A huge yet elegant villa set in around 7.5 acres has come up for sale near Woodbridge for £3m.
Melton Hall was built in 1807 and is Grade II listed. Since 1936, it has been home to just four families, but more recently it was run as a luxury bed and breakfast.
It is easy to see why its beautiful accommodation - which is light, airy and well laid out - has been featured in glossy interiors magazines, from its Doric porch at the entrance to its three beautiful reception rooms, which include a drawing room with French doors opening out on to the terrace.
The kitchen features an Aga and is open-plan and spacious, and there is also a family snug, separate sitting and dining rooms and a sizeable study.
A number of service rooms complete the ground floor and there is a cellar and a wine vault below.
On the first floor the landing leads on to five beautiful bedrooms - two of which are en suite - and a family bathroom. There is also a useful kitchenette and a smaller sixth bedroom.
Elsewhere the staircase continues up to the second floor where there are three further double bedrooms and another bath and shower room, as well as a games room and studio.
The whole property benefits from gas-fired central heating and many of the principal rooms enjoy lovely views across the gardens and grounds which extend to around 7.5 acres.
The grounds include a sweeping driveway offering ample parking and a two-storey coach house, which offers garage spaces for three cars and a workshop on the ground floor, plus a self-contained flat above.
The flat offers a variety of uses as it includes a sitting room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms, and could either be let, used as a home office or even kept as a home for staff. It also has its own entrance, with parking, and an area of dedicated garden.
The property offers a number of lifestyle features, too, including a heated swimming pool with a glass covering at the rear of the house and a hard tennis court tucked away at the edge of the garden.
The gardens themselves include a range of different layouts, some of which have been left natural to appeal to the local wildlife.
The gardens have previously been opened under national county and garden schemes and have provided the setting for village fetes and charity sales, as well as open air theatre, fashion shoots and large-scale functions.
Highlights include the swathes of daffodils in springtime, over 150 varieties of rose in the paved rose garden and two walled gardens which include a historic crinkle-crankle wall.
There is also an extensive kitchen garden, a Japanese water garden and a 3.5 acre wild flower meadow, which is managed, along with the woodland, in cooperation with the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
For more information, contact Jackson-Stops.
PROPERTY FACTS
Melton, Woodbridge
Guide price: £3,000,000
Jackson-Stops, 01473 218218
www.jackson-stops.co.uk
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