Souldern, North Oxfordshire

A pristine & sizeable barn conversion sitting alone among fields in just over an acre of pretty gardens. 36 ft kitchen/ day room with panoramic views, 4 bedrooms (3 en-suite) plus cinema room, dual aspect dining room & study, underfloor heating throughout, & hardstandings for many vehicles/garages.

Souldern is a small village on the North Oxfordshire border, seven miles south-east of Banbury with roots going back at least 900 years. For those in the know it is one of the few remaining truly secluded villages, tucked away off a single entry road and hence almost unknown to most. This is what gives it the feeling of a peaceful lifestyle mostly lost today. There is an excellent pub/restaurant The Fox Inn, a Norman church, a chapel, a village hall, plus play area and playing field.

Souldern is also one of the few villages in the area served by high speed fibre-optic broadband, making working from home truly viable. Banbury, Brackley and Bicester are all within easy distance with a good range of shopping and leisure facilities, and there are shops in many of the nearby villages. Bicester also offers the unrivalled facility of Bicester Village as well as a 45-minute rail service to London Marylebone. The M40 motorway at junction 10 is about three miles away and access to both Northampton and Milton Keynes is also straightforward. There are many reasons to live here. But as much as any, its access to beautiful Oxfordshire countryside on the doorstep, community spirit and tranquillity make Souldern the sort of place that people rarely want to leave.

Foxhill Barn is the culmination of a huge amount of work. The remains of the 18th century barn have been transformed into a bright, positive and very modern house with the most wonderful open-plan living space with its West-facing wall ALL glass. It has the air of a holiday home about it, with high ceilings in the main living area accentuating the already large space still further. The flow is natural and intelligent, with all bedrooms tucked away off the broad entrance hall that runs through the house to the kitchen and living spaces. And then there's the outside. Our client is a classic car collector and restorer hence there are significant areas of hard standing and shelter for cars behind double gates. But above all, with no neighbours in sight and fields surrounding the whole plot, it's almost uniquely private.

The feeling of remoteness, sitting with views of fields in all directions, belies the fact that the accessibility to everywhere is excellent. You can walk to the local pub in ten minutes. Road and rail links are just a few miles away. And with the advent of faster broadband in the last couple of years, working from home is as easy here as anywhere.

The front porch with its pair of glazed doors and flanking windows gives a little hint of the style and ethos of what lies beyond. Wide steps descend away from you down into a broad hallway, with a view right through the house. It's neat, unfussy but stylish, functional and very modern. Starting to the right side, the utility room is fitted with pristine white units topped off with a thick wooden work surface that also accommodates a large sink. Beyond it, the first of the bedrooms features glazed double doors opening onto a decked terrace, beyond which is delightful open farmland. This spacious room also hosts both a generous range of wardrobes and a smart, modern en-suite bathroom.

Back to the hallway and the largest of the bedrooms follows a similar theme but to an even larger scale. The entrance comes to a dressing space complete with wardrobes either side, plus shelves and a fitted dressing table. Open plan to the rear, the bedroom is amply proportioned, with more glazed doors opening to the same deck continued from the next door bedroom. And this time the en-suite is generous enough to house a bath as well as a separate shower.

On the left of the hall, a neat cloak room is perfect for hiding boots and coats to keep the hallway uncluttered. Next to it the boiler room houses a large, pressurised hot water tank plus various vacuum chambers to ensure efficient high-pressure hot water flow. Thereafter a large bathroom continues the theme of modernity and neat styling, with ample space for a chest of drawers or similar. Beyond, the hallway reaches two more bedrooms.

The first is an ample double, looking out towards the hedgerow with its profusion of birdlife. Next door, an even larger bedroom faces the same way, and wardrobes are built in. Another en-suite is fitted, mirroring the style of the utility with its pristine white cupboards topped off with timber. And the corner bath has a "soaker" shower overhead. Unusually, there is also a cinema room. While a roof light would be a simple addition if desired, for a cinema room with a projector, natural light is unwise. Just add some surround sound and iMax has a rival! For its intended purpose this room is uniquely well designed, and it doubles as a further guest room when needed.

And to the end of the hall, the house opens up to offer the most wonderful space framed by over 700 square feet of full-height, full-width glazing. Facing West over fields, sliding doors open wide to invite the outside in far more than most properties could ever offer. Far-reaching across open farmland, the view really is uniquely lovely, offering full immersion in ever-changing seasons and sunsets, whether with the sliding doors open onto the full-width deck in the summer with a glass or two, or comfy behind them in the winter in the warmth of the wood burner.

With that view it's almost easy to forget the measure of the living space it lights. The kitchen manages to be both huge and welcoming, practical and stylish. A large breakfast bar-equipped island sits comfortably away from the units that run around two walls with a range cooker and a high quality sink flanked by granite work surfaces. At the other end of the room the main seating area is so ample any suite sits comfortably here with room to spare. For scale, this one room is a similar size to many two bedroom houses. And yet the light and the relaxed layout, ensure it never feels anything less than perfectly relaxed and inviting. At either end further rooms provide more private spaces, here used as a dining room and a study. Both are dual aspect with more of those same lovely views.

Outside needs a little explanation. The driveway only serves the local farmer's field access and Foxhill Barn. The house has driveways to front and rear, both of which are gated. The first is a broad and gravelled with parking for a good number of cars and the house entrance to the left. As our client is a classic car collector, a temporary garage and a storage container currently sit to the right but these will be removed on sale. In their place there is ample space for all manner of ancillary structures to be erected (electricity supply already in place), subject to planning - please ask if you need further advice. Beyond them, a broad expanse of lawn runs across to the far fence, with a wide diversity of flowers, shrubs and other plants filling borders alongside a post and rail fence. Steps flanked by stone-walled plant beds drop gently down to a further lawn that flanks the whole right side of the house next to the deck, with yet more planted borders against the post and rail.

At the rear of the house another multi-car driveway is sturdily enclosed by stone walling, in the centre of which is a pair of thick timber gates. The double car port off to the side provides masses of sheltered storage; this could easily be converted for a wide range of other uses - again, please ask for further advice if required. There's also a shed plus a log store. And timber steps lead up, flanked by a slender planter bed in both directions, to the deck behind the kitchen. Our vendor tells us this is an almost daily spot for an evening drink or supper as the West-facing views and sunsets are some of the best in the County.

Mains water, electric, drainage
Cherwell District Council
Freehold
Council tax band G
£3,986-69 p.a. 2025/26