5 bedroom country house for sale

Coming to the open market for the first time since 2008 is this wonderful country estate

Approached via a private road, the house offers total privacy in a small hamlet and would be an idyllic family home, or a spectacular second home for large scale entertaining.  As well as the grand main hall, there are three vast reception rooms on the ground floor, plus a huge kitchen/ diner, family room/ study, a beautiful sun-room with views over the parkland and a gym/ party room.  Upstairs, there are five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Three of the bedrooms have separate sitting areas, including the master bedroom with connected dressing room and stunning roof terrace.  All the bedrooms have significant amounts of inbuilt storage.  

From the front entrance the house looks at the Hawksmoor coachhouse across a bricked courtyard. As well as the triple garage the courtyard can comfortably park 8-10 cars.  From the other three aspects the house enjoys spectacular views over the gardens, parkland and agricultural land.  The gardens are of scale and wrap around the house.  There are several vast areas of yorkstone terracing, a walled garden, rose parterre dating from the 17th century, a boating lake, established beds and borders, a vegetable garden plus a wealth of specimen trees including a very rare tulip tree.

With circa 15.5 acres in total, as well as the gardens the property has four paddocks (approximately ten acres of grazing), two ponds remaining from the medieval moat and additional outbuildings/ stabling.

The left hand side of the coach house contains three stunning Victorian stables which the current owners have used for their own horses, plus the original carriage house/ tack room.  Subject to planning, a riding arena could be added which would make the property ideal for equestrians.  The coach house also benefits from a two bedroom flat which requires some minor refurbishments.  The would be ideal staff accommodation or has previously also been used for officing.  The right hand side of the coach house could be used for further stabling or could be further garaging or workshops. And further barns and outbuildings could be added to the land under permitted development.

*Jasmine Cottage - available by separate negotiation*

Jasmine Cottage was originally a house keeper’s cottage on site. It is a charming building with a thatched roof with modern additions.  With three double bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms and a spectacular kitchen diner, it received a complete overhaul in 2010 and remains in superb condition.  Being on one level it offers an excellent opportunity for older parents or multigenerational living and has its own large decked terrace area and rear garden.  Jasmine Cottage benefits from its own entrance with a right of way through a neighbouring property.

After significant renovations from the current owners, the house still offers an opportunity for a prospective purchaser to make it their own and still add value. It is a a spectacular home in a wonderful setting.  The house benefits from superb road and rail links to London, via Stevenage (24 minutes to St Pancras) or via Bishop’s Stortford (35 minutes to London Liverpool Street).  

The site at Broadfield Hall is full of history.  The house was the heart of the medieval settlement of Broadfield, originally a moated estate. In the  early 1600s the estate was inherited by the Pulter family. Arthur Pulter spent vast expense improving the estate and commenced works on a new house with his wife Lady Hester Pulter.

In 1996, nearly 350 year after her death, the manuscripts of Lady Hester Pulter were discovered and it came to light that whilst living at Broadfield she had been a poet of note. She is now considered an eminent contributor to British literature.  Her works include mention of the house and estate, then called Bradfield.  The Pulter family’s silverware is still held by Cottered church.  

After Arthur Pulter’s death in 1689, Pulter’s grandson James Forester inherited the estate and set about finishing Pulter’s house, including the coachhouse still standing on site. Commissioned by Pulter prior to his death, the now Grade II* Listed stable block facade was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, at the time a junior draftsman for Sir Christopher Wren. With Wren, Hawksmoor subsequently went on to work on St Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court Palace as well as his own six famous churches in London. Hawksmoor's trademark arches and stepped brick details are visible on the Broadfield coachhouse facade, which he later repeated at Kensington Palace. 

After the Pulter house fell into disrepair, the current house on the site was built in 1939 by William Harston in an art deco style.  It still retains many art deco historical details including a grand cantilevered staircase with vaulted ceiling, beautiful fireplaces throughout and original 1930s mahogany dressing room cupboards.  For much of the 20th Century, the house was lived in by Prince George of Denmark and his wife Anne Bowes-Lyon, the former Queen Mother’s niece.  The Queen Mother and the current King were frequent visitors to the estate.