6 bedroom house

An outstanding Grade II listed family home with excellent character and substance, requiring renovation, superbly set in grounds of about 3 acres.

Entrance hall, drawing room, dining room, study/snug, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom & boiler room, former range kitchen, former hall room now utility/store room and cellar.

First floor main landing, five/six main bedrooms, family bathroom and separate wc, back landing, stairs, four further bedrooms and two end rooms with scope for a bathroom (subject to consent).

Long gated gravel driveway, former washhouse outbuilding with attached cartlodge, garage and garden store, gardens, grounds and woodland. In all about 3 acres (sts).

THE PROPERTY
The Old Rectory is a wonderful Grade II listed house of significant charm and character requiring substantial modernisation and renovation, set in fabulous grounds of about 3 acres(sts). Originally the property is believed to date from the 15th century, but possibly with earlier origins, with a hardwood timber frame on brick plinth with lath and plaster elevations, beneath a pitched peg tiled roof, with further alterations in the 16th century, and a Victorian extension built in the 1880s of mellow red brick walls, part tile hung beneath a pitched plain tiled roof. Internally, the Victorian extension and the front eastern timber framed part of the house (the main residence) has recently been occupied and overall is in a dated but generally satisfactory state of repair. The original timber framed 15th century part/wing of the house, which retains much of its original outstanding character and atmosphere, is not currently lived in and is in a basic state of order with no fitted kitchens or bathroom, but affords outstanding scope for improvement subject to the relevant consents.
Stansfield Rectory was sold by the Church Commissioners in April 1956. to Dr Leo Harrison Matthews, a world-renowned British zoologist especially known for his research and writings on marine mammals and exploration to South Georgia on RSS Discovery. This much-loved family home has remained in the family since and hence this is the first opportunity in the past 65 years that the property is available to the market.

The ‘main residence’ comprises a substantial heavy panelled front door leading to the entrance hall with a passage to the three well-proportioned reception rooms, the current kitchen and a cloakroom/boiler room which houses the oil-fired boiler for this side of the property. This section benefits from character features such as folding and rising window shutters, original mullioned and sash windows, fireplaces and cast-iron radiators and a wide easy rise staircase to the first floor. There is also a ‘rumpus’ room/inside workshop that can easily be re-amalgamated into the main accommodation. There are a useable 5-6 family bedrooms off the main landing, with a family bathroom and separate wc.
The connected older west wing of the house comprises basic unmodernised accommodation on the ground and first floor, which has been used, by the family, principally as storage in the 4/5 bedrooms above and to the ground floor, the former range kitchen and heavy timbered high ceiling Hall Room, with two unused traditional hand pumps, now used as utility work rooms, with a wine cellar below and log store to the rear.

OUTSIDE
The grounds of this wonderful home are a most appealing feature being well maintained and delightfully arranged with good rolling countryside views across pasture, to the south. The property, which is set well back from the road, is approached over a long, gravelled driveway to the point in front of the house where it splits, with parking in front of the house and to the side of the house the drive leads to the outbuildings which comprise a garage and store building and the former wash house store with cart lodge to the side. The gardens are laid traditionally to lawns with a croquet lawn, an area left to meadow for the wildlife, and there is a woodland strip abutting and screening the lane to the front. To the rear there is also a fruit tree stand and productive low fenced kitchen garden.

LOCATION
The Old Rectory is in a beautiful setting on the edge of the delightful village of Stansfield. This small rural village is situated close to the well regarded and popular historic and well served market town of Clare, which is situated on the River Stour close to the Essex/Suffolk borders. Famous for its antique shops, Clare provides excellent everyday shopping facilities, a fine parish church, two schools, two hotels, several pub/restaurants, Post Office and a doctor’s surgery. The nearby centres of Sudbury, Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds provide a wider range of educational, recreational and cultural facilities. Stansfield is also commutable to the University City of Cambridge with its burgeoning hi-tech industries, science parks and reputable schools. There is access to the main road network via the A14, A11 and M11 just south of Cambridge providing routes to the capital and Stansted Airport. For the rail commuter there is access to the mainline system from Sudbury or Audley End/Whittlesford, which provide a fast and regular service to London. The neighbouring nearby village of Hawkedon also affords the benefit of one of the best regarded and most popular country pubs in this part of Suffolk, The Hawkedon Queen.

PRE-SALE BUILDING SURVEY
The vendors have arranged a building survey by one of a panel of local surveyors and a copy of this survey will be made available to serious applicants. The original copy will be assigned to the purchaser who will be required to reimburse the vendor for the cost of this survey, which is £1,200 plus VAT. The availability of this report will mean that interested parties can negotiate knowing the condition of the property. In some cases, the surveyor may recommend an inspection prior to exchange for a modest additional fee.

Agents Note: The sale is subject to a standard overage clause for a 30-year period of 35% of any uplift in value for any development other than for a single residential dwelling and associated amenities for that dwelling, including annexe, equestrian and agricultural development.



Marketed by: Jackson-Stops, Bury St Edmunds