Park Palings Walk, Haynes, Bedfordshire, MK45

EXCEPTIONALLY PEACEFUL, MODERN COUNTRY LIVING - WITH POSSIBLE ANNEXE AND LOVELY GARDENS

A 5-bedroom, modern, detached house, with the possibility of turning existing downstairs rooms into a one-bedroom annexe. Set in a delightfully peaceful spot at the end of a no through lane in the lovely Bedfordshire village of Haynes, and with double garage (with lots of space above that has scope for something more), plenty of driveway parking, and gorgeous gardens, this is some find.

Haynes is within Greensand Country, a beautiful landscape providing a unique mix of heathland, woodland, acid grassland, farmland, wetland and rivers, celebrated by an annual country festival. There are wonderful walks for you and your dog along Greensand Ridge, with views to die for. Look over towards Haynes Park, where James 1 and Queen Anne visited. He and the whole court attended Divine Service at the 12th century St Mary’s Church in the village.

To live in such a fabulous environment and be able to easily reach great road and rail links seems too much to ask for. But that’s exactly what you have in Haynes. The County town of Bedford, with its world-renowned private schools and fast trains to London in under 40 minutes, is just 7 miles away. Arlesey station is another option, from where you can shave a minute from the journey. Travelling to London from Hitchin, 12 miles away, can be even faster in 33 minutes. Manchester is 1.5 hours from Milton Keynes, which is just over 20 miles from Haynes. Major roads, such as the A6, A1, A421 and M1 are within easy reach, yet far enough away to be spared the traffic noise. Luton Airport is just 16 miles away.

Back home, walk the children just over 500 yards to their little primary school. Good and outstanding catchment schools for older children are a cycle ride away in Shefford, along with shops, supermarkets and surgery. Haynes has its own stores and post office, and a 17th century pub serving great beer and locally sourced food 1000 paces from the front door of your new home. It’s often said that you must choose between home and location. Not here you don’t.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

At the end of a no through, tree-lined lane, electric gates open into your drive, and under the gaze of mature, bird-filled trees, a beautiful magnolia and walls bedecked with vine and hops, welcome you to your new home. What a lovely place to live.

Inside, a home full of flexible space and natural light, an irregularly shaped window adding no little style to an open-tread staircase curving up over a lovely, peaceful study or music area. But you can’t single out any particular room for its tranquility. The whole home, inside and out, feels that way, even when its heaving with friends. And this house is brilliant for entertaining.

The kitchen, with its painted, Shaker furniture, granite tops and peninsular seating, the sitting room, with its parquet floor, and the garden room, with its French doors to the terrace, all open to each other for guests to mill about at will. Oodles of space for the family to come together, for dinner parties and for curling up with the latest bestseller. And you even have a separate snug – or might this become part of an annexe for elderly parents, or even for Airbnbers.

Everyone has their own bedrooms, all with lovely garden or field views, not least the main bedroom, which spans the entire width of the house and has its very own bath.

Warm when the weather turns, with not just the latest air-source heat pump and rooms wrapped up in insulation, but with a cosy log burner in the sitting room to slump in front of after that winter wander in countryside that’s beautiful in all seasons. Come summertime, fling open the French doors to the lily pond and the bellflowers and saxifrage revelling in the rockery, blossoming trees and Japanese maple vying for attention.

This is a garden, backing onto a wildflower meadow, that like the house is a series of rooms that are all individual, while forming a delightfully integrated whole. Raised vegetable beds in one area, composting in another, multiple sitting and alfresco eating areas, areas for children to play and bee-friendly beds and borders for the keen gardener to tend. And through the rose arch to the south-facing summerhouse, relax in perfectly peaceful privacy, only the joy-filled song of the birds to be heard. At whatever stage of life, it’s difficult to imagine a nicer environment in which to live.