This £1.2m Portchester cottage is up for sale – and it’s got a stunning garden

Moving into a listed house where even the front door gets a mention from Historic England lets you know you are entering something very special.
Picture: Fine and CountryPicture: Fine and Country
Picture: Fine and Country

But for Wistaria Cottage in Castle Street at Portchester there’s far more to it. True the property has many other features that historians consider worthy of merit but the whole area in which the property is set is integral to its listing too, indicating that it’s an area of real importance.

It is also an old enclave leading down to Portchester Castle, a site of human habitation since the Romans sailed up Portsmouth Harbour and dropped anchor.

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It all looked a bit different then, no doubt, with no chalk pit on Portsdown Hill, no Portsmouth and no Gosport on the shores of the harbour, and, come to that, not much else at all!

Picture: Fine and CountryPicture: Fine and Country
Picture: Fine and Country

However, many successive generations of humans have found the area a wonderful place to live and that’s still the case. It’s lively rather than set in its ways but also quiet and genteel when it needs to be.

And, of course, behind this magnificent home with its iron framed porch and façade snugly wrapped in luxuriant wisteria is a suitably magnificent garden with a pavilion, views to the harbour across a playing field.

The castle keep dominates the skyline to the south.

Picture: Fine and CountryPicture: Fine and Country
Picture: Fine and Country

‘The cottage behind the climbing plant is similarly extensive, offering extremely spacious living areas as a result,’ says Colin Shairp, of Fine and Country Southern Hampshire.

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‘The drawing room, study, and dining room all have open fireplaces – each could easily be regarded as a main reception room.

‘Across the centre of the ground floor is an inner hall giving access to a huge kitchen connecting via an equally well-proportioned sitting room to a conservatory.

Picture: Fine and CountryPicture: Fine and Country
Picture: Fine and Country

‘It would be hard to think of a property more suited to entertaining guests on a summer evening or weekend.

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‘The first floor has a fabulous master suite entered via a dressing room lined with wardrobes along one wall and a bathroom. This suite has its own staircase from the kitchen but also has a door to the main landing.

‘Another four double bedrooms make for great family space and they are served by a bathroom with both a bath and shower cubicle.

‘It’s a beautiful cottage in a wonderful historic setting that has remained largely unchanged for several hundred years. There’s a real feeling of stepping back in time whether you are inside or out yet the house is fully equipped for modern life.’

Guide price is £1.225 million. For more information, contact Fine and Country Southern Hampshire on 023 93 277 277 or email [email protected].