Coln St Dennis

The main façade of the house is early-mid 17th century and features casement mullioned windows with moulded surrounds and stopped hoods. Further decoration in the form of an 18th century gabled open-sided timber porch and verdant fountains of wisteria make it hard for us to imagine a more idyllic frontage.

The house has been adapted and added to over the centuries and features a 19th century extension to left side of the main 17th century house of the same stone. This charming blend of periods continues inside where various additions and remodels have imbued the house with details.

The main entrance opens onto a panelled hallway with a double aspect morning room to the left and a double aspect sitting room with open fire, original shutters and panelling. Along the hall is the kitchen/breakfast room which features a four oven Aga and a handy larder. Behind the kitchen there is also a utility room with plenty of space for white goods as well as muddy coats, boots and dogs.  

Two generous home offices housed in their own stone extension to form a courtyard at the back of the house make for an essential part of the WFH 21st century domestic makeup. On the opposite side of the courtyard stands an 18th century barn which has been sensitively restored by the current owners and incorporated into the house with a smart glazed extension. It now houses a light filled and exceedingly generous drawing room with open fire and French windows out onto the garden. The barn also contains an impressive double height dining room with built in bar area and wine fridge which leads up to a comfortable guest suite with its own staircase on the first floor.

The first floor of the main house contains a bright principal bedroom suite with dressing room and two bathrooms (one of which includes a sauna) and another double bedroom with ensuite. Three further double bedrooms and a family bathroom are housed on the second floor.

There is over half an acre of walled garden in total. A smart walled gravel side court to the right side of the house provides plenty of off-street parking and access to the house through a side door.

A stone courtyard at the back of the house forms a terrace perfect for lazy lunches – this gives way to gently sloping lawn with fruit trees and flower beds. A swimming pool at the top of the garden is flanked by pleached trees and is perfectly positioned to catch sun throughout the day. 

Self-contained and separately accessible accommodation in the form of a 1-bedroom annexe with its own kitchen, sitting room and bathroom is located at the far end of the barn at the back of the house. 
The village of Coln St. Dennis is small in size and distinguished for its high proportion of particularly large and fine houses. 

Reputed to be the oldest house in the village, Coln St. Dennis House is a handsome Grade II listed honey-hued Cotswold stone house. It is set back from a quiet road behind a low stone wall with iron railing and faces directly onto a pretty Norman church and a small spinney with a large oak tree at its centre. 

The area surrounding the village of Coln St Dennis is packed with history and has long been attractive to settlers as evidenced by nearby sites including the Neolithic Colpen Long Barrow. The Roman Foss Way passes within a mile of the house, as does the ancient Salt Way, an important route for transporting salt processed from the brine rich springs around Droitwich.

Although now a tranquil spot, the village’s history of being well-connected goes some way to explaining its name, which derives from the nearby river Coln as well as the fact that the village and surrounding land were owned by the Abbey of St Denis in Paris at the time of the Domesday book and on into the middle ages. 

Coln St Dennis is situated in a stunning corner of the Coln valley in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. 

The nearby picturesque market town of Northleach with local amenities including a general store, family butchers, pharmacy, post office and two popular pubs The Sherborne Arms and The Wheatsheaf Inn. 

Weekly markets are held at the Cotswold market towns of Stow-on-The-Wold and Burford, which are both a short drive away, as is the ever-popular Daylesford Organic Farm Shop.  

Further shopping is on offer in Cirencester and in Cheltenham which provides wider choice of restaurants, as well as theatres and cultural amenities including Cheltenham Racecourse. 

The Coln valley is renowned for its trout stream and excellent walking routes which take in the local scenery and pass by some similarly excellent watering holes and eateries including The New Inn in Coln St Aldwyns, whose sister restaurant The Stump is 2 miles from Coln St Dennis.

For those needing to travel, the M4,  M5 and A40 motorways are all easily accessible. Kemble Station is 13 miles away and offers intercity services to London, Paddington (scheduled to take about 75 minutes), and Cheltenham Spa is 16 miles away and provides access to Bristol-Birmingham line.

There is a fantastic choice of highly regarded schools in the area including Beaudesert Park, Hatherop Castle, Rendcomb College, Cheltenham College and Cheltenham Ladies College.