4 bedroom house

Built in a traditional style in 1996 and blending with neighbouring period properties, Brook Cottage has walls of local greensand stone under a thatched roof and is set above and well back from the narrow lane that passes through the village. Its name derives from the brook that rises on the hillside behind and flows down through the grounds passing immediately to one side of the cottage. It has been owned and lived in by the same owners since it was built, and remains today, a beautifully presented and much-loved home. In keeping with a traditional cottage, the interior has some nice touches including timber flooring throughout the three reception rooms, exposed oak beams in the dining hall, sitting room and kitchen and a fireplace fitted with a wood-burning stove in the sitting room. The cottage faces predominantly south-east and north-west and therefore catches sunlight throughout the course of the day. Its orientation also combines with good-sized, integrally double-glazed windows to give the interior a light and airy feeling with all the principal downstairs rooms having windows on at least two sides. The kitchen/breakfast room has enormous character and looks out onto the front part of the garden and the parking area and adjacent garage behind. It has a tiled floor and is fully fitted with a range of bespoke, painted timber units under timber work surfaces, a two-oven Rayburn, double Belfast sink, with an adjacent laundry room and back door to the parking area behind the cottage. The kitchen also has ample space for good sized kitchen table. The upstairs accommodation comprises the principal bedroom which has windows on two sides and an en suite bathroom with separate shower, a further double bedroom with en suite shower room, two further double bedrooms and the family bathroom. All the bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and lovely views out over the garden and grounds to the backdrop of lush, green countryside surrounding the village.

Brook Cottage is approached up a gently sloping gravelled drive leading behind to a generously sized parking area beside a detached, stone-built double garage, behind which is a timber lean-to garden store. The garden and grounds extend to about two acres with the majority set out behind and above the cottage. Formerly part of the National Gardens Scheme, the garden is an absolute delight with narrow but richly planted borders stocked with herbaceous perennials, flowering shrubs and roses fringing the walls of the cottage.
At the front is a lawn shielded from the lane by a low beech hedge with a gravel path to the front porch. To the rear are a further level lawn beside a paved terrace. The garden then rises through a series of terraces to a wilder, grassed area surrounding a small lake fed by the brook and studded with several mature trees.

On the upper terrace is a heated swimming pool fringed by lines of pollarded lime trees and clipped beech hedging, with an attendant timber pool house and further timber garden store. Adjacent to the garden store is a mixed orchard planted with dwarf fruit trees and a stand of hazelnut trees.

Donhead St. Andrew 0.9 mile, Ludwell 1 mile, Shaftesbury town centre 3.7 miles, Tisbury station (Waterloo 1 hour 50 minutes) 5 miles, East Stour 7.6 miles, Gillingham 8.3 miles, A303 8.8 miles, Salisbury 17.6 miles, Bournemouth Airport 27.5 miles. (Distances and time approximate).

Brook Cottage is situated in the charming, picturesque village of Donhead St. Mary, set above the River Nadder and within the unspoilt countryside of the Cranbourne Chase AONB. The village has a church and village hall with the popular Forester Inn in the neighbouring village of Donhead St. Andrew and a village shop/post office in nearby Ludwell. Shaftesbury town centre can be reached in a few minutes by car. The town has extensive local amenities including a Tesco supermarket and many independent shops and businesses and there is a Waitrose in the neighbouring town of Gill

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