High Street, Upper Heyford, Bicester, OX25

An exquisite early Georgian cottage with 4 beds & a detached stone office, offered in delightful condition throughout and sat on a sleepy village lane but still a stone's throw from amenities & commutable via nearby road and rail links. Beams, flagstones, range cooker - just lovely.

Upper Heyford is a quiet and secluded village away from the beaten track but within easy reach of amenities and road/ rail links. The community is vibrant and varied with a well-used village hall and green plus a good local pub. Many villagers also enjoy a walk of around a mile down the Oxford Canal to Lower Heyford where a shop and cafe can be found at the canal wharf as well as a further good pub. Rail access is excellent with Lower Heyford having a station feeding to Oxford and London Paddington, Bicester North and Bicester Town stations are 7 miles East with fast and frequent trains into London Marylebone. Road links are also excellent with both the M40 and A34 a short drive away. And nearby Heyford Park, a new development of houses on a now redundant RAF base, is fast increasing amenities which include a school, Sainsburys and bus service today but will feature far more in the near future.

Caleb's Farmhouse sits on a quiet lane of houses that mostly date back hundreds of years. All speak of a time when this village grew around a thriving canal and busy farms. And that legacy provides us with some of the prettiest architecture this county has to offer. From iron-hard timbers to flagstone floors to Inglenook fireplaces and a Rayburn range, it's everything you would hope for and more. And this is amply embellished by the level of love the vendors have clearly put into this house, evidenced by the quality of windows, kitchen fittings, bathroom sanitaryware, even light switches... But quite apart from all that, it's a pleasant surprise to find how practical it is. The layout flows well, there's good natural light, ceiling heights are fine for modern generations, and in addition to all this there's a detached office in the garden that's a ready-made work space. If it were not for a different phase in life, our vendors would have no reason to leave. However, they are purchasing a new property which will be ready to occupy (with no chain) towards end of 2021 so their course is set! Hopefully their loss is your gain...

The moment you enter the house, up the four gentle steps under a pretty open porch, it's impossible not to smile. You step into a room that is quite delightful. A thick central beam flanked by the more minor joists runs directly away from you towards a large window gazing out to the garden. The Inglenook fireplace is charming, and the wood burner fitted within it conjures images of its flickering warmth on snowy winter evenings. And how the flagstone floor has remained this well preserved we don't know... It all adds up to a room that just oozes a feeling of invitation and joy. The same can be said of the dining room behind. While more modern in age, it radiates much of the cottage feeling as it shares both the stone floors and ceiling timbers of the living room. Although this time the ceiling is vaulted, giving it a greater feeling of space than the actually quite generous proportions already provide. And to the rear a pair of glazed doors, flanked with further glazed panels, perfectly links the room with the terrace and garden beyond. It's a lovely, light and positive room.

Back towards the living room, take a left into the kitchen. A similar size and feel to the living room, here we swap wood burner for Rayburn range, and pretty farmhouse-style wooden units run along the front either side of a Belfast sink. A more pleasant place to do the washing up would be hard to find! The sink sits in front of the window overlooking the front garden and sleep lane beyond. And the room is both well proportioned and a good enough size to accommodate a generous breakfast table with plenty of room to spare for a dresser. There are also little nooks and crannies that provide interesting extra store spaces - the old bread ovens either side of the range in particular. As elsewhere, this room just oozes personality. Behind the kitchen, extending the house gave an opportunity to create a rear hall/ lobby leading to the garden that is the ideal wet dog lobby after a muddy walk, and this also links to a cloak room that is pristine and well planned to include a vanity providing some extra handy storage.

From the back of the kitchen a pretty timber stair leads up to the bedrooms. The landing at the top is framed by a rather charming timber balustrade, and the window to the rear provides great natural light. Head left to the first of four bedrooms. What look to be the original Elm, wide-plank boards confirm the age of this room. More a generous single it could operate as a compact double if needed, but it's probably ideal as a child's bedroom or a study. Next door the bathroom is a very pleasant surprise. Not just modern and well-fitted, it's also large with a shower cubicle and separate bath, catering for all tastes. The large tiles also make it easy to keep clean as well as giving it a feeling of neat simplicity, and note the door opening into a generous airing cupboard. Carry on down the landing past a deep under stairs cupboard and you reach a larger bedroom that's a useful shape, narrower towards the rear hence that end wall is fitted with a range of storage, while the front is an ample double space. And again those wonderful wide plank boards are proudly displayed underfoot.

And now the top floor. Loft conversions can be irksome compromises, but in this case the attic rooms are a delight. To the left the first double bedroom is beautifully characterful with a tall ceiling and exposed timber roof trusses harking back to the days when the cottage was thatched. The dormer window provides a delightful view out across the fields beyond the village. This is the same for the other double next door, which is a similar size with a similar vaulted ceiling but without the roof trusses - although the timber purlins are left exposed - and this room is also fitted with a wardrobe. Both rooms are thoroughly charming and surprisingly practical, and both are bright with their two windows apiece.

Outside, the space is pretty generous. At the front, the house sits a good distance back from what is in any case a very quiet lane, behind a low stone wall. The garden is wide as well as deep, and the vendors have trod a shrewd path between ease of use and beauty by paving some parts, gravelling others, and equipping the whole with a wide and diverse mix of Honeysuckle, Rhododendron, various hydrangeas, an apple tree, box hedging and even a Carp pond. It's very pretty, interesting and attractive without being a trauma to keep. Note there is also parking available unrestricted on the lane to the front. Further dedicated parking can be found at the rear of the house where there is a space behind the garage reached via Orchard Lane.

What was the garage has been cleverly converted to provide a real home office complete with insulation and storage where the vendors have worked for some years, overlooking the garden. Between it and the house the garden is as well thought out as the frontage. The garage plays host to a veranda which is equally ideal for shade on a hot day or barbecues when the weather is uncertain! Then an area of gravel keeps the upkeep simpler while providing a flexible area for seating. Then there's the terrace behind the house next to the dining room. As with the frontage, a myriad of roses and many other plants all conspire to make it an idyll - i'm just not sure i'd ever get any work done... And as the garden is so completely secluded from either neighbouring windows or any real noise source, it's the embodiment of peaceful settings.