About the House
Paddock House has been a wonderful family home for just over 25 years. We completely gutted and refurbished her in 1998. She’s in very good condition having been completely redecorated a few years ago. She’s a Grade 2 Listed Building and over 200 years old so obviously needs on-going loving care and attention. If I stayed here I wouldn’t change much, other than develop the outbuildings (see plans).
The kitchen was well designed and continues to function very well, including the Aga! The main boiler is 10 years old and should be good for another 5 years or so (there’s a separate boiler serving the 2nd floor Flat). The roof is very sound, the windows are single glazed and rattle a bit but are easy to windproof in the winter. A lot of the glazing could even be original! It’s a large house but pretty easy to manage – I’ve done it on my own for a number of years.
I would like to put a large pond in the garden and generally landscape it a bit more (apparently the brook running alongside Brook St used to run through the garden years ago!). I would definitely remove the old single garage and replace it probably with a garage / workshop / bike shed etc (see plans). I’ve left it in situ in order to facilitate a future planning permission. All in all, the house has been a great joy and hopefully will continue to be loved and cared for for many years to come.
ABOUT BENSON
Benson has been very special place to live. It’s a vibrant and very friendly village and has pretty well every amenity one could wish for.
It’s been expanded significantly in recent years but the old and most characterful part of the village (mostly a Conservation Area) is being increasingly protected; a new bypass / relief road is now under construction.
It’s been an ideal and very safe place to bring up children – there’s an excellent local primary school in the village and a highly regarded secondary school in Wallingford; top-ranked local prep schools (e.g Moulsford, The Oratory) and public schools (e.g Bradfield, The Oratory, Radley, Magdalen) all within easy reach; very good local transport services, loads of clubs etc. There’s very easy access to both Oxford and Reading. The River Thames is just a few minutes walk away and is a continual delight.
SOME OPTIONS
Paddock House offers a number of very interesting options in terms of future usage. It can generate a very healthy income stream from room / flat rental. It could very simply be configured back to being a 8/9 Bed family home.
Given the cost of care homes for the elderly and the increasing unaffordability of property for first-time buyers, multi-generational living is an obvious option. It could also of course be reconfigured into separate flats or some form of business centre.