Chartlands

History

Dating back to 1813, Chartlands was once a farmhouse and central to village life, the spring-fed pond in the garden and the original cider orchards, are testimony to this. The south facing façade of the main house, flanked by brick chimneys, is built in local limestone, with quoins and part of the second storey in darker Northampton Ironstone, beneath a later Welsh slate roof. The windows are either sashes or three-light casements, many with the original shutters and window seats. The attached, smaller Ironstone building, now integral to the property, was once separate, yet part of the farm, as were other farm buildings, long-since lost, whose footprint has been used for the annexe and the new garage. A farm building at right angles to the main house had a first storey added by the current owners. The recent work on the ever-evolving house, has been undertaken with an eye on the integrity of the original fabric, attested to by the retention of fireplaces, doors and skirting boards.

Ground Floor

A Victorian Gothic porch in the lower building (with a lower stable door intact), has an original ledge and brace door to the kitchen, with a walk through to the breakfast area. The kitchen also accesses the snug and a rubble stone corridor lit by a Velux window and a gallery above. This leads to a study, a cloakroom and the rear hall with a retained (once external) window, a door to the rear, and the staircase. This, with space beneath for coats and boots, has turned balusters, acorn-capped newel posts and rises to the first floor. Beyond the rear hall is the family room.A similar, larger porch over the front door in the main building, opens to a stone-flagged hall, with double doors to the dining room on the left and a door to the opposite sitting room; the hall goes directly forward to the main rear door, also with a Victorian porch. The 19th-century staircase (under which is a second cloakroom with a window and a small understairs cupboard), has turned balusters, and newel posts.

Kitchen

The kitchen has a beamed ceiling and a barred window to the right, with a discreet electric cupboard beneath, and an original door to the garden and another, with a step, to the dining room. At the front there is a three-light casement window with shutters. The kitchen was redesigned in 2015 by the current owners and hand built by Grand Union. There is an island with an oak, bracketed breakfast bar for two, drawers, cupboards and a wine cooler, and a granite work surface with an integrated stainless steel sink. There are floor-to-ceiling cupboards, with internal lights, flanking fridge/freezers and a central area with interior shelving and a microwave. Integrated appliances include a Miele oven and induction hob. Underneath a brick elliptical arch is a gas-fired Aga with flanking drawers and granite worksurfaces.

Breakfast Area

The ceramic stone effect tiles on the kitchen floor continue into the breakfast room which has French doors to the rear terrace. There is a handmade oak table with matching built-in benches and panelled backs around one corner of the room. A bank of floor-to-ceiling cupboards houses the two Worcester central heating boilers (fitted in 2015), as well as a stainless steel sink inset in a marble worksurface. As in the kitchen, all the cupboards have internal lights.

Snug, Study and Family Room

The snug has a beamed ceiling, original exposed doors and door frames, and the same windows as elsewhere. It has an evocative 19th-century rustic range extending over most of one wall. Built of old bricks, some of which predate the house, it comprises a hearth with a bread oven and two flanking coppers, which would originally have been used for brewing and laundering. Inset sympathetically into the fireplace is a modern gas fire which resembles a wood burner. The dual aspect study has a window overlooking the side, with an oak lintel above and another overlooking the side of the games room terrace. The room is lined with oak book shelves and has wooden panelling to dado height. The dual aspect family room is part of the once single storey building (given a first storey by the current owners), and has wood effect laminate flooring. The room has contemporary double French doors with elliptical arch fanlights, looking east over the terrace, double windows overlook the west aspect.

Dining and Drawing Rooms

Approached either from a door in the kitchen, a step up, or from modern double, glazed door from the main hall, the dual aspect dining room retains original sash window overlooking the front and rear, both with shutters and a window seat. The open fireplace (unused) has the original metal fireplace on a stone hearth, and the 19th-century, classical marble mantelpiece. Flanking the chimney breast are typically Regency elliptical arches over alcoves. The siting room, as in other rooms in the main house, retains its original moulded skirting boards and panelled door. It has double sash windows overlooking the front and one at the rear (with shutters and window seats). The original Regency fireplace with another classical mantelpiece, with high glaze Victorian tiles, has an inset contemporary, open coal effect gas fire.

First Floor

The main staircase continues from the main hall (where there is a security pad to the right of the front door), and continues up to the first floor landing outside the principal bedroom. The landing flows to the left with two three glass casement windows overlooking the front. There are five further bedrooms; the corridor slopes downwards after bedroom six and through an arch, passing bedrooms seven and eight to the laundry and family bathroom. Before the laundry a corridor turns right to access bedroom five, another bathroom (opposite the rear staircase) and bedroom three, in the new first floor. The entire first floor can be accessed by either staircase.

Principal Bedroom, En Suite Shower

The dual aspect principal bedroom in the main house has two pairs of three light casement windows, with deep sills at the front and window seats at the rear. The original Regency stone mantelpiece (now painted), retains its authentic metal grate in a stone hearth. There is a 19th-century cupboard built in one alcove, and six modern built-in floor-to-ceiling wardrobes. There is a vertical radiator. The newly fitted en suite bathroom has a double ended bath with tiles behind, a basin inset in a vanity unit with matching wall cupboards, a WC and a towel rail. The unobscured window overlooks the front of the house.

Bedrooms Six, Seven and Eight

Double bedroom six has a window overlooking the front with a window seat. There are built-in wardrobes with glazed double doors. Bedroom seven has a window overlooking the rear, with a window seat, and a 19th-cenury built-in cupboard in the alcove. It has an original moulded mantelpiece and a Victorian arched fireplace. Bedroom eight is a single bedroom in an area that used to be part of the old kitchen staircase (now removed). This room has a loft hatch and built-in shelving. All three bedrooms overlook the front and use the family bathroom at the end of the corridor.

Laundry and Family Bathroom

The American inspired upstairs laundry has a pitched roof with an exposed beam, a Velux Window and a vinyl floor. There is a roll top worksurface with storage shelving beneath, and space and plumbing for a washing machine and a tumble dryer. The family bathroom has a double pitched ceiling with exposed timbers with Velux windows. It has tongue-and-groove panelling to dado height and Lino floor tiles. There is a corner bath, a WC and a double basin set in wooden storage cupboards. The single shower cubicle, with a tiled back, has glass block, mainly uncoloured, walls on either side and a heated towel rail.

Bedrooms Five, Three and Bathroom

Double bedroom five has a pair of three glass casement windows with deep sills overlooking the rear garden and loft access. Further along the corridor, past the top of the rear staircase, is bedroom three in the newly added first storey. It has windows in the gable end and is vaulted into the ceiling with Velux windows. There are four, wooden fronted double doored cupboards (two on each side), accessing deep eaves storage with electric lighting. The bathroom used by these two bedrooms has a pitched ceiling and laminate wood effect flooring. There is a three piece bathroom suite including a panelled bath and a heated towel rail.

Second Floor

The second floor can be accessed directly from the main staircase which continues up a flight from the first landing (or from the rear staircase and along the landing to join this main staircase). On the second floor of the main house are two bedrooms and a bathroom. Presumably this floor of the original farmhouse would have housed the family servants and so the fireplace and skirting boards are less decorative.

Bedrooms Two, Four and Bathroom

Dual aspect bedroom two has two windows overlooking the front and one overlooking the rear. It has an original fireplace with a mantelpiece and a 19th-century door. Also dual aspect, bedroom four has a window with a window seat overlooking the front and a smaller window to the side. It is currently used as a dressing room, but the extensive shelving is not built-in, so it could revert easily to a bedroom. There is a loft hatch and a cupboard housing the Maxistore boiler which heats the second floor. The family bathroom has a window with a window seat, overlooking the front, and a laminate wood effect floor. The walls are panelled to dado height and there is a heated towel rail. There is a free-standing roll top bath and matching WC; a wooden cupboard with a marble top has an inset basin. The built-in, walk-in shower has tiled walls and a mosaic tiled floor.

Annexe

The annexe was converted from the old ironstone garage by the current owners in 2015. Approached from the drive through a wooden front door, the single storey and triple aspect annexe is vaulted into the roof and has an independent heating system (gas fired Worcester boiler), mains water and power (it has its own fuse box). In the south gable end the living area has French doors opening to the pond and the garden. The floor is engineered oak, there are vertical radiators and loft storage. The kitchen area has granite worksurfaces with an integrated Whirlpool oven and hob, with extractor above, and space and plumbing for a dishwasher and American style fridge. The double bedroom has a window in the other gable end and the separate wet room has an obscured window to the front. The floor has non-slip ceramic tiles, there is a three piece suite including a shower, and a heated towel rail.

Triple Garage

The triple garage, built in 2015 on the footprint of an old farm building, is built of ironstone with internal brick or breeze block walls. Two bays at the front are open and the third has a garage door. There is light and power.

Gardens and Field

The front of the house is accessed through an entrance flanked by brick piers in a limestone wall and with a nearby historic yew tree and a mature Wellingtonia. The gravelled drive, with off street parking for up to ten cars, passes the front of the annexe, the house and the garage. The south facing front garden is mainly laid to lawn with curved borders and established trees. There is a mature brick wall behind the garage which stops, leaving to ends, allowing space for pedestrian access. On the other side of this wall is an enclosed gravel and paved area. The rest of the established garden, mainly laid to lawn with mature shurbs, overlooks the Nene Valley. To the side, seen from the annexe, is the historic spring fed pond, which now has steps leading down to a stone surround. There is a levelled and grassed field beyond (with land drains). The garden has mature trees, an orchard including cherry trees and enclosing beech hedging.

Location

The village of Great Houghton is approximately 3 miles south east of Northampton town centre, just off the A428 and has a church with a notable neo-classical church spire. The historic White Hart and The Cherry Tree public houses are in the village, the latter just up the lane. The village also has a millennium village hall, tennis courts and cricket and football clubs. There is a further public house, a playing field, a village hall and a C of E primary school in the nearby village of Little Houghton. Private educational establishments include Northampton High School for girls and Wellingborough school, both within easy access, and there is a school bus from Yardley Hastings (5.3 miles) to the Harpur Trust Schools in Bedford. The village is well placed for communication links including the A45 joining the M1 at junction 15. Train services are available from Northampton into London Euston and Wellingborough station into London St Pancras.