2 bed detached house for sale

Spring Lane, Stagsden, Bedfordshire MK43

Fabulous, highly energy efficient forever home - with outside office in wonderful garden

A striking combination of traditional beauty outside and ultra-modern style inside, with a lovely bedroom suite both upstairs and downstairs, solar panels on the roof and ground source heating beneath the floor – all designed in 2009 by the award-winning Tye Architects. With a delightful, southeast-facing garden of over a third of an acre, a studio office within it that takes advantage of a super view, and parking for numerous cars, Spring Cottage is tucked off the High Street in a lane that runs alongside the common in the picturesque Bedfordshire village of Stagsden.

The land on which your new home stands was once part of Village Farm and was sold to the Crown following the death of the Lord of Stagsden Manor in 1869. It only returned to private hands in 1921, and Spring Cottage now neighbours the beautiful 17th century farmhouse – it’s fascinating that the narrow track, closed off by a 5-bar gate, which runs between the two houses was once the main lane into the village.

For a rural village, Stagsden could barely be better placed for being close to road and rail networks and all other facilities, just 4 miles from the County town, its fast trains to London in 40 minutes and its world-renowned Harpur Trust private schools. The catchment primary school in Bromham is just a couple of miles, with Biddenham Secondary only 4 miles away, both rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted. You can zip round on the A422 to Milton Keynes in just 20 minutes and Luton Airport is only 25 miles on the A6 and A421.

Yet there’s so much in Stagsden itself, the sense of community symbolised by the village sign carved by a villager and surrounded by raised beds from where you can help yourself to herbs. There are thriving allotments and a beautifully restored 19th century village hall which hosts all manner of events, including a pop-up pub.

Wander along the lane to the Grade i-listed, 13th century Church of St Leonard, and to Brown’s Farm Shop, where you can meet friends for coffee and cake, and choose from a fine selection of meats, cheeses and vegetables. If you’re a keen golfer, the oldest course in the county, complete with 19th hole overlooking the 18th Green, is in the village on the other side of the main road – you can even cross on foot at the bottom of your garden and be there in minutes. Moreover, beautiful countryside for you and your dog is on the doorstep, too. Spring Cottage is a super home in a sought-after village.
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Turn off the High Street into Spring Lane and pull into the extensive gravelled space in front of your new home, surrounded by native hedging and a row of young hornbeam trees, both beloved by wildlife, bees busy amongst a mass of pretty sweet peas, and it feels for all the world as if you’re far from the madding crowd. The cottage itself could barely be more beautiful, with its perfectly lime-pointed stone, contrasting weatherboarding and reclaimed old clay tiles.

And nor could the garden - an adventure playground for children, with the copse at the bottom and the great oak for climbing; an orchard of plums, sloes, mulberries, apples and blackberries, with fruit and vegetable enclosures, too; and a pond, surrounded by old cobbles, awaiting the winter rainfalls - a veritable haven for nature, amongst which you can work in your super outdoor office, with its far-reaching view to the other side of the valley beyond the road.

Inside, climb the oak, glass and steel staircase to your amazing, vaulted-ceilinged, beech-floored bedroom suite, and that view, beyond the pretty white roses clambering through the striking red maple, is yours each morning – and as the autumn leaves fall, the wonderful landscape is revealed in all its glory.

And if and when you prefer not to climb the stairs, you have another lovely suite below – bedroom, shower room and living space all on one level downstairs, with an elegant, easy-to-maintain, porcelain floor throughout.

Spring Cottage is all about energy efficiency and natural light-filled, stylish space, with the liberal use of translucent glass and with white-based, quartz-topped, handleless kitchen furniture housing high-end Miele and Siemens appliances. Solar panels help keep bills low. Expensive, designer radiators upstairs perfectly complement the stainless steel of the bespoke staircase and, along with underfloor heating downstairs, provide the winter warmth from your superb ground source heat pump. Sophisticated insulation ensures that you might not want to use your log burner at the same time.

Throw open the French doors in summertime and eat al fresco on the terracotta terrace beneath the grapevine-clad pergola. Relax with glass of something in sun or shade surrounded by the scent of roses and rosemary, and the song of the birds that share your beautiful garden with you – a sheer deligh