Location

Doles Ash is a located in the heart of Hardy’s Wessex and made up of just a cluster of properties in a distinctly rural location about a mile to the north east of the popular village of Piddletrenthide in the heart of the ‘Piddle Valley’.

Piddletrenthide has a good selection of amenities including two public houses, a village store and a well-regarded primary school.

The nearby villages of Piddlehinton, Buckland Newton and Cerne Abbas also provide a variety of everyday amenities with Cerne Abbas having its famous chalk giant.

The towns of Dorchester and Sherborne provide a further excellent selection of shopping, educational and recreational facilities.

Communications in the area include the A35 and A31 at Bere Regis and mainline railway stations are available at Sherborne and Dorchester, both of which have a service to London Waterloo.

Sporting facilities in the area include golf at Sherborne, Blandford and Dorchester, horse racing at Wincanton, Exeter and Bath and numerous water sports and magnificent walking can be enjoyed to the south along the Jurassic coastline a UNESCO World Heritage site with Poole Harbour and Weymouth Bay providing havens for those keen on sailing.

Education
The area is extremely well served for both state and private schools. In the village is a primary school, other state schools include Dorchester Middle School, The Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester and The Gryphon School in Sherborne. Public schools include Sherborne School (boys), Sherborne Girls, Leweston, Bryanston, Canford, Milton Abbey and Clayesmore. Preparatory schooling at Sunninghill (Dorchester), Bryanston, Perrott Hill, Port Regis, Sandroyd and Sherborne Preparatory School.

Description

This substantial old farmhouse is possibly 17th Century in origin but understood to have been largely rebuilt in the 18th Century. The present owners extended the building in 2017. Most of the building has attractive exposed, bonded flint rubble and brick elevations, the south facing front elevation is colour washed and rendered. Sash windows on this elevation provide Georgian symmetry at this charming, versatile family home. Inside the house retains much of its original charm and character with wood panelling, an old staircase with rounded and turned carved balusters, wide exposed oak floor boards and superb slate flagstones. The house is arranged on four levels, currently shared by two generations of the same family but could easily be altered to suit one family. The driveway sweeps round to the south and here the entrance hall provides access to the principal original reception rooms as well as a second kitchen on what is known as the upper ground floor. Two upper floors provide bedrooms and a lower floor provides independent accommodation including large farmhouse kitchen opening onto the courtyard on north eastern side.


The Cottages
The seven holiday cottages are arranged in a courtyard together with a large barn style building which houses the indoor swimming pool and are located to the rear of the Manor House to the north east. The cottages have been converted from former farm buildings and have received significant investment during the current ownership. Two of the cottages benefit from private gardens.

A breakdown of the cottage accommodation is provided below:

Cottage Bedrooms Sleeps
Groom Cottage 3- 6 + cot
Stables Cottage 3- 6
Orchard House 3-6 + cot
Harvesters Cottage 2-4 + cot
Fox Cottage 1-2
Drakes Cottage 2-4
Huntsman Cottage 2- 5
Total 16 Bedrooms 33 Guests

Huntsman and Groom Cottages can be joined together to form one large cottage for 11 sleepers.

Leisure Facilities
Situated adjacent to the courtyard is the indoor swimming pool. The facilities have been tastefully refurbished and benefit from floor to ceiling length windows overlooking the expansive grounds. To the rear of the cottages is a games room with table football, snooker table and table tennis. In addition, there is an outdoor play area for children. To the east of the Property is an all-weather tennis court.

Amenities and external areas
The property is approached via a delightful, long privately owned Cherry treelined driveway serving Doles Ash farm and holiday cottages and a small cluster of other properties in separate ownership. The driveway forks off to Doles Ash farm from which point it serves the property exclusively and provides a spacious guest car park. Opposite the car park is a charming old duck pond. Beyond this is the graveled courtyard formed by the house, cottages and pool with central lawn and a pretty, old cherry tree. There is an agricultural barn currently used for machinery storage on the northern boundary and a further outbuilding for storage. Adjoining this is the games room. In total, the site extends to circa 12 ½ acres of gardens, paddocks and woodland.

The Business
Doles Ash Farm Holiday Cottages currently trades as a self-catering holiday rental business. The cottages are currently open between April and September and 100% of bookings are made directly through their website, which can be found here: https://dolesashfarm.co.uk/. Under its current ownership, the Property is traded as a lifestyle business which is well established and profitable. However, there is significant scope to trade the business year round. Trading information will be made available to bona fide purchasers upon request.

Development / upside potential
There is lapsed planning consent under planning reference 1/N/03/001393 to convert the existing swimming pool into a significant holiday accommodation unit.


Agents note
There is a footpath along the southern boundary of the property.

Directions

From Dorchester head east towards Puddletown on the B3150. Approximately 200 metres after leaving Dorchester take the first turning on the left (onto the B3143). Follow this road for approximately six miles to the village of Piddletrenthide. Proceed past the school and the pub on the left hand side, ignore the left hand turn and take the right hand turn signed to Cheselbourne. Proceed up the hill for approximately one mile and the driveway for Doles Ash Farm is located on the right hand side. Follow the driveway to the bottom bearing right. Park in the guest car parking area.