5 bedroom detached house for sale

A Period House Reimagined This handsome 1930s detached home sits comfortably within a generous plot, set well back from the road in a way that immediately creates a sense of space and calm. Step inside and the story becomes rather interesting. Where many houses of this era divide themselves into a sequence of smaller rooms, this one has been completely reimagined. The interior has been opened up and reshaped to create fewer spaces of far greater scale - a house that adapts to modern family life rather than insisting on the habits of another era. There's a sense of levity about the whole house. Clean lines replace unnecessary ornament. No fussy cornicing, no decorative ceiling roses - just calm, generous rooms, an abundance of natural light and a rich solid wood floor that runs throughout, quietly holding everything together. At the heart of it all is an enormous open-plan living space combining kitchen, dining and sitting areas arranged around an island of almost runway proportions. Vast glazing opens fully onto a wide tiled terrace and the garden beyond, dissolving the boundary between house and garden altogether. On a warm summer day with the doors folded back, the effect is rather glorious. This is a room designed for company. It's easy to imagine friends gathered here, something good on the stove, a big match on the screen and a bottle of something excellent brought up from the wine cellar. This cellar, rather wonderfully, is housed in the garden's former WWII air-raid shelter - now repurposed for something far more civilised. The overall mood is relaxed and quietly confident. In fact, it delivers a style of living more often associated with Los Angeles or Sydney than traditional London suburbs - open, sociable and effortlessly connected to the garden. The lower ground continues the theme. Rather than feeling like an afterthought, it operates as a genuine additional floor with impressive ceiling heights and plenty of natural light. Here you'll find spaces dedicated to work, fitness and relaxation, including a gym, cinema room, office and a large bathroom. Upstairs, bedrooms are calm, light-filled retreats. Several benefit from wide panoramic glazing, drawing in views across surrounding gardens, mature trees and open sky. Outside, the landscaped garden offers a series of terraces, planting beds and seating areas - plenty of places to entertain, unwind or simply enjoy the greenery. A period house that has been intelligently reshaped for modern living - generous in scale, full of light and designed simply to be lived in and enjoyed.