Fontmell Hill House

Standing in grounds of approximately 4.5 acres, Fontmell Hill House was built in 1930 for Henry Balfour-Gardiner (a British musician, composer and teacher) with many characteristics typical of the era with rendered elevations under a tiled roof and leaded light windows. The accommodation is both flexible and adaptable with a magnificent, vaulted drawing room (originally the music room), nicely proportioned sitting/dining room and kitchen/breakfast room, all with a lovely outlook over the gardens. Other attributes include open fireplaces in the principle rooms including the sitting room, study and drawing room, lightly beamed ceilings and oak panelled walls in the drawing room. The annexe could easily be incorporated into the main accommodation. Whilst the house is in need of modernising and updating, it offers a wonderful opportunity to create a lovely family home in delightful grounds.

COUNCIL TAX BAND: G
EPC RATING - House: E
EPC RATING - Annexe: F

OUTSIDE
The property is approached off the lane through electrically operated gates onto a gravelled driveway culminating in a car parking and turning area, adjoining which is the double garage with electric up and over doors. There is a single garage/store room by the entrance gates, while further down the lane a metal gate leads into a large level area of car parking with an additional single garage. The formal gardens lie primarily to the front of the house and comprise a large raised terrace flanked by dwarf brick walls with a variety of well stocked flower and shrub borders; steps lead down to a lawned area with herbaceous borders. A tall yew hedge with an ornate metal gate lead to a lower area with an ornamental pond, soft fruit trees and a path to another single garage with car parking. At the rear the garden is to lawn with two greenhouses and interspersed with a variety of mature trees. These include beech, larch, ash, maple and cedar. Beyond the rear garden there are two paddocks with a gate providing access through to the upper Blandford Road. There is a rectangular area of woodland, currently in separate ownership; an informal approach to the owner has suggested that this could be purchased by separate negotiation.

Fontmell Hill House is situated in a woodland setting between Fontmell Magna and Ashmore, reputedly Dorset’s highest village, which has a church, village hall and cricket field. There are nearby shops/post offices in the villages of Fontmell Magna, Iwerne Minster and Ludwell. The Saxon hilltop market town of Shaftesbury has a wide range of shops, a boutique hotel, market, churches, a health centre, dentists, a small hospital, veterinary surgeries, library and arts centre. For more sophisticated shopping and recreational facilities there is the Cathedral city of Salisbury to the east and Bath to the north west. Tisbury has a mainline railway station with services to London Waterloo (under two hours) and the A303, approximately 12 miles to the north, gives access to the south west and London via the M3, while the A350 gives access to the South Coast.



Marketed by: Jackson-Stops, Shaftesbury