North Street, Middle Barton, Chipping Norton, OX7

A rather charming detached Victorian cottage with three double bedrooms, two living rooms (both with fireplaces), a 21 ft kitchen/diner, good sized cellar, and a pretty back garden including gated parking at the bottom.

Middle Barton is one of three linked Barton villages approximately 7 miles from Woodstock, dating back to pre-Norman times. Between them they offer a range of facilities including pubs, an award-winning restaurant, a garage and a village shop / post office. The village has extensive sporting facilities and a children s playground. The primary school is within easy walking distance, and it is exceptionally well regarded. While rural and very much tucked away, the village is well placed mid-way between Oxford and Banbury, amongst other charming North Oxfordshire Cotswold locations such as Great Tew and Duns Tew. Commutability is easy. Lower Heyford station is 5 minutes away with connections to Oxford, London (Paddington), Banbury and Birmingham (New Street). Oxford Parkway Station, in nearby Kidlington, has direct connections to London (Marylebone). It is 15 minutes by car to J10 of the M40. A local bus service circulates around the nearby villages. And for those of you that need to work from home there is both fibre to cabinet broadband and Gigaclear ultrafast broadband available.

Clearwell Cottage is a lovely property. Extended in more modern times, it started life as a pretty but small cottage which would have been rather too compact for modern taste. The 20th century double story addition to the rear has transformed that. Hence today the square footage is far more generous, but more than that the proportions of all the rooms are also very usable. Witness a 21 ft long kitchen, and three bedrooms all of which are very respectable doubles. And we wouldn t normally talk about a cellar, but this one can be used as either very generous storage or an office. This cottage does everything extremely well; add the character dimension and it s a very tempting prospect.

The cottage is accessed via a door central to the pretty facade, between a pair of bay windows. This leads into an entrance hall with exposed wooden stairs leading away from you, and the floors to both left and right are also timber. Take a left and the first of two bay-fronted receptions is a very pretty snug, the perfect cozy evening/TV room, complete with a modern wood burning stove nestling in an exposed stone fireplace. On the other side of the hall, the second reception is similar, with another bay window to the front and a further wood burning stove in a fireplace edged with brick. The dimensions of the room are similar to next door, and the light is even better as the opening to the rear accesses an incredibly bright kitchen. A door to the left leads down to the cellar, a pleasant surprise. Head height between the joists is a little over 6 feet, hence our fairly tall vendors have been able to use it as a home office combined with storage for all manner of things.

We mentioned double doors into the kitchen. Once through them, you re greeted by a really wonderful space. The dark tiled floor contrasts nicely with the white rear walls and the lovely honey-coloured stone of the original back wall. The light coming through the various windows looking out towards the garden is excellent hence the room feels even larger than it is. This room is the perfect proportions for a kitchen. On the right the space is ample for a table and half a dozen chairs, sat next to a floor to ceiling windows flanked by further glazed panels. To the left, units round three sides contain a stainless steel range cooker, a double butler sink overlooking the garden, a US-style fridge freezer, and ample storage within a suite of good quality units topped with granite.

Head up those timber stairs, and at the top there are three bedrooms. The largest of three is off to the left, a very charming and well proportioned double that s also fitted with a deep cupboard above the stairs. Opposite, a second bedroom is a little more compact, still an ample double. And the final double bedroom is positioned to the rear, with two large windows looking out across both its own garden plus pastureland beyond, running down towards the River Dorn. Serving all three, the bathroom is much larger than expected and hence fitted with both a bath and separate shower. That timber floor found on the stairs and landing continues here, contrasting pleasantly with the fully tiled walls. And the clear glass shelf topped off with a circular sink is a stylish touch.

Outside, the house sits back from the street at the front behind pretty, iron railings set between stone pillars. The space between this and the front wall of the house is gravel for easy maintenance. To the right side the entrance that accesses the neighbouring houses leads down past our stone boundary wall to first a pedestrian gate in the fence and then double gates to access the driveway parking. Behind the house, an attractive pair of borders flank the kitchen door, and beyond that a paved terrace offers plenty of space for dining outside. Several steps lead down past more planted borders to a gravel area next to which is the log store. And the driveway is situated at the end, offering gated space for one car currently but we suspect changing the fencing could yield a second space if desired.Mains water, electricity, gas CHWest Oxfordshire D CFreeholdCouncil tax band C?2,040 p.a. 2022/23