Hookway Hill Oare, Lynton
£510,000

A four-bedroom detached stone cottage, with about two-acres of grounds and paddock and many original features, in an idyllic, sunny, valley setting. Outbuildings include a further one-bedroom stone cottage, an old stone barn, two stone stables, an open pole barn and a timber field shelter. The paddock and gardens slope gently down to the river. Many potential uses: smallholding; home-with-income; live & work; equestrian; or peaceful rural retreat.

Approach

From the quiet country lane outside, Parsonage Farm is approached via a track, with space for parking, leading to a wide wooden five-bar gate.

Parking & Turning area

The gate opens into a generous-sized parking and turning area, with space for several vehicles. A wooden picket-gate opens to a short and shallow concrete slope down to the kitchen door.

Outbuildings

Next to the parking area is an old stone barn divided into four sections, with many potential uses. Opposite the barn is a pair of stone stables with power and water supplied. Beyond the barn and stables is an open pole barn, offering further potential or storage. Between the stables and the paddock is a small turn-out yard with a wooden field shelter/log-store. A galvanised field gate opens into the paddock.

Paddock

A pasture field of slightly over one acre, sloping gently towards the river below.

Main House

A stone farmhouse with painted rendered exterior walls and a new slate roof. Outside the kitchen door is a paved courtyard area with access to the front of the house. To the right, a wooden door opens to the outside WC with low-level flush WC and hand basin. A double-glazed door opens into the

Boot Room

Double-glazed window to the side and two single glazed windows to the rear. Oil-fired central heating boiler. Space and plumbing for washing machine. Space for freezer. Hooks for coats. Cottage-style wooden door, with thumb-latch, to

Kitchen

Lino flooring. Casement windows to the side and rear. Three Velux windows to the rear. Range of wall and base kitchen units with worktops over. Space and plumbing for a dishwasher. Oil-fired AGA range cooker. Modern Bomatic range cooker with five LPG gas rings and electric double-oven below. Single-drainer stainless steel sink unit with chrome swan-neck mixer tap. Wooden cottage-style doors to living room and dining room.

Living Room

Fitted carpet. Two radiators. Solid wooden ceiling beams. Doors to dining room, office and stairwell. Double-glazed casement window to the rear, with wide wooden sill and built-in window seat, giving rural views across the garden to hills and fields beyond. Large open stone fireplace with heavy Bressumer beam above, stone hearth and cast-iron wood-burner.

Dining Room

Exposed wooden floor. Cottage-style door to kitchen. Double-glazed French door to the garden. Two casement windows to the side. Radiatior.

Office

Fitted carpet. Radiator. Wooden ceiling beams. Cottage-style door to stairwell. Double-glazed French door to the garden.

Stairwell

Under-stairs storage cupboard. Radiator. Stairs, with fitted carpet turn and rise to the first floor landing

First Floor

Landing

Fitted carpet. Doors to four bedrooms, attic and Bathroom. Radiator.

Bathroom

Cottage-style door. Lino flooring. Radiator with built-in towel rail. Modern white bathroom suite including bath, with chrome swan-neck mixer tap and electric shower above; Wash basin in a vanity unit, with swan-neck mixer tap; low-level flush WC. Double-glazed casement window to the side.

Bedroom One

Cottage-style door with thumb-latch. Fitted carpet. Radiator. Double-glazed casement windows to the front, overlooking the garden, with fine rural views.

Bedroom Two

Cottage-style door. Fitted carpet. Radiator. Victorian fireplace with cast-iron grate. Double-glazed casement windows to the front, overlooking the garden, with fine rural views.

Bedroom Three

Cottage-style door. Fitted carpet. Double-glazed casement windows to the side with rural views up the valley.

Bedroom Four

Cottage-style door. Fitted carpet. Double-glazed casement windows to the rear, overlooking the garden.

Attic

Walk-in attic with sloped ceiling (restricted head-height). Chip-board floor. Offering ample storage space.

Gardens

The main house has gardens to the front and rear. At the rear is a narrow strip of lawn and mixed shrub border with a wooden post-and-rail fence dividing it from a footpath which skirts the border of the property and leads down to the river, where there is a wooden foot-bridge and a shallow ford. At the front is a large area of lawn with mixed shrub borders and a timber garden shed. Beyond the fence at the bottom of the gently sloping lawn is a wide strip of river bank before the shallow river and ford. To the side is a gate to the turn-out yard and another gate into the paddock.

Cottage annex

A one-bedroom stone cottage, detached from, but beside the main house, with painted, rendered exterior walls under a new slate-tiled roof. The cottage also has its own small garden, which is mainly laid to lawn, with high hedges providing a good degree of privacy. A double-glazed door opens into the

Living Room

Exposed wooden floor. Radiator. Ceiling beams. Double-glazed windows to the rear. Large stone fireplace with solid Bresummer beam above, and a stone hearth with cast-iron wood burner. In the recess on each side of the fireplace is a cast-iron bowl, with wooden cover and a small hearth below. These are believed to have been used in times past for heating hot water. Doorway to kitchen. Open-riser wooden stairs to first floor.

Kitchen

Ceramic tiled floor. Range of wall and base kitchen units with worktop over. Single drainer stainless steel sink with matching mixer tap. Free-standing electric cooker. Double-glazed window to the side.

Bedroom

Fitted carpet. Radiator. Double-glazed casement windows to the front overlooking the garden. Door to en-suite bathroom.

En-suite Bathroom

Tiled on three walls. Panel-enclosed bath with Victorian-style taps and shower attachment. Pedestal wash basin. Low-level flush WC. Opaque double-glazed window to the front. Radiator.

Notes

Private water & drainage

Parsonage Farm benefits from a private water supply from a bore-hole and private drainage to a septic tank.

Council Tax

The main house is rated Band E (£1,817 in 2016/17) and the annex is rated Band A.

Location

Parsonage Farm is located near the village of Oare, within the Exmoor National Park, on the border between Devon and Somerset. The tiny rural villages of the Brendon Valley are well known as the setting for RD Blackmore’s classic adventure Lorna Doone. Nearby are Oare Church, Malmesmead, Robbers Bridge and Brendon, which all feature throughout the book. There are excellent country pubs at Malmesmead (Lorna Doone Inn), Brendon (Staghunters Inn), Rockford (Rockford Inn) and Countisbury (Blue Ball Inn). The area is criss-crossed by many footpaths and bridle paths, providing a huge choice for walkers and riders, and the wide open spaces of Brendon Common are with easy walking or riding distance. Nearby Porlock and Minehead provide shops and amenities a short drive to the East, plus easy access to Taunton and the M5. The delightful twin village of Lynton & Lynmouth is a short distance to the west.

Directions

Approaching from Minehead/Porlock (East) Follow the A39 out of Porlock, passing the Culbone Inn on your left after about 5 miles. Continue on the A39 for another couple of miles then take the left hand turn signposted to Oare 3/4, Malmsmead 1 1/2, with information signs to Lorna Doone Farm and Cloud Farm. Follow the road down into the valley and over the stone bridge, after which you will almost immediately come to a T-junction with Oare church opposite. Turn right at the T-junction and continue for about half a mile, going past Oaremead Farm. Parsonage Farm is the next turning on the right. Approaching from Lynton/Lynmouth (West) Follow the A39 out of Lynmouth and up Countisbury Hill, then passing the Blue Ball Inn on your right. Continue on the A39 for another three miles, then a couple of hundred yards after the County Gate car park take the right hand turn signposted to Oare 3/4, Malmsmead 1 1/2, with information signs to Lorna Doone Farm and Cloud Farm. Follow the road down into the valley and over the stone bridge, after which you will almost immediately come to a T-junction with Oare church opposite. Turn right at the T-junction and continue for about half a mile, going past Oaremead Farm. Parsonage Farm is the next turning on the right.