. It has an 11th-century church and is in the catchment area for the Royal Latin School in Buckingham. A range of shopping and leisure facilities, and GP and dental surgeries are located in Buckingham, which is approximately 6 miles away. A wider range of shopping is available in Milton Keynes, about 11 miles away. The property is located near to the National Trust Stowe Gardens, and the independent schools at Stowe, 1.6 miles away, and at Akeley Wood, 1.8 miles away. Whittlebury Hotel and spa is 4 miles away and Silverstone is an additional 2 miles away.
