EVERYONE`S IDEA OF AN OLDE-WORLD COTTAGE

By Judy Marriott - Friday, May 16, 2008

The pretty, thatched Priors Cottage, Brighstone.Picture by JENNIFER BURTON. Scroll down for more pictures.

PROPERTY OF THE WEEK
THE glorious image of beautiful thatched Priors Cottage, with delicate wisteria blossom and roses and honeysuckle around the door has been captured on camera by people from all over the world.
Only last weekend Japanese visitors were snapping the immaculate frontage of the Grade II listed home, set well back from the main road in the heart of Brighstone.
If they had peeped into the front windows, with lovely working shutters, or taken a look at the cottage’s rear elevations, they would also be impressed with its olde-worlde-style charm.
What would have come as a big surprise is that this superb home was extended at the back three years ago to create a wonderful spacious family/dining room plus a large en-suite master bedroom above.
Carried out in a careful sympathetic style by well-known Brighstone-based J. R. Buckett and Sons, the scheme has enabled the highly active McEwen family to enjoy the best of both worlds at Priors Cottage.
Said mum Gill: “We have the lovely older parts of the cottage, plus a very useable modern area.
“My son is in a band, my husband in a jazz band and the family rooms serves as everything from a band practice area to a place to play table tennis, a unicycle arena and a room where we had a New Year’s Eve party for 100 people.”
Because only a curved breakfast bar separates this great 26ft by 21ft space from the kitchen it is ideal for entertaining, as whoever is doing the cooking can feel part of what is going on.
In fine weather meals can be enjoyed on a flagged terrace, reached via French doors from the dining area.
Gill, husband Andrew and their two children have lived happily at Priors Cottage, which is thought to date back around four centuries, for ten years.

As well as adding the extension, they have upgraded the central heating and wiring, put quality oak flooring in many downstairs areas, redecorated using pale shades with a hint of warmth and had the roof re-thatched with reeds.
Acquiring additional land has doubled the size of the gardens, which create a lovely setting with an abundance of pretty flowers and shrubs at the front and are more family-friendly at the rear with a stretch of lawn ideal for playing games.
While Priors Cottage is right in the heart of the village, opposite the tea gardens and church and with shops, a doctor’s surgery and pub a few paces away, it is also surprisingly peaceful.
Downland providing delightful walks can be seen from rear windows and the garden and one bedroom even has a glimpse of the sea not far away.
If village life and a picture-postcard home with a rare combination of traditional appeal and more modern sociable open-plan living are what you are after, then this lovely home should not be missed.
There is plenty of parking space on a driveway leading through the pretty front gardens to a turning area and garage with plumbing for a washing machine.
Enhancing the stone and chalk frontage are four eyebrow windows peeping out from under the thatch and a thatch-topped entrance porch.
This leads to an oak-floored reception hall/morning room with stairs to the first floor and shutters to a front window.
Double doors opening to the front garden from the 19ft by 12ft sitting room also have working shutters and the family love to close both sets of shutters in the winter and feel snug inside.
Warming the sitting room is a multi-fuel stove with fitted cupboards to each side.
Providing plenty of natural light and downland views in the family/dining room with oak flooring are side and rear French doors, plus a door to a herb garden on the other side.
Beyond a breakfast bar with chunky oak top is the kitchen, looking out through dangling wisteria blossom to the front garden. It is fitted with attractive hand-built pine wall and floor cupboards with granite tops and has a built-in halogen hob, electric double oven, dishwasher, fridge and freezer plus stylish Travertine flooring.
An inner lobby leads to a shower room and a study with a low rear window looking out through thatch to the back garden and a high side window.
Storage is plentiful at Priors Cottage and the generous 25ft by 13ft bedroom one has lots of it, in the shape of cottage-style built-in ward-robes and extensive eaves space.
This bright triple-aspect room look out to the downs through a rear window and has a luxurious Jacuzzi bath and pebble-style flooring in its en-suite bathroom.
High ceilings characterise bedroom two, which has a front outlook over the village and including a sea glimpse.
Built-in cupboards can be found in both of the other front-facing bedrooms.
Also upstairs is a bathroom with oak flooring, a white suite and an array of built-in white-painted storage and airing cupboards.
Tall cedar trees partly line the rear boundary of the sunny, south-facing rear garden, a lawned area with views to the downs, fruit trees and other mature trees providing shade. There are also shrubs and plants, a greenhouse and shed.

HOME FILE
Location...Brighstone
Bedrooms...Four
Price...Guide £575,000
Agent...Hose Rhodes Dickson Country Homes
Tel...01983 538090

• Find your new Island home with the CP's online IW Property Search at www.iwcp.co.uk/Property.aspx

EVERYONE`S IDEA OF AN OLDE-WORLD COTTAGE

Weather

Subscribe