Silver Birches, Small Dole, Henfield

This stunning detached house built in the 1990s has been designed with modern family living and entertaining in mind. The house is approached via the quiet, leafy close of Silver Birches and the house makes quite an impression as it comes into view. The driveway has parking for several cars and the house itself is a substantial red-brick property with wisteria climbing on the front façade. Once inside you are greeted by a double-height entrance hall over 20 square metres in size with large marble effect tiles and a turning wrought iron staircase that climbs to the first floor landings. From the first floor, you look back down over this centrepiece hallway which sits at the heart of the home. This is an incredible space for entertaining and the current owners have hosted large parties here and accommodated forty people for dinner on special occasions. The reception spaces are generously proportioned, the welcoming living room to the front has a wood burning stove with an ornate fire surround and plantation shutters on the windows. There are interconnecting double doors to a large family room at the rear of the house which in turn has French doors onto the patio and garden. The kitchen breakfast room is extremely spacious, with an extensive range of cabinets under a granite worktop, a Bosch electric hob and a Neff double oven. There is a stable door which gives onto the utility area of the kitchenette. Also on the ground floor, there is a further bedroom with direct access to the kitchenette and another shower room, making this part of the house suitable as a granny annexe or guest suite.

Upstairs there are five double bedrooms. The bedrooms to the front have custom made plantation shutters and those to the rear have complete privacy and views over the garden to the woodlands beyond. These bedrooms are served by a family bathroom with a cream suite and separate shower cubicle. The Master bedroom suite comprises a large double bedroom with fitted wardrobes, dressing room and ensuite shower room. There is an airing cupboard off the landing housing a Megaflo unvented hot water cylinder. The house is double glazed throughout and there is a huge boarded loft.

The garden closest to the house is a landscaped area which leads on to a more informal expanse of gardens where you will find a separate sauna building, and then on into woodland. There are numerous outbuildings at a distance from the main house and the property benefits from side access onto the land by hard road making the outbuildings accessible for vehicles all year round. The current owner kept cows in a building that could equally be adapted for ponies. There is a further barn, a cart shed and an enclosure for chickens and ducks. In the side garden there is a greenhouse, potting shed, and tool shed. The woodland beyond the boundary of the property is part of the Woods Mill Nature reserve owned by the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

In the village of Small Dole you will find a post office and general store. The Fox pub which offers pub grub and a takeaway menu is under ten minutes walk from the house. There are countryside walks on the doorstep including at Woods Mill and for more strenuous exercise you could try the indoor ski centre or the skatepark in Small Dole. The larger village of Henfield which has numerous pubs and cafes and further amenities is five minutes drive, while Brighton and Gatwick are within easy reach by road and Hassocks train station is a 15 minute drive away where regular Southern and Thameslink services run to London Victoria, London Bridge, Bedford, Brighton, Littlehampton and Worthing.