Don't just exist – enjoy your life

People don’t really live in the Vale of Pewsey – the existence is far too idyllic to be described so simply. What they tend to do is enjoy life, with the Marlborough Downs framing their life to one side and the escarpment of Salisbury Plain the other. Sandwiched between these two is wonderful walking, riding, and recreational country dissected by the Kennet and Avon Canal – the Vale truly has something to offer everyone.

Of course, while such delights add variety to life the essentials, such as earning a living, also have to be considered and as well as the major centres of Marlborough, Devizes, and Salisbury being readily accessible by road there is also a mainline train service that reaches Paddington in around an hour from Pewsey itself.

Only about three miles from Pewsey is the community of Bottlesford, where a superb family home called Tawsmead has come onto the market. It has its origins principally in the 19th Century, although it’s possible some parts are older and there are also later additions.

The house has now been renovated to provide a spacious family home that has a separate annexe easily capable of being incorporated into the main accommodation. Sitting well back from the lane behind a hedge, Tawsmead sits in the centre of its plot and faces south so it catches the best of the light all day.

In country homes like this, it’s frequently the kitchen that forms the hub of activities, and that’s definitely the case with Tawsmead. The recently added working area is generously proportioned and opens into a breakfast room with a window seat set into a bay. An arch in this part of the room links to the dining room. The kitchen also connects via a utility with shower room through a boot room to a games / family room where French windows open to the garden.

At the front of the house, double bays windows form an attractive feature, one of them lighting the reception hall and the other the study. At the rear is a large sitting room with an attractive painted brick and stone chimney breast housing an open fireplace.

On the first floor, the main part of the house has four bedrooms, the master with wardrobes arranged along one wall that separates the sleeping area from the en-suite shower room. The large landing also gives access to the other three bedrooms and the family bathroom.

The adjoining annexe, on the west side of the main house, has a south-facing sitting room on the ground floor as well as a kitchen and cloakroom access from its own hallway, where the main door opens into the rear garden. On the first floor of the annexe is a bathroom, sliding doors to eaves storage, and a bedroom with a door that links back to the main house.

Hedges and fences enclose the entire garden, which overlooks an area of paddock with an orchard beyond. The driveway at the side allows for ample parking and there’s a car port for several cars.

Guide price for Tawsmead is £775,000. For more details, contact Dreweatt Neate in Marlborough, email marlborough@dnproperty.co.uk.