Bruton, Somerset£825,000 Freehold

Saxon House

Dotted across the interiors is a miscellany of wonderfully characterful 16th and 17th-century features

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This striking five-bedroom Grade II-listed house is in a brilliant position on Bruton’s high street. With origins in the late 17th century, this characterful home has undergone many extensions and alterations over the years, now unfolding to almost 3,000 sq ft. Many of its original features remain, including an elegant Georgian shopfront, an original blue lias flagstone floor and beautiful exposed stone walls recently repointed with traditional lime mortar. The current owners use the street-facing room as an informal gallery space, Antitaupe, with a voluminous studio on the first floor. At the rear is a stepped garden that comprises a terrace behind the kitchen, a useful outbuilding and a pretty raised grassy area.

Setting the Scene

Saxon House dates from the 1600s, and has now been rendered with a local stone pebbledash, topped with a Welsh slate roof. Internally there are a miscellany of 16th and 17th-century features, some of which may well have been moved around over the years. The first-floor fireplace is likely original, with its deep stone lintel and roll-mould arch, while several doors and partitions are likely 18th century. Parts of the 17th-century roof frame remain too, with a roof truss engraved with a carpenter’s mark that reads ‘W1696’ and a crossbeam that bears the remnants of painted decoration on its underside. For more information, please see the History section.

The Grand Tour

The front door opens into an area currently used by the owners as a gallery space. Recently and thoughtfully restored, its original Georgian window remains, as well as the blue lias flagstones which extend throughout the ground floor and a moulded beam, signifying that the house would have been of some status. This area is fantastically flexible and, residential in classification, could be immediately incorporated as part of the main house, or used as a study or studio space. A hallway leads past a guest WC – where the owners also currently keep a kiln – to a sitting room, still complete with a striking fireplace with its original oak lintel, now fitted with a Heta woodburning stove. Georgian windows sit above romantic window seats, bookended by their original working shutters.

The dining room at the front of the house could be easily united with the gallery space; currently, it connects to the kitchen. In need of some updating, the kitchen comprises wooden cabinetry and has a back door that opens to the paved terrace beyond.

A staircase with its original oak boards leads to the first floor, where original Elm floorboards are found throughout its two bedrooms. There is also an incredible studio space with a double-height ceiling; wonderfully characterful, there is an oak beam as well as a refined bath stone fireplace now fitted with another Heta woodburning stove. Oak floorboards underfoot gently ground the space. There is also a family bathroom and a separate WC on this floor.

Two further flights of stairs ascend to the second floor, where there are three further bedrooms, one complete with an en suite bathroom. Set in the eaves of the house, under the sturdy oak beams, these are picturesque spaces with long views over Bruton’s rooftops. There is also a large cellar.

The Great Outdoors

To the rear of the house is a pretty terrace adjacent to a garden store. From here, stone steps lead to a lawned area. This is bordered by beds, stocked with roses, bay, lavender and a sycamore tree. A garden gate provides rear access to a close, back to the High Street, but also to a lane at the rear where there is a double garage belonging to the house.

Out and About

Bruton’s excellent dining options include the Michelin-starred Osip, The Old Pharmacy, At the Chapel, The Newt and Roth Bar and Grill at the must-visit Hauser and Wirth gallery. For the home chefs, be sure to pick up fresh ingredients at Durslade Farm Shop. In nearby Batcombe, Margot Henderson’s recently opened The Three Horseshoes adds to the excellent dining options in the area.

The town of Frome is also close by – around a 30-minute drive away. Frome’s growing community of independent shops, creative businesses and eateries include Rye Bakery, Projects Frome, Moo and Two, Frome Hardware, Eight Stony Street, and Frome Reclamation Yard. The Frome Independent, a monthly market showcasing local artisans and food producers, has also helped put Frome on the map, attracting over 80,000 visitors annually.

Surrounded by rolling fields and open countryside, the area is renowned for walking and cycling opportunities. Visit the breathtaking 18th-century landscaped gardens and Palladian mansion at Stourhead, a National Trust estate with a café, shop and gallery — all just a 15-minute journey by car.

North Somerset is well-renowned for its wealth of local produce, independent food producers and growers. Westcombe Dairy is easily reached for award-winning cheese and charcuterie. Landrace Bakery’s new outpost is now conveniently on-site, offering a daily dose of sourdough bread made from stoneground UK grains milled at the new Landrace Mill. There is a good selection of farm shops for organic produce, including The Slow Farming Company, a local distillery, and for field-grown flowers and herbs, Re-Rooting is also nearby.

The sought-after villages of Mells and Nunney also lie around 25 minutes north. Nunney is characterised by its historic centre and, most notably, its picturesque moated medieval castle built in the 1370s by a local knight, Sir John de la Mare. The village has a popular local pub, The George Inn. A popular spot for Sunday lunch is The Talbot Inn in Mells or wood-fired pizza from The Walled Garden opposite. Shaftesbury is easily accessed in around 25 minutes by car, and the fantastic coastline around Lyme Regis is around an hour’s drive away.

There is a selection of excellent schools in the area, including Sherborne School, Sherborne School for Girls, King’s Bruton, The Gryphon School, John Taylor High School and Abbot Beyne School. There is also a good primary school in nearby Zeals, Whitesheet Church of England Academy.

With easy access to the A303 and M3, London is reachable in under three hours. Rail connections are also very good, with Castle Cary approximately 15 minutes away by car, offering direct rail services to London Paddington in an hour and a half. Bruton station has trains to Bath Spa and Bristol in approximately an hour, which in turn have trains to Paddington in an hour and 20 minutes.

For more inspiration, why not look to The Modern House’s guide on how to spend a weekend in Bruton?

Council Tax Band: E

Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. Inigo has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.

History

The area’s history dates back to the Romans. The settlements largely sprung up around the priory. However, Saxon House was named after the Saxon family who lived there. They were believed to have been silk makers in the 19th century, with the house bearing evidence of some form of cloth manufacturing. As with many of the small towns in this area, the main industry in this period was wool cloth production.

The current owners are behind the brilliant homeware shop Antitaupe. The house itself has a lineage of creative tenants, and in the 1980s it served as a knitware shop, purveying Kaffe Fasset-style pieces.

In former years, around 1911, it served as a school boarding house, where you can see schoolboys scratched their initials into the woodwork. It was later used as a hairdressers, possibly a sweetshop, and by the 1970s it was occupied by an engineer who made commemorative mugs, not a far cry from the colourful wares currently sold in Antitaupe.