Devon home with secret garden on market for first time ever

Ideal for house hunters looking for a home to renovate in a fabulous North Devon location, this late-Victorian house with a secret garden is just a stroll from the beach in Instow and on the market for the first time ever. To be sold by informal tender/sealed bids, West View is a four-bedroom property with plenty of parking, and an interesting range of character buildings with potential.

The house is understood to have been originally built in 1896 by the grandparents of one of the vendors and has therefore never previously entered the market in its history. With accommodation arranged over two storeys, the house benefits from gas central heating but does require general updating.

On the ground floor there is an entrance lobby and entrance hall, a cloakroom, a sitting room with an ornamental fireplace, a dining room with an open fireplace, a kitchen and breakfast room, and a utility. The first floor hosts a shower room and a separate toilet off a half landing, and four bedrooms off the main landing - the two front rooms enjoying estuary glimpses when the leaves have fallen from the trees.

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Outside, the driveway leads to a range of outbuildings, formally understood to have been an undertaker’s premises and then a general builder’s yard. These include garaging/workshops and a garden room and are attached to a neighbour’s outbuildings to the rear.

These buildings are considered suitable for potential conversion to ancillary accommodation or possibly a holiday let or two, subject to any necessary planning permission being obtained.

A courtyard lies between the house and these buildings and a former dairy/outhouse. Beyond the courtyard is an inner walled garden and, beyond this, a much larger walled ‘secret garden’ that has separate access from Marsh Lane, an ornamental well, a Japanese-style pergola above a terrace, and an outlook onto open countryside.

Instow is one of North Devon’s premier estuary villages, and its sandy beach, yacht club, cricket ground and village shops, pubs, and eateries are all just a walk away from West View. Being marketed by Stags in Barnstaple for offers in excess of £675,000, West View is for sale by informal tender with a target time and date of noon on Friday, April 19 2024. Tender forms are available from Stags. Call 01271 322833.

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