Church End, Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, MK44

EARLY C19TH COTTAGES RENOVATED TO CREATE EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY HOME, WITH KITCHEN EXTENSION TO DIE FOR

A remarkable, 5-double bedroom, unlisted village home in the conservation area of North Bedfordshire’s Thurleigh, with wonderful kitchen extension overlooking the garden, a gym and driveway parking for at least 3 cars, including EV charging point – every contemporary convenience incorporated into a period home in the most tasteful way and to the highest standard.

Thurleigh has a fascinating history from its medieval castle to its World War II airbase, now home to a business park and museum. The village has an equestrian centre from where you can ride on a network of peaceful bridleways, with panoramic views over the surrounding countryside. And your dog will be very happy that there’s a super bridleway alongside the brook at the back of your new home that leads across fields to the reservoirs that are a haven for wildflowers and waterfowl.

The village is just 3 miles equidistant of Milton Ernest, with its popular garden centre, shop and C16th pub, and Bolnhurst where the even older Plough is considered by many to be the best pub and restaurant in the county. The little primary school (within the catchment of Sharnbrook Academy) is in the High Street along with the village hall, which hosts a mobile post office twice a week. The county town of Bedford is a 15-minute drive away, with its world-renowned, Harpur Trust private schools, outstanding Free School, shops and supermarkets, and its fast trains to London in under 40 minutes.

Your new home has the distinction of not only having been two early 19th century cottages on two different streets (including 1 High Street), but both played a significant part in village life. Many a villager took their pet to be cared for by the vet at No. 2 and their shoes to the cobbler at No. 1. Many more sank a pint in the ‘Hit & Miss’ Beerhouse, also at 1 High Street, which at one stage also had links to the C12th Church of St Peter, high on the hill opposite.

When ‘The Hit & Miss’ was sold as a home in 1925, the valuer commented: "Big place was pub, lot of wasted room". With over 2500 square feet, it’s even bigger now, but you cannot help but to fall in love with every inch.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

Beyond the lily beds, the oak, and reclaimed bricks and terracotta of the porch, and the beautiful oak doors and windows, with their chunky sills, not to mention the high-end radiators, are a hint that only the best has been good enough during the renovation. But the care and attention to detail – and money – that has been lovingly poured in to ensuring everything is just right in every beautiful room is quite extraordinary.

It's not just what you can see. No corners have been cut with the hidden detail either, from thick wall insulation in No. 1 to plumbing and electrics throughout. Picture lights have been wired into the mains and lovely toggle switches fitted. Wonderful antique furniture has been adapted and fitted to house televisions and microwave in the sitting room and kitchen, not to mention the communications cupboard under the stairs, the nerve centre for Wi-Fi, data cabling and zoned audio that runs through the house.

The two cottages have been cleverly combined to provide oodles of versatile space, with plenty of light and height beneath the beautiful beams.

Each room has a focal point from the cone-shaped basin of the bathroom and the tumbled travertine of your shower room, to exposed floorboards, timbers and brick walls in the beautiful bedrooms, including the original external wall within those in the extension. Even the cloakroom has Fired Earth fittings.

So cosy to come home in winter to log fires in the snug dining hall and sitting room. Beneath beams that took six men to move, you have a gym to work out in, a study to work from, and just as you think you’ve all the rooms you could ever want, there’s another, with its beautiful, vaulted ceiling. The latter two open to the garden terrace, which you can nip across to the kitchen.

What a kitchen! Beautiful, reclaimed terraccotta tiles and painted furniture, handmade wooden surfaces combining with striking quartz on the island, with its expensive built-in wine cooler and Villeroy & Boch sink. A superb, oak-framed breakfast room, with its quirky light fitting and al fresco coffee area, both overlooking the garden, its summerhouse and honeysuckle-clad walls, complete a home that is, simply, gorgeous.