* Semi detached mid Georgian 2 bedroom house * Charming cottage gardens * ‘Chocolate box’ pretty appearance * Many original features including exceptional examples of original sash windows and window furniture * Beautiful open views * Desirable address in Tong Norton with its famous church and historical environs * Through lounge and dining room * Kitchen * Cloakroom * Sitting room * 2 double bedrooms * Large bathroom * Pigsty and attached outbuilding * Excellent accessibility for the motorway network and the main road from Wolverhampton to Whitchurch * Parking space * Tremendous scope for enlargement and reconfiguration but delightful as it is.
Sitting pretty, this most charming of country properties, situated in a sheltered position in a shallow valley overlooking glorious unspoilt Shropshire pastureland, is a rare example of largely untouched mid Georgian architecture. Purportedly, originally built by the landlady of the adjoining public house for her own residence, it displays the tenets of classical architecture: symmetry, strong, almost showy kerb appeal with grand central door flanked by columns– a real display of wealth and status. Despite its relatively diminutive size, its large sash widows with thin refined glazing bars and deep reveals (even to the upstairs windows) and, internally, quite large ceiling heights and a formal geometrical floor plan consistent with the symmetrical elevation and simple elegance of the exterior design, present a proud and imposing appearance.
Nowadays the appeal for a delightful cottage of this calibre with its gorgeous rural views over a traditional herbaceous garden and with the inside very reminiscent of the day, is even greater.
Stripped pine doors with Suffolk latches and some original shutters are remnants of bygone times and quarry tiled floors testament to a practical lifestyle. The cutest little brick pigsty and tiny sentry box shaped outbuilding (possibly used previously as a privvy, although with no drainage) suggest use as a (very small) small holding and add to the feeling of history whilst of course offering the potential purchaser the possibility for a variety of uses. The owner has knowledge of outline planning for a large two storey extension (although this will most certainly have expired)and there is clearly further potential for builiding over the single storey kitchen at the back, subject to the usual consents.
The history of the area has to have a mention. The two cottages were originally part of the Bradford estate which under the name of Weston Park is still owned and occupied by the Earl of Bradford. Chillington Estate is also within a couple of miles, as is the historical Boscobel House (the home of the oak tree where King Charles 1 hid) and not least, the wonderful St Bartholemew’s Church at Tong whose beauty has been linked to Westminster Abbey. Charles Dickens visited the church whilst staying with his aunt in Albrighton and apparently it was whilst in Tong that he wrote The Old Curiosity Shop. With so much parkland all round as well as pasture, the is property has the most idyllic rural situation and having the motorway network close by and the A41 at the end of the lane, convenience for commuting and travelling in all directions is a definite advantage.