Park Grove

The Grand Tour

From Park Grove, entry is through stone pillars set into the stone wall surrounding the entire northern perimeter of the house. A Dorset gravel driveway leads to the main house, where the elevations and ancillary wing form an L-shape to create a spacious courtyard.

The entrance porch opens through glass wedding doors to the main decoratively tiled hallway, with plenty of space for coats and boots. The study and downstairs WC are set to the left, and an open well staircase lies directly ahead. A pitched glass roof lantern set above allows light to pour in.

All of the main reception rooms are arranged around the stairwell. The bipartite kitchen and dining room form the heart of the home, overlooking the gardens from all aspects. Originally two separate rooms, these have now been thoughtfully connected via a wide set architrave, with the original wall mouldings and dado rails carefully repositioned. There is a wood burner in the dining area. In the kitchen, cupboards have been handmade by local Dorset joiners Atelier Cabinet Makers and feature beautiful detailing, including dovetail joints. Appliances and a double butler sink with Perrin & Rowe brass taps are integrated, and pale quartz rests atop. There is a new white enamel fully adjustable electric Aga and a separate Fisher & Paykel oven with an induction hob for summer cooking; running costs are offset by solar panels.

The sitting room is positioned to the rear of the plan, with a large canted bay overlooking the gardens to the south. All the windows in this room have original vertical sliding shutters. The walls are adorned with wall mouldings and cornicing. The wood burner is set in the original tiled fireplace.

The rooms on the western range of the house are positioned off a long hallway with a set of back stairs allowing for additional access to the first floor. The generous pantry acts as excellent overflow storage for the kitchen. It has original slate shelves, meat hooks and worktops with a clay tile floor. A second roomy sitting room, currently used as a snug, has a wood burner positioned in a sandstone hearth.

At the end of the hallway is the capacious boot room. Here, polychromatic tiles are laid in a pleasing pattern and a trio of glass-paned doors open to the courtyard. Lying off this space is a storeroom, a generous laundry room and the plant room. This space acts as the engine room of the house, with a brand-new energy-efficient hot water cylinder (with the boiler in the loft above). Additionally, the house has hotel-grade plumbing, several smart thermostats for different zones, and the hot water and electric Aga are solar-fed. The house has also been entirely rewired and has excellent high-speed data connections.

Additionally, there is a substantial four-room cellar with a separate lower front door and a slate-lined wine cellar under the principal ground floor rooms. The entrance is placed behind the home’s main staircase.

The first floor comprises sleeping quarters, with seven bedrooms, each with an original chimneypiece and three bathrooms. The principal bedroom has a Juliet balcony accessed through slim French windows, which frame incredible views of the vale. The bathrooms have all been completely overhauled, with beautiful traditional chrome-plated brassware and roll-top baths from the Cast Iron Bath Company.

Ancillary accommodation can either be accessed via an independent entrance from the courtyard or discreetly from the main house’s first floor through a connecting door beside the oriel window. It also has separate off-road gated access directly from Park Grove. The upper floor has two spacious bedrooms and a large bathroom, all overlooking the stable block. The ground floor has a kitchen, with cupboards made by Atelier Cabinet Makers to complement the main house’s kitchen. The sitting room has a beautiful original cast-iron range set into the hearth.

The Great Outdoors

The mainly walled gardens are beautifully landscaped and comprise lawns, wildflowers, stone pathways, an Edwardian rose garden with a Victorian sundial and further flower borders. There is a wonderful variety of mature trees, including a magnolia tree and a remarkable 220-year-old giant horse chestnut tree, reportedly the oldest in the county. A mature orchard is filled with fifteen or more eating apple trees, and a fruitful kitchen garden has the remains of a Victorian glass house. There are also Victorian hand water pumps in the garden and a 150-year-old stone well underneath the orchard. Wisteria and climbing roses wind around the southern and eastern façades of the house, springing into bloom in April and June. The paddock is positioned to the west of the house, nearest the stables, and has a separate gated entrance from Park Grove.

There is a range of outbuildings in the grounds, including a 13-box stable block, divided into two separate blocks (one red brick, one timber) set around a stone sett yard. These offer enormous potential to be refurbished as equestrian facilities, garaging, offices or holiday let accommodation, subject to the relevant planning consents, and benefit from their separate entrances from Park Grove, either from the paddock’s five bar gate or the double gates shared with the ancillary wing. There is also a detached red brick pottery, formerly a potting shed, with a pitched clay tile roof. Two garages are incorporated into the existing ancillary accommodation west wing.

Out and About

Grove House is located on the edge of Stalbridge, which has an excellent variety of amenities, including an independent supermarket and further provisors, as well as a post office, a car servicing garage, and a dentist. Other villages of note in the area include Templecombe, Henstridge, Horsington and South Cheriton. The local towns of Sherborne, Sturminster Newton, Shaftesbury, Wincanton, Castle Cary and Bruton all provide various shopping, educational, recreational and cultural facilities. Bruton is possibly the most popular local town, home to the members-only Newt hotel restaurant and gardens, Michelin-starred Osip restaurant and internationally acclaimed Hauser & Wirth art gallery, with surrounding gardens by Piet Oudolf.

Nearby independent schools include Bryanston, Sherborne School for Girls, Sherborne School for Boys, Sherborne Preparatory School, Hazelgrove, Port Regis, Hanford and excellent state schools at Sherborne and Gillingham.

Transport links are excellent, including a mainline railway station available at Templecombe (just 10 minutes’ drive away) with a regular service between the West Country and London Waterloo; journey times are one hour and 55 minutes precisely, with half-hourly direct services. Additionally, the A303 can be joined at Wincanton.

Council Tax Band: G