Icknield Street, Alvechurch, Worcestershire, B48

Built on the Roman road, Icknield Street, Weatheroak Farm is a beautifully restored detached family home dating back to the 16th century with Jacobean additions and fine exposed timbers. An abundance of period features are noted throughout, including exposed ceilings and wall beams, antique doors, inglenook fireplaces and bread ovens. Restoration work has been sympathetic to the timbered architecture of the house.

The front door opens into a porch leading to a generous reception hall with a beautiful inglenook fireplace, a wood burner inset, and a staircase rising to the first floor. Off the hall is a cloakroom with WC and wash basin, and from the hall, there are three steps leading to a dining room with a fireplace and rear aspect. A large kitchen/breakfast room has windows to three sides, chamfered ceiling timbers, tiled flooring and space for a large dining table, and an extensive range of kitchen cabinets with individually commissioned tiling behind and Corian working surfaces.

In addition to the hall, there are two generously spaced reception rooms, each with bay windows overlooking the gardens. The drawing room has an original bake oven and the sitting room has an inglenook fireplace. Both rooms have doors to provide access to the garden. There is a cellar beneath the dining room which provides a useful utility/workshop and storage facility.

Upstairs, four of the five bedrooms are double and one is single. All have ceiling and wall beams, some in dark oak and some in light oak, and all have fitted wardrobes. The principal bedroom has two basins and an en suite bathroom with a spa bath. The main guestroom (bedroom two) also has a hand basin. Bedroom five is currently used as a study with fitted furniture, and has a staircase leading to and attic above, again with fitted cupboards for storage. There is a family bathroom with bath and walk-in shower, and there is also a washroom with WC and basin at the other end of the landing, which itself has 16th century features.

A detached outbuilding with an attractive dovecote cupola is currently used as a games room with a shower room, a separate garden room and an externally accessible garden store. There is scope to convert this building into a self-contained annexe. The conservatory doors and windows in the annexe were upgraded in 2023.

The beautiful grounds total approximately 1.5 acres, including a large terrace with an ornate brick balustrade. It steps down to a formal parterre knot garden in Elizabethan style with box hedging. There are lovely, unspoilt country views protected by the Green Belt and the designation of a Landscape Protection Area. The remaining garden is laid to lawn and partly walled with shrub and herbaceous borders. The lawned front garden is well-screened by shrubs and evergreen bushes. Below the garden is a paddock with a hard tennis court and field shelter. The block paved parking is accessed via an electric five-bar gate, with plenty of parking and a detached triple garage.

Weatheroak Farm is in a very convenient and popular area of North Worcestershire. The popularity of Alvechurch owes much to its strategic location and amenities of the village, which include an excellent selection of shops for all everyday requirements, doctor's surgery, dental practice, optician, library, public houses and restaurants, railway station and canal marina.. The village also has playgroups, an Ofsted “Outstanding” nursery and a primary school. Other local amenities are available within Wythall, which also has a railway station (approximately 2½ miles away). Schools include Eversfield Prep School and Solihull School.

The property is well situated for easy access to several regional centres, including Bromsgrove, Redditch, Stratford-upon-Avon, Solihull and Central Birmingham, just 11 miles distant. The property is well located for Junctions 2 and 3 of the M42. The M5 is just a few miles to the west whilst it is only some 5 miles to the M40 (Junction 3A), the principal route to London from the West Midlands. Birmingham International Airport, the NEC and Birmingham International Railway Station are located off Junction 6 of the M42, approximately 14 miles distant. Regular inter-city rail services operate from Birmingham International to London Euston, whilst local trains from Alvechurch and Wythall connect into Birmingham. The Chiltern Line also runs from London Marylebone to Birmingham, with Solihull and Dorridge stations just 6 miles away.