An overview of Oak House, North Marston
Passing under the outer porch at the front of the house, the inner porch is reached via the front door and leads through further doors to the entrance hall. This has the staircase to the first floor, a cloakroom and doors to the dining room. Further doors access the sitting room, the study/snug and the kitchen/breakfast room, which has a door to the utility room. Leading off the first-floor landing are four double bedrooms, one of which has an en suite shower room, the family bathroom and there is a staircase to the second floor. The second-floor landing has doors to two double bedrooms (one currently used as a gym) a shower room with a sauna, an office and a storeroom. The second floor is solid concrete and like the ground floor has underfloor heating and each room has a wired wall mounted thermostatic control. All the walls on the ground and first floor are double thickness breeze blocks providing Insulation and noise reduction
Ground Floor
A brick arch spans the sheltered and tiled porch over the front door with firewood storage space on each side. The oak front door has flanking leaded windows and opens into an inner porch with a cloaks’ cupboard on one side and a low cupboard on the other. Further, glazed double doors with flanking windows open to the hallway which has the oak staircase with turned balusters, low panelling, and a carved handrail to the first floor. The travertine tiled floor continues from the inner porch and hall, into the dining room. There is a cloakroom with an obscured window at the front and a raised obscured window allowing light into the hallway. An understairs cupboard has ample storage room, shelves and the Heatmaster controls for the underfloor heating on the ground floor.
Kitchen/Breakfast/Family Room
The triple aspect, open plan room has a window to the courtyard and a bay of triple-glazed floor-to-ceiling windows in the family area with French doors to the rear patio and remarkable views over the garden and beyond. This room has Italian porcelain flooring throughout, which echoes the porcelain tiling of the patio, creating a sense of continuation when the doors are open. Under an oak mantel is a five-oven AGA with a gas hob and a Quartzite natural stone splashback, which matches the worksurface and splashback above a set of built-in drawers on the east wall. The rest of the kitchen is fitted with bespoke base and wall units which are hand painted and wooden-lined, some with glazed doors for display, with contrasting quartz worksurfaces. The quartz continues over the peninsula which has breakfast seating for up to four with feature pendant lights above. There is an inset Frankel one-and-a-half stainless steel sink, an integrated Miele dishwasher and space for an American style fridge/freezer.
Utility Room
With the same Italian porcelain flooring, the utility room has a window and glazed door to the courtyard and a walk-in pantry with shelving. The bespoke hand painted units match those in the kitchen, some floor-to-ceiling, with open wooden shelving and a quartz worksurface with an inset stainless steel sink under the window. There is space and plumbing for a washing machine and tumble dryer.
Sitting Room
Measuring 24 ft. by over 17 ft., like the open plan kitchen/breakfast/family room, the sitting room is a feature of the house. It has a canted bay window and a deep wooden sill or window seat beneath, taking full advantage of the garden views and landscape beyond. On the west wall is an open fireplace set on a slate hearth with The Portland stone arched surround (reflecting the characteristic arch over the front entrance) also has a bespoke carved wooden mantelpiece. There is a moulded dentil plaster cornice throughout the ground floor.
Dining Room and Study/Snug
Double oak panelled doors lead from the entrance hall to the dining room with ample room for a table seating 10 - 12 people. Travertine tiled flooring with a border continues from the entrance hall, and the room has double glazed bespoke oak framed casement windows overlooking the front.
Opposite, the study/snug measures 13 ft. by over 10 ft. It is at the north side of the house and is dual aspect with leaded oak casement windows and window sills, overlooking the front and the side of the house. Tucked away from the main flow of the house it makes a usefully remote study or home office (there is fibre optic broadband into the property).
First Floor
The galleried first floor landing has a storage cupboard and a low double doored cupboard housing the main manifolds for the Heatmaster underfloor heating on this floor. Doors access four double bedrooms and a family bathroom. There is ample room for soft seating or an additional reading area beneath a window overlooking the front. A wooden staircase in the same style as that on the ground floor, continues to the second-floor landing. The first and second floors have concrete floors to limit noise
Principal Bedroom Suite
The main part of the rear of the property is spanned by a south facing balcony with Italian porcelain tiled flooring and a glazed balustrade, which allows uninterrupted views over the garden and farmland beyond. The principal bedroom has powder-coated aluminium sliding doors which open onto the balcony which has ample room for seating. The principal bedroom measures over 17 ft. by nearly 17 ft. and has a contemporary en suite fitted shower room with a window to the side. There are travertine floor tiles and ceramic tiles on the wall behind the walk-in corner shower with a hand-held and overhead shower. The twin oval basins are set in a marble top with a splashback, which tones with the floor; included are a WC and a heated towel rail.
Bedroom Two
Bedroom two is accessed from the other side of the staircase from bedroom one and is used as a guest room. It has a similar arrangement to the principal bedroom, with sliding doors to the balcony with lots of natural light and uninterrupted views over the garden and farmland beyond. The guest room balcony is deeper and would accommodate a table and chairs if required.
Bedrooms Three and Four
Bedrooms three and four are also large double bedrooms and both have leaded casement windows with oak frames overlooking the front. Bedroom three measures over 13 ft. by over 12 ft. and bedroom four is very slightly smaller. Both bedrooms share the main bathroom but are also within reach of the shower room and sauna on the floor above.
Family Bathroom
In the north of the house, but with a window overlooking the garden, the vaulted main bathroom has travertine floor tiles, one tiled wall and porcelain tiles behind a walk-in corner shower with a hand-held and overhead shower. There is a free-standing contemporary oval bath on a low platform set within the space created by a dormer window overlooking the garden. The bath has free-standing taps at one and is flanked by storage cupboards. A modern ceramic basin is set in a quartzite top with ample space on each side and open storage in the wooden base below; there is a mirrored light above. Also included are a WC, a douchette and a heated towel rail.
Second Floor
Two double bedrooms and a shower room lead off the second-floor galleried landing which has built-in oak bookshelves and access to the boarded loft space. There is a door to a storeroom measuring over 13 ft. by 9 ft. with hanging rails. This vaulted space is in the gable at the front of the house where there is a decorative brickwork circle in the exterior apex, designed readily to be removed if a bull’s eye window is required. The vaulted rooms on this floor reflect that they are built in the eaves; the rooms have central heating to radiators.
Bedrooms Five and Bedroom Six/Gym
Bedroom five is a vaulted double bedroom (over 17 ft. by over 12 ft.) with a triple glazed window filling the apex of the gable overlooking the garden. There is also a Velux window increasing the natural light. Accessed from an angled door from the landing, the room has a further door to a walk-in-wardrobe as well as an eaves storage cupboard.
Bedroom six, also a double room, measures 13 ft. by over 10 ft. with a pitched ceiling and window over the side, and is currently used as a gym with the appropriate rubber flooring and mirrors along one wall. There is access to two eaves storage cupboards.
Office
With a triple glazed, reversible clear glass dormer window over the rear garden, this over 11 ft. by over 9 ft. room is currently used as a home office and has bespoke built-in oak office furniture, bookshelves and a wooden floor.
Shower Room /Sauna
Leading off the second-floor landing is the shower room/sauna which runs the full depth of the house at this point with a window over the side. A further door in the room accesses a separate WC and there is a pedestal basin. The room has travertine tiled flooring and matching tiling to dado height and full-height behind the walk-in corner shower, which has a hand-held and an overhead shower. The built-in sauna with a tinted glass door, has an exposed tongue-and-groove interior, with two levels of slatted wooden seating, a terracotta tiled floor, and a Nordic stone heater. Outside the sauna is a built-in area of wooden benching with fitted water-resistant cushions.
Outbuildings
Shed and Store
Accessed from the side of the house is a tiled courtyard area overlooked by the utility room and kitchen area side windows. The area is enclosed by a brick wall, attached to which is a brick-built storage shed with a slate roof. This shed, designed to accord with the house, has an arched entrance with a timber door, a side window, and power and lighting connected. Continuing from this shed is a further storage area with arched openings for firewood storage in one and space for the LPG tanks for the hob in the other.
Garage
Brick-built and in the style of the house, the double garage has a pitched slate roof and a timber frame around the up and over electrically operated door onto the drive. There is a window in the courtyard side; the floor is screeded and power and electricity are connected. There is an Electric Vehicle Charging point on the garage and another by the house.
Front
The house is approached via a small no through road leading to the village church and joins a tarmac drive which slopes down to the house. This drive continues under a leafy arch round the side of the garage and leads to a pedestrian wrought iron gate in a brick arch to the courtyard. The front of the house has clipped low hedging beneath the windows and an established wisteria over the main arch, with which the garage front apex is also covered. Further established shrubs are in the borders enclosing the drive, increasing privacy.
Rear
The impact of the pastoral views from the rear of the house have dictated its layout and are fully appreciated from the garden. Running along the rear of the house is a porcelain tiled patio for seating and al fresco dining with a retained central semi-circular herbaceous bed and gravelled areas. In the shade of established trees on one side is a terrace, again for seating and of the same construction. The rest of the 169 ft., south east facing rear garden is mainly laid to lawn and has mature trees and established planting along its borders and in beds, some retained by low brick walls. A decorative brick archway on one side leads to a walkway through a tunnel created by plants. While the established nature of the planting of the side boundaries creates privacy, the end boundary is enclosed by a low clipped hedge and open fencing which allows uninterrupted views over the landscape beyond. Mature but restrained trees create a foil at the end of the garden framing the view.
Locality
The village of North Marston has a village hall and a C of E combined primary school; there is a village shop selling local produce, and a public house. Waddesdon village is located about 5 miles away. North Marston is in the catchment for the Royal Latin (grammar) School in Buckingham. Buckingham is about 17 minutes’ drive from the property and the house is less than 30 minutes’ drive from the amenities of Milton Keynes which has which has one of Europe’s largest covered shopping centres as well as a theatre, cinemas, indoor skiing and other attractions; its commuter trains to Euston take 32 minutes.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Services: Mains electricity, Electric/Water Underfloor Heating (ground and first floors) Oil Fired Central Heating (second floor), Mains Water, Mains Drainage
Local Authority: Buckinghamshire County Council
Council Tax: Band G
EPC Rating: D
