'High fives' for this beauty
Horndean Road, Emsworth
Five living rooms and five generous bedrooms
With five living rooms downstairs and five generous bedrooms upstairs, there will be high fives all round from the family lucky enough to become the next owners of a house at Emsworth.The detached Edwardian gem in Horndean Road makes the perfect family base, the more so because just across the road is a recreation ground with tennis courts that might help preserve the rear lawn in the school summer holidays.But it’s the house itself that will be many people’s idea of perfection, and not just because of the classical style and many period features inside, not least among them some beautifully detailed cast-iron fireplaces.In the original ground floor, the property has four reception rooms of almost equal dimensions, although the drawing room is enhanced through taking advantage of its section of the double-height, three-sided bay that adds visual interest to the front of the house.Behind the older section of the ground floor is a thoroughly modern addition, a kitchen/breakfast/family room where a large lantern roof floods the space below with natural light.It is accessed from both the dining and sitting rooms and opens through French windows in glazed side screens on to a slate-paved terrace to create a large entertaining space without impinging on the quiet area formed by the drawing room and study at the front.On the first floor there are four bedrooms, one with an en suite and the other three served by the family bathroom.The staircase continues to the second floor without taking up any more space on the first floor landing and leads to the self-contained master bedroom which has its own bathroom and access to plentiful eaves storage.With a summer house at the bottom of the garden, it would be tempting to work from home as often as possible.But for those who have to commute, Emsworth station is only minutes away on foot.The centre of this old harbour town is also close by while the harbour itself makes a great place to start a bracing shoreside walk.