Station End, Turvey, Bedfordshire, MK43

MODERN FAMILY HOME WITH CHARACTER, QUALITY AND PROPORTIONS THAT BELIE ITS AGE

A fine-looking, 5-bedroom, detached stone and slate home that was built just before the Millennium but unashamedly borrows sought-after design detail from previous eras. A much-loved family home, with gardens front and back, plenty of driveway parking and an exciting children’s retreat above its car port. On the outskirts of the historic, North Bedfordshire riverside village of Turvey and minutes from the County town’s railway station, Hollyhocks is ready to welcome another fortunate family for the first time in two decades.

With its front garden well back from the main road, an oasis of greenery and magnificent Maple and Oak trees between, your new home is just six miles from Bedford, its world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools and outstanding Free School, its theatres, restaurants, galleries, cinema, and music venues, not to mention fast trains that reach London in less than 40 minutes. The market town of Olney, with its supermarkets and antique shops, is just over 4 miles away.

Wander across country from the old station (which gave the area its name) a couple of hundred yards from your front door, past Elderswell retirement village, to the beautiful River Great Ouse and the centre of Turvey, which has its own primary school, within the catchment of the secondary school in nearby Sharnbrook.

A Catholic Abbey lies at one end of the historic High Street, the glorious Saxon Church of All Saints at the other. And, in between, not one but two shops as well as two pubs, each offering something different, not to mention a post office and butcher’s. The village hall hosts all manner of events and societies for the friendly community and there are a wide range of sporting facilities, including tennis, cricket and football at the recreation ground, as well as a children’s play park. There’s something for all the family in this lovely village.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY

It’s often said that ‘they don’t build them like they used to’. There can be no such complaint with Hollyhocks. Feast your eyes on the perfectly pointed stone beneath the slate roof, and on the wonderfully elaborate gable barge board trim and finials (echoed beneath the door hood and above the car port) and be amazed that the date stone tells you that your new home was built as recently as 1996.

Step through the spacious hall and, if anything, be even more surprised at the high, intricately corniced ceilings, with their concomitant ceiling roses, natural light pouring in through tall windows. Each room would be equally at home in an elegant Victorian property, yet the overarching feel is of a comfortable home for the modern family, with oodles of versatile space.

You’ll no doubt want to put your stamp on your new home. Whilst it’s ready to welcome you, you might wish to update fixtures and fittings as and when you’re ready - to suit your needs. Prepare for some debate straight away, though, as to how you use certain rooms, especially on the vaulted-ceilinged top floor.

Don’t be surprised if any teenager claims the top floor as their quarters. But it could also be re-designed as an amazing guest or main bedroom suite, albeit you have one below already - one of three lovely, large bedrooms on the first floor. There’s already a super teenage hangout above the vine-bedecked car port, too.

Apart from your study, it’s all about space for the family to be together downstairs. Come home from that ramble with your dog across the fields, alongside the old railway line, to logs ablaze in the cosy sitting room fireplace, with its striking granite hearth. Cook, breakfast and entertain - the dining and sitting rooms opening as one when you wish. Read the papers over coffee in the lovely garden room, with its vaulted ceiling, winter heating beneath the tumbled travertine, French doors open to the terrace come summertime.

And to the wonderfully private gardens, lined by linden trees beloved by birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. Borders ready to come alive in spring, though with plenty of scope for the keen gardener. A lawn for children to play. An all-round great family home.