For Sale5 Bedroom Detached House in The Oast House, Picketts Lane, Horney Common, Uckfield, TN22 3EG£1,295,000

If you are looking for privacy and seclusion in a rural environment, surrounded by fields and woodland, this fascinating and characterful Oast house could be the answer. It is accessed along a private track that ultimately leads to a farm but provides access to an enclave of four properties that includes two barn conversions and the Oast, all facing in different directions, so each garden is not overlooked. The property nestles in just over an acre of beautiful gardens and grounds. It is approached via a gravel driveway with a double garage and a seven bar gate leading to a spacious inner parking area and a pathway to the main entrance flanked by shrub beds and lawned areas. With its roundel, attractive Victorian brickwork, chimneystacks, diamond pane windows and a charming pitched roof porch with an arched entrance it has instant appeal even before you walk through the front door and see the internal period features. These include exposed beams, beautiful fireplaces and the circular rooms. The period front door opens into the hallway with quarry tiled flooring, the staircase and understairs cupboard as well as the cloakroom. There is a very spacious light and bright triple aspect sitting room with exposed ceiling beams, French doors to the terrace and an impressive limestone fireplace with a log burner you can cosy up to on a cool winter’s evening. A well-proportioned dual aspect family room provides a delightful place for relaxing in front of the TV or playing games with the family. It also has a fireplace with a fascinating unusual surround, a stone hearth and a log burning stove that keeps the room really warm. The very useful study includes a fitted cupboard and a door to the rear walled garden. Guests will enjoy being invited to sit down to a meal in the charming circular dining room with oak flooring and a westerly facing window that catches the evening sun. The dining room has direct access to the modern country style kitchen/breakfast room with its terracotta tiled flooring, Nobel oil fired four oven range cooker with a tiled splashback and attractive wall and floor units with oak worktops.  Appliances include a fan assisted built in NEFF oven, and an integrated microwave, fridge and dishwasher. There is also a walk-in larder, a hatch to an un-boarded loft and a composite door to the rear walled garden. A secondary entrance lobby provides access to the utility room including a condensing Grant boiler (installed 2023), and spaces for washing machine, dryer, fridge and upright freezer. There is also access to a boarded loft. From the lobby, there is also a door to a double bedroom with an ensuite shower room. This is very useful for guests who find the stairs difficult, or it would make an excellent office for anyone working from home, as business visitors could use the secondary entrance and not venture into the private part of the home. However, because it is adjacent to the integral garage, there is the potential to create a totally self-contained annex, subject to the appropriate planning permissions. Upstairs, the landing leads to a contemporary family bathroom with loft access, a family shower room, and four double bedrooms. One of the bedrooms has a period cast iron fireplace while all the bedrooms have wonderful rural views across farmland and, in some cases, as far as the South Downs. The superb master suite is in the circular oast. The bedroom leads to a good sized dressing area with fitted wardrobes, and a door to a luxury ensuite bathroom with a claw footed rolltop bath. The bedroom has access to a boarded loft in the roof of the oast. There is access to a further unboarded loft from the dressing room. The secluded and secure grounds are another special feature of this property. There are swathes of lawn, beautiful specimen trees, recently planted fruit trees, delightful shrub and flower beds, and a vegetable garden all surrounded by six foot stock fencing covered by a beech hedge so is extremely safe for children and animals. It keeps the pets in and the deer out. There is also an underground rain water tank with a submersible pump providing water for the garden as well as two garden storage sheds and a greenhouse. What the owners say: It took us a long time to find this delightful and unusual family home but we just fell in love with it the moment we saw it. However, after 29 years it is now time to downsize and pass the baton on to new owners. Prior to our moving in, the property was upgraded with a new slate roof, new plumbing, rewiring, new kitchen and bathrooms and double glazed diamond pane windows. We have completely redesigned the garden and grounds since much of it was originally a sheep field! Although we are discreetly hidden away in a rural idyll, we have easy access to the A22/A26/A272 for Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne and Haywards Heath. Nearby, Uckfield includes two supermarkets, a cinema and leisure centre with a swimming pool as well as a variety of independent shops and eateries. The railway station provides direct trains to London Bridge taking one hour 20 minutes. There is parking opposite the station. Uckfield College secondary school is rated Outstanding by Ofsted, while there are numerous primary schools in and around the town, the nearest being Nutley Primary School. There are many beautiful walks directly from the house. Footpaths take you across the fields to Fletching and its famous pub The Griffin. The Ashdown Forest is a short stroll up the lane, where you can walk for miles on Henry VIII’s old hunting grounds, while Pooh Bridge is a short drive away near Hartfield on top of the forest. There is golf at Piltdown, the Royal Ashdown Forest and East Sussex National golf clubs. The local villages play cricket, football and tennis and there is a bowls club in Nutley. There is also horse riding available here on the farm.