St Michaels

An enchanting and substantial 17th Century family residence offering 5,744 sq ft to the main home, an additional 1,787 sq ft within the detached Coach House and external store, and 817 sq ft of garaging with an overall square footage of approx 9,000!

Whilst the property has been lovingly restored and modernised over the years there still remains a wealth of character and charm of times gone by.

There is an ecclesiastical entrance hall with stained glass windows leading onto the main reception hall. A number of reception rooms on the ground floor cater for every occasion, each with their own identity and grandeur, providing quite an extraordinary ambience.

To the first floor, the master bedroom suite boasts a dressing room and en-suite. The additional 6 bedrooms are all doubles, with 2 en-suite and there's also a family bathroom.

Across the delightful courtyard is the Coach House which has been skilfully restored and, once upon a time, housed the stables which can easily be re-instated. Upstairs there is a large room which has been used as office space plus a further 2 rooms and bathroom.

The main entrance is accessed by ornate gates leading onto a large drive. The quadruple garage is accessed via another security gate to the side which leads onto the courtyard, with lots of additional parking and the Coach House. There has been a new roof installed on the garage block which now allows an additional room above.

The grounds total approximately 2 acres in total with a secluded formal walled garden to the side which is south westerly facing and a large lawn to the front.

Backing onto Hatfield House grounds the location has a real rural feel. However, Central London is only 23 miles distant by car or there are a number of train stations nearby to commute. Additionally, education is well catered for locally with a number of highly regarded schools.

Sellers Insight - "My wife and I were actually having another property built when my PA happened to mention that she'd seen an advert for a beautiful old house that had just come onto the market," says the owner. "I was intrigued, not only because it seemed to offer everything we had been looking for, but also because the house we were building was proving to be a real headache. So, she arranged a viewing and I went to take a look. The property as a whole was fantastic but was going to need a lot of work and it was obvious that it would take a fair bit of investment to breathe new life into it, but I knew immediately that it had the potential to be the most wonderful family home."

"The previous owners had begun some restoration work, but there was still so much to do when we came here so we enlisted the help of real craftsmen to help return this lovely old house to its former glory. We stripped back layers of paint to reveal all of the beautiful old woodwork and stencilling. The bespoke kitchen was hand crafted out of reclaimed wood, has all the mod cons, but at the same time fits beautifully with the style of the house – and we restored and enhanced all of the gorgeous original features, so the house retains every bit of its wonderful character and charm. All of the work was carried out in a very sympathetic manner and the attention to detail is minute, so it's now the most beautiful family home and one that still has a tremendous sense of history."

"The house is set well back from the road and sits in over two acres of lovely grounds," continues the owner. "We have open lawns to the front, a generous walled garden to the side and a very large courtyard that separates the main house from the Coach House. The grounds are a stunning feature of the property and have provided a very generous and safe space for our 6 children to enjoy and it's been an amazing environment for them to grow up in."

We are completely surrounded by countryside and woodland, so the setting is extremely peaceful and picturesque," says the owner, "however I can hop in the car and be at Potters Bar train station in 15 minutes and then be in Central London within a further 20 minutes which is next to no time. We also have an array of excellent private and state schools in the local area, so it's a wonderful place to raise a family."

"It will be such a wrench to leave St Michaels, but there are only three of us here now and it's a house that deserves to be enjoyed by another family," says the owner. "It's been an incredible place to live for the past twenty-three years, and an extremely happy home."



Marketed by: Fine & Country, Brookmans Park