If you've had a touch of luck with the lottery then here's a truly superb property in Wickham that might take your fancy...

Chantry, Wickham

Guide price: £3.95m

It’s easy to see how a house at Wickham justifies its name. After all, anyone seeing Chantry is going to sing its praises!

The house is much more than one in a million, a knockout home constructed only in 2008 but with all the architectural style and presence of a property built as a country residence at least two and a half centuries earlier.

Back in Georgian times, a wealthy landowner would have selected the best possible plot and spent a fortune, often what was beyond real affordability and well in excess of Chantry’s current guide price when monetary values are compared, to impress peers.

The house stands behind a gated entrance (automated, so there’s no need for your groom to step away from the carriage) and is fronted by lawns and a large gravelled driveway and forecourt leading up to a pillared portico at the front door.

With its symmetrical front flanked by wings extending to each side, the property is truly impressive.

But its modernity is offset by the grounds laid out by the renowned plant collector Lady Norman who lived in a house which formerly occupied the site and is believed to have played host to, among others, Lord Louis Mountbatten.

The rear of the house faces south east and opens on to an extensive terrace with stone balustrades and steps leading down to lower lawns.

Although the architecture recalls a bygone age, the house itself is very much of the 21st Century.

The east wing of the façade is home to a triple garage while the west wing is occupied on the ground floor by a comprehensively equipped media room.

But the centre of the ground floor reflects the influence of the Georgian period; the entrance hall sweeps back past the feature sweeping staircase to a dining hall at the rear, where the large glazed bay looks across the raised terrace that offers sweeping views to the south east across open country.

The ground floor offers four further living areas in addition to the kitchen/ breakfast room, which opens into a dining area with French and bi-fold doors into a portico leading to the terrace.

The master bedroom suite occupies much of the rear of the first floor, again overlooking the terrace.

Both wings of the house also contain luxurious bedroom suites and there are two further first floor en-suite bedrooms.

A second staircase from the main landing ascends to the sixth bedroom on the second floor which also enjoys a lounge area as well as dressing and bath rooms.

‘Chantry is truly magnificent and brings all the glory of the Georgian age but without the plumbing and electrical problems that can be encountered when a property from the period tries to embrace modern living.

‘It is equipped with CAT5 and CCTV cabling, mood lighting, underfloor heating, and three phase electricity to ensure its power needs are met,’ says Colin Shairp, of Fine and Country Southern Hampshire.

‘Its guide price reflects both this and the glorious setting about 2.3 acres on the edge of the Forest of Bere less than two miles from Wickham, itself an architectural gem.

‘It’s a truly remarkable property!’

Guide price: £3.95m (EPC Band C)

Fine and Country Southern Hampshire

(023) 9327 7277

Email: [email protected]