Location

The Old Gatehouse is located on the edge of North Wootton, off a quiet country lane that is a no through road, making for a peaceful and private setting. The village borders open countryside, and is served by a village store and post office, with other independent shops and a public house. The neighbouring village of Castle Rising, famous for its 12th century castle, with its keep being one of the finest surviving in the country, has a tea room and popular public house 'The Black Horse'.

The local and historic market town of Kings Lynn is close by, and was once a major port and centre of trade, resulting in some fabulous and architecturally notable buildings. The town has a range of retail offerings, local amenities, supermarkets, golf club and other sports facilities, and a main line rail service to London Kings Cross, and to Cambridge.

The Norfolk coastline can be accessed to the north, about 10 miles away in Snettisham, via Royal Sandringham on the way.

Description

The Old Gatehouse is an impressive home that has evolved significantly from its origin as the gatehouse, serving the Kings Lynn to Hunstanton railway line, when it was about half the size of the current kitchen. The house of today has been the beneficiary of the most recent transformation in 2014, where significant extensions and complete refurbishment were carried out. Alongside the enlarging of the house, the works included new double-glazed windows throughout, the installation of an air source heat pump and adding underfloor heating to areas of the house including the kitchen/dining room. This overhaul created a house of uniform style, with a consistently high standard of finish throughout, something that is often missing from houses that are added to over some years.

The practicalities of life were carefully considered prior to the works, and resulted in a brilliant layout that would suit a variety of living styles. At the heart of it all is the open plan kitchen/dining room, 10.7m x 5m, with granite worktops, island unit, dining area, and triple aspect, a fitting room for everyone to converge on. The open plan space becomes immediately cosy with an adjacent snug, whilst an expansive living room, with woodburner, is both more formal and comfortable, alongside a charming library room with fitted shelving, and a games room with French doors out to the south that could be used in many ways. Functionality is provided by a second entrance into the boot room, utility area.

The first floor hosts three double bedrooms. A particularly spacious principal bedroom, with Juliet balcony, enjoys an en suite shower room and dressing room, with the remaining two bedrooms each with their own en suite shower rooms, with a Juliet balcony in the second bedroom. The bedrooms are linked by a wide landing with plenty of built in storage space.

A ground floor wing provides a fourth bedroom, with French doors out to a south facing terrace, and an en suite bathroom. This area has been used as an annexe in the past, and is easily self-contained providing future proof living.

Outside
The property is best defined as three areas comprising the gardens, outbuildings and wider land. These combine to create a wonderful lifestyle opportunity across 12 acres.

A sweeping drive, through electric panelled gates, leads along the edge of the gardens, to a parking area by the house and onwards to further parking by the barn and garaging. This joins up with a second entrance for larger vehicles if required. The gardens wrap round from east to west, with expanses of lawn allowing for a relative ease of maintenance. A paved terrace adjoins the house, all the way round the house from a breakfast terrace to the east, to a larger area for outside dining and entertaining opening to the south and west. The west side of the garden has a wildlife pond and gravelled landscaping.

The outbuildings are in keeping with the house, and are situated between the gardens and wider land. A substantial barn is currently configured with American style stabling in the main area, with six loose boxes, yet could easily be configured differently for specific requirements including the easy removal of the stable partitions to create one large space. A garage, feed room and first floor tack room complete this building. Next to this is a detached garage, with electric doors and gardeners WC.

The land then stretches away to the south of the barn, with post and railed paddocks opening out to a further set of paddocks on the edge of North Wootton. The land has been used for grazing, and in recent years simply mown to maintain. It is a fantastic dynamic to the property, allowing the next custodian to use for animals including horses, an area for children and family to enjoy, the creation of wild flower meadows with paths meandering through, or perhaps a spot of rewilding.