Rattery Mill

INTRODUCTION
Rattery Mill is a grade two listed landmark building located approximately 10 minutes from Totnes and half an hour from Exeter, Plymouth and Torquay in the South Hams and a mile or so from the southern edge of Dartmoor National Park.  There are an excellent village primary schools and a choice of state and secondary schools within convenient driving distance.  The mill is also about ten minutes walk from The Church House Inn, one of the oldest pubs in Devon.

This historic property is a highly individual detached family home situated on the outskirts of Rattery. The building was built in stages – the initial structure was a Devon longhouse – this was built around the time of King Henry VIII (we believe earlier than the 17thC suggested in the listing), around the 18th century a three story watermill was added, and in early 19th century a rear extension was made to the longhouse, as well as a linhay (storage for horse drawn vehicle) and three stone pigsties which are now used as log stores.  The National Trust has a print showing the property at around the time that Isambard Kingdom Brunel constructed the viaduct at which point it would have been owned by the Carew family who apparently met with IKB and asked him to re route his line to avoid spoiling the view from their home which resulted in the construction of the viaduct and the Rattery railway tunnel.

The property was sold from the Carew estate and stopped working as a watermill approximately a century ago, it gradually fell into disrepair and was damaged in a series of floods, Photos (which can be found on line) show the state in the 1950s, by 2004 it was semi derelict – a photo can be found on Wikimedia showing the asbestos roof on the longhouse and the artificial slate roof on that face of the mill, the property acquired at the auction by the current owners ion 2004 for £285k and comprehensive renovation was undertaken to provide a comfortable family home with spacious and light accommodation over the three floors.  In the main part of the building, there are five bedrooms and three reception rooms, two of which are on the ground floor with a fabulous dual aspect sitting room on the first floor. There is a good size, bespoke kitchen / breakfast room with many of the old Mill features still in place in accordance with the listing. There is also a separate one bedroom self-contained cottage providing useful ancillary accommodation or a separate office area to suit one's requirements. Rattery Mill sits within a generous plot of 2.82 acres. This comprises a large parking area with space for numerous cars, a large level formal garden and a sloping wooded area to the far side of the road which leads to Rattery (see map). The property sits on the edge of the Harbourne River which has trout (no one has formal fishing rights – so no anglers have any rights to fish there) and there is also a separate indoor swimming pool and spa building (currently not in use).

SELLERS INSIGHT
After the auction in 2004 a major restoration was undertaken, it is difficult to communicate the scale of this, and of course as the building is listed much of the money (of the order of around £400k) was spent on restoring something to look several hundred years old.

Major works include:
Completely rewired with the cables in conduits (making subsequent rewiring much simpler),
Fully re roofed roofing restoration including structural works and asbestos removal with preservation and display of ancient roof timbers.
The linhay roof was the only original roof left, it was in very poor condition and the listed building consent required as much as possible of the slate to be conserved and reused.
All windows were restored or replaced, there are approximately 26 windows each with an oak frame and each frame was removed and repaired using seasoned English oak, each window had two or three wrought iron casements. The (approximately sixty) diamond leaded lights were restored by a specialist.
All decayed lintels (internal and external) were replaced like for like with English oak, which was taken from trees felled in the garden.

The exterior walls were repointed using lime mortar and previous repairs using ordinary Portland cement were replaced with lime mortar, every single room required replastering, the ground and first floors using lime plaster reinforced with hair.

The ground floor was originally Diptford slate in both the cottage and the Mill. The position of each stone was numbered and recorded on a diagram, then lifted and conserved, the slate had been laid directly on the earth. The earth was excavated to allow a reinforced concrete slab to be laid on which Celotex insulation and underfloor heating was installed and then covered in glass reinforced screed, then the slates were re-laid in their original positions preserving the wear patterns from centuries of use. Where flooring slates were missing, they were replaced using closely matched reclaimed slates (which had been recovered form a forensic psychiatric hospital near Starcross.
There were various rotten beams supporting the first floor in the cottage and these were replaced with beams cut from trees felled in the garden.

The swimming pool building was used for about ten years and was then refurbished, unfortunately there was a dispute with the contractor who installed the heat pump and the work was not completed.
Flood defence and resilience works were carried out which cost approximately £20k (a grant of £5k was paid by South Hams council on behalf of the UK government). This dealt with the issue of repeated floods which were from the road.  Several hundred tons of material were added increasing the ground level by up to ten feet, since this was done (2014/15) there has been no major flooding, in periods of prolonged heavy rain small puddles can form inside in the lowest room of the property which dry up quickly).

The Linhay restoration – shower room, floor (oak was from a tree felled in the garden), glass, double glazed window, underfloor heating, and kitchen.  All ceilings were replastered using plasterboard.. Every room in the property required various repairs, additionally there is a fitted kitchen, a family bathroom, an ensuite bathroom, two small WC’s and a tiny shower room.

Heating wise, the property is heated by a ground source heat pump, the original heat pump was installed in 2004 and replaced in 2020 (currently awaiting repair). There are two woodburning stoves one on ground floor and one on first floor to supplement the heat pump at the coldest times of the year. Both woodburners need replacement, the ground floor supplied heating in the cottage, the first floor one supplied radiators in the top floor of the mill but has not been used in years and both require the chimneys to be swept annually and the systems checked before operation. There are plentiful supplies of logs stored on the property and every year new logs can be harvested from the grounds.  External work included excavating the front courtyard area to expose ancient cobblestones and planting a bluebell wood.

While it has had substantial structural work completed in 2004, some refreshing is now required. The property is rural and ancient, and the garden has two small patches of Japanese Knotweed which is beginning treatment in the Summer of 2022.

STEP INSIDE
Rattery Mill is a large, imposing dwelling with an attractive façade and leaded windows retaining the original character. Accommodation is set over three levels with entrances to either side of the property from both ground and first floor levels.
From the front courtyard, the main ground floor entrance leads to two large reception rooms with a light 'open plan feel'. The two rooms offer much charm with beamed ceilings, stone floors and a feature fireplace housing a cast iron wood burner in the main reception. There is also a useful utility room and downstairs WC on this level. The kitchen / breakfast room is a fabulous dual aspect room with a pleasant outlook to the garden and many of the original Mill workings in situ to the corner of the room. There is a good range of base level and wall mounted cream units with a gas 'range style' cooker inset and walk in pantry.
There are two flights of stairs leading up to the first floor, one from the dining area and the other from the kitchen. The main reception is accessed from the latter and provides a wonderful, large, dual aspect sitting room with exposed wood floors and a feature fireplace with cast iron wood burner. A hallway leads down to a landing area with three bedrooms radiating off it as well as a modern three-piece bathroom suite and separate WC. All the bedrooms afford good storage with built in wardrobes and a mezzanine sleeping area with one of the rooms.
To the second floor, there is a large landing area currently being utilised as a study. From here, there are two double bedrooms, a box room (or possible small single bedroom) and a shower room / WC. The master bedroom is an extremely spacious room with built in wardrobes and open tread stairs leading up to a modern, quality three-piece bathroom suite.
The self-contained cottage (or former Linhay) is accessed from the ground floor level inner courtyard area. This is a useful two storey annex with a modern kitchen and living area to the ground floor and spiral staircase leading up to a double bedroom with wet room.

STEP OUTSIDE
Rattery Mill sits within grounds of around 2.82 acres. The formal garden and parking area make up 2 acres of land and there is a separate area of woodland to the far side of the Rattery road which totals 0.82 acres of gently sloping woodland.

The main garden is predominantly level and extends away from the Mill, hugging the River Harbourne to the side. As the garden rises to the far side there is a natural area of woodland with trails inset and an Indoor Swimming Pool and Spa building. To either side of the Mill there are pretty courtyard areas and access leading up to a large parking area with storage in the form of buried shipping containers. There is ample parking for numerous vehicles here.  As a point of interest, the railway viaduct was designed and built in 1847 by I K Brunel and widened circa 1892 - 1893.

DIRECTIONS
TQ10 9LN. From Totnes, head out on the A385 to Shinners Bridge roundabout in Dartington. Take the second exit proceeding along the A385 towards Rattery and South Brent. Continue along this road for approximately 3 miles, passing over the railway line and turn right by the viaduct and signpost for Rattery. Rattery Mill is the first property on the left hand side. 

USEFUL INFORMATION
Council Tax Band: D
Listing: Grade II
Services: Mains water, Electricity, Ground source heat pump, Underfloor heating, Septic Tank
Local Authority: South Hams District Council -[use Contact Agent Button] / Useful Locations: Totnes 5 miles, Plymouth 19 miles, Exeter 28 miles, Exeter Airport 31 miles

Agents note:  Two areas of Japanese Knotweed is commencing a three year plan of treatment beginning in the Summer of 2022.  For further details, please discuss with Ian at F&C.

Agent Contact: Ian Bransdon MNAEA F&C South Devon[use Contact Agent Button] / [use Contact Agent Button]