Characterful home for sale in Linton, Cambridgeshire
Situated on Linton High Street, this four-bedroom property has been beautifully renovated and extended and is deceptively spacious inside
The property offers a wealth of versatile accommodation throughout and occupies a prominent site in the popular village with the added benefit of a lovely, south-facing rear garden. The house has been cleverly extended and designed with modern family living in mind.
The ground floor accommodation comprises four reception rooms, including an impressive sitting room which benefits from a dual aspect and a feature fireplace. There is a light and airy morning room, also with a feature fireplace and large French doors leading out to the private rear garden – as well as an entrance hall, finished with attractive wood flooring which continues through to the front reception rooms.
Annabelle O’Toole, originally from Shropshire, has been living in the house for 17 years and her three children were raised there.
“It was originally a very ugly bungalow,” she recalls. “We wanted to be in Linton because of all the facilities and the schools for our children, and it was the only thing that we could afford at that time. Then in 2005, we took the roof off, put the second floor on, re-plastered it and gave it a facelift.”
The couple spent a lot of time on their planning, which paid off as the whole building and renovation process only lasted from March to September of that year. “We wanted to construct the house in a Cambridgeshire style and we were very lucky with our builders,” admits Annabelle.
“It was first built in 1932 and it was made of what looked like concrete breeze blocks. It wasn’t the most beautiful but it was perfect because it was just set back off the road a bit, which was nice, and it’s got a lovely garden at the back.”
Annabelle says that before she and her family acquired the house, it had been used as a rental property. “We lived in it for a bit – downstairs – saved our money and did all the upstairs,” she says.
“Then obviously because the upstairs all looked so fantastic, we then had to do all the downstairs. Everything’s been repainted since as well.”
She continues: “The ceilings downstairs are quite high, so it’s a bit more spacious than some of the new-build properties – and we particularly like the light. There’s plenty of light and the location’s perfect. The location’s the bit you can’t change, so get that right and then you can work on the rest in your own time, which is what we tried to do.”
As her children have all pretty much left home – “I’ve got one and half here, they come and go,” she laughs – Annabelle, a self-described “country person”, is now looking to downsize, ideally to a property in Linton or Balsham (another daughter lives in Linton).
“What’s nice is when you look out the back of the house, you can only see trees; you can’t see other people,” she says. “But we have the facilities; you can walk all round the village to the different things.
“There’s also great transport access: M11, rail stations and even the bus service straight into Cambridge – it ticks all the boxes, basically.”
cookecurtis.co.uk/01223 508050