SHOWCASE Explore a £2.25 million mansion

IBLOOMFIELD t was recently remarked to me how familiar we are with the sounds of our homes – the scratch of the key in the lock, the crack of the sticky light switch, the creak and scuff of

HOUSE door over carpet – it becomes an extension of our senses. How strange it feels, when we consider this knowing, this extension of self, is something we share with the unknown inhabitants to come before and after us. The four walls around us are set in time, and we’re just a moment This exquisite 10-bedroom within them. It’s strange, but kind of comforting too. In simply being, you form part of the evolving history of mansion just hit the market the house, leaving your mark for future inhabitants to discover, undo and then recover, again. Of course, some histories are longer than others.

By Matilda Walton Bloomfield House, a remarkable Grade II Listed Georgian mansion on the southern slopes of Bath, is filled with stories waiting to be discovered. Thought to be a work of Thomas Baldwin – the architect credited with many of Bath’s most famous buildings (and known for his notoriously shady finances) – the house packs an

HOUSE NUMBERS Guide price £2.25 million Square foot 5,752 Bedrooms 10 Reception rooms 4 Additional accommodation 2 independent flats Outside Large gravel parking area and garden For more Strutt & Parker; 13 Hill Street, London, W1J 5LQ; tel 020 7629 7282; www.struttandparker.com atmospheric punch from the moment you step through its ornate stone gate piers. Likely once the town house of a high society Georgian family (where they would have spent the season going to balls, strolling the lawns and, most importantly, be seen doing so, before retreating back to the countryside for winter), and more recently a luxury guest house – many lives have passed through its four floors over the centuries.

Now, it awaits its new inhabitants.

It’s a stop and stare property, truly. Set a little back from Bloomfield Road, visitors are drawn up the large gravelled parking area to gaze on the acanthustopped stone pilasters that border the garden façade. Balustraded steps lead then to the intriguing bowed entrance porch where two grand panelled doors welcome you inside the elegant home.

The architecture is exquisite throughout: mouldings and carved architraves reach across the high ceilings to the sash windows, many of which feature working shutters, with fireplaces forming the focal points of many of the rooms. Downstairs, the expansive living space orients around the complementary arrangement of the bowed entrance at the front of the house, the elliptical reception hall and the wide bay window at the rear.

With ten bedrooms set across the two middle floors and two self-contained flats on the lower ground floor, Bloomfield House presents an array of options. The flats might be a potential money maker – or perhaps in the new times a convenient base for home workers.

Outside, the gardens befit the interiors. A beautiful established expanse of open lawn – all the better for Georgian-style turns about the garden (parasol optional) – flowing out towards pretty shrub borders. It’s very much an area of relaxation right now, but there is ample space for a veg patch or two if 2020 has you keen to explore self-sufficiency.

Period living enthusiasts often refer to themselves as custodians of their homes, revelling in the unwinding of their pasts while ensuring their longevity into the future. Whoever steps into the role at Bloomfield House is a very lucky custodian indeed.