360-year-old property on the market in Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
This handsome, detached period house on the High Street in Trumpington was built around 1650 and retains many of its original features.
Set within a wonderful walled garden and boasting period touches such as three fireplaces downstairs and one upstairs, this charming dwelling is conveniently placed for local schooling, Cambridge city centre and the railway station.
Liz Maloney and her late husband, Chris, bought the property in 1977, moving in in the autumn of that year with their two children, Nicholas and Emma.
Now, the three-bedroom house is on the market with Cheffins. Explaining why she’s decided to sell up, Liz said: “My husband died 12 years ago and we lost Emma about seven years ago. Nicholas is up in Yorkshire.
“I’m downsizing and am going to live in a small bungalow on a development in Pickering, which is between Scarborough and Whitby.”
Asked what she’ll miss most about the house, Liz replied: “Everything – it’s gorgeous. It’s got a lovely garden and it’s a very warm and friendly house.
“We’ve been happy here – it’s been our family home all this time. I’ll be sad to leave it.”
Looking back, Liz continued: “The house needed total renovation. The inglenook fireplace, which we’ve got a wood-burner in, was a 1920s tiled fireplaces which was completely bricked up when we moved in. Once we’d opened it up, we used to store our bicycles in it.
“We had to gut the place and start again. The house had two front doors and at one time it was thatched. We had to rewire and put in a new bathroom suite.
“We’ve had two other kitchens and the current one was put in about 12 years ago, which came from Design Matters on Shelford Road. The kitchen’s absolutely lovely – it’s really stood the test of time. It looks like it was put in yesterday.”
She added: “We extended one of the rooms at the back to make a larger dining room and damp-proofed the house and put new ceilings up.
“We had to change some windows, to make them more in keeping with the house, and just modernised it – while still trying to maintain its period feel. It was fun doing it.”
The Manchester-born homeowner hopes the next occupants enjoy the house and garden as much as she and her family have.
“Apparently it used to be the old police house at one time, as well as the old village blacksmith’s, which accounts for the number of horseshoes we’ve found around the garden.
“We have a dry cellar, which contains a soakaway. We’re not sure what the soakaway was used for, which adds to the mystery of its past use.”
Commenting on the garden, Liz concluded: “We have a wonderful beech tree, which is listed, and we have a very sunny garden in the spring – and then it becomes a shady garden in the summer when the tree goes into leaf. It’s just a delight to sit under the tree and read.”
cheffins.co.uk, 01223 214214