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GUNSTONE HOUSE Rolling green countryside awaits you at this elegant Georgian property By Harriet Noble

Watching the seasons change is surely one of life’s greatest pleasures. The assurance that comes from seeing nature transform before us; the growth, renewal, blooms and blossoms, dews and rosts is lie-arming stuff.

And where better to watch the trees shed their leaves this autumn than at Gunstone House. The views from the house are simply gorgeous, as far as the eye can see lies the greenest of rolling Devon countryside.

The Grade II listed late Georgian property sits in the hamlet of Gunstone, just outside of Crediton, eight or nine miles from Exeter, and is an elegant place to lay one’s head too, with detailed and pretty architecture of note; a symmetrical nine-window front façade of white-painted stucco incised to resemble cut stone. With a Welsh slate roof, the front is further embellished with an elegant glass-roofed veranda with a greenhouse at either end. nside it has all the bearings o a ne house rom this era, with well-proportioned rooms with good ceiling height, big open replaces, oinery and plasterwork as well as a long drie on approach to gie it that whiff of grandeur. n the ground oor, there are three good-sied reception rooms, which, together with the reception hall, all face south enjoying those spectacular rural views across the garden.

The drawing and sitting rooms both have tall sash windows with working shutters while the hall has a stone oor and an elegant, cured staircase rising to the rst oor. t the rear is the large kitchenbreakast room which has a good-sied dining area and is tted with a range o units, an electric erhot cooker and a woodburning stoe. lsewhere on the ground oor is the cloakroombootroom, with a door leading to the driveway as well as French doors opening onto rear patio. and a decent sie utility room.

Travel upstairs and you’ve got the galleried landing with the bedrooms and bathrooms radiating off it. The master bedroom has windows on two sides and is light and airy with a walk-through dressing room leading to its own bathroom. There are e urther bedrooms, our of which face south and three further bathrooms, two of which are en suite. There is also a separate study on this oor which could be a urther bedroom. utside theres a large graelled parking area behind the house and adacent to the brick and stone-built double garage.

HOUSE NUMBERS Square footage 4,498 Bedrooms 6 Bathrooms 4 Where Hamlet of Gunstone, near Crediton

Outside 2.27 acres of land, tennis court, plus an outbuilding Guide price £1,250,000 For more Knight Frank Exeter Estate Agents, 19 Southernhay E, Exeter EX1 1QD; 01392 249863; www.knightfrank.co.uk

The feeling of space here is something else, with the garden and grounds extending out on three sides of the house, with the gravelled parking area on the fourth. They principally consist of lawns planted with mature shrubs and trees. Alongside the drive is the orchard with a mixed hedge and lime trees behind orming the boundary with the neighbouring eld.

At the front of the house the lawn is bordered by a mature beech hedge with the paddock and open countryside beyond. Beside the front lawn is the walled garden whose walls are planted with climbing and owering shrubs and contains the grass tennis court and vegetable garden, which has raised beds with gravel paths and the west facing wall is planted with fruit trees.

Within the walled garden is a period single-storey outbuilding built of cob and stone which previously had planning permission to be converted into a summerhouse. Currently it serves as a workshop and as a store for logs and garden machinery. At the top of the orchard is a wooden garage building with a slate roof that serves as a fantastic barbecue area, but would be suitable for a host of other purposes.

We think this is a beauty of a house, but it’s the magnicent and calming iews o eon countryside that elevate this property to dream home status for us. ■