“I think I love this house because it feels like it has a life of its own. It’s got the big rooms and the beautiful views, but then you find the vegetable garden, the garden room, the little places to sit and suddenly you’re imagining Sunday lunches, muddy dogs and everyone arguing over who gets the last bit of cake. That, to me, is what makes a house.”

Lesley Scott

I have a bit of a soft spot for houses that don't immediately give everything away. The ones where you walk through the front door and, the more you look, the more you start to notice. Hickory Lodge on Belton Road in Whitchurch is very much that sort of house.

It’s when you start moving through the house that you appreciate just how much space there actually is. It has been extended and adapted over the years by the current family, and rather than feeling like a collection of additions, the different spaces seem to work together naturally.

What I particularly like is that it doesn't feel as though the house is trying too hard. There are no gimmicks or rooms that exist simply to impress. Instead, you have good-sized rooms, plenty of natural light and lots of options for how you might actually use the space.

The kitchen is a really good example of this. It has been redesigned by the current owners and has become a bright, sociable part of the house, with a large breakfast bar that gives it that feeling of being somewhere you can actually spend time rather than simply somewhere you prepare food. I can imagine mornings here being fairly chaotic in the best possible way, with everyone coming and going, while evenings would be a little slower, with people naturally gathering around the kitchen rather than disappearing into separate rooms.

And then there is the garden room, which for me is one of the things that makes the property particularly special. It sits at the back of the house with extensive glazing looking out over the grounds and the countryside beyond. The skylights bring even more light in, while the glazed doors open straight onto the garden. It is the sort of space that doesn't really need a label. It could be a dining room, somewhere to sit with a book, a place to work from home or simply the room everyone gravitates towards because the view is so much nicer than looking at a wall. The current vendors use the space for all of the above!

The views are actually one of the biggest pleasures of the house. There is something very different about having this amount of grounds around you and then seeing the countryside beyond it. You get the feeling of being properly away from things without losing the convenience of being close to Whitchurch.

The accommodation itself is unusually flexible, too. Alongside the main living room, there is a substantial sitting room with bi-fold doors opening onto the garden. Depending on what you need, it could become a second reception room, a playroom, a home office, somewhere for teenagers to hang out or simply another place to escape to when the house is busy. I always think rooms like this are valuable because you don't necessarily know what you are going to need from your home five or ten years from now.

There is also a bedroom on the ground floor with fitted wardrobes and its own en-suite shower room. That immediately opens up all sorts of possibilities. It would work brilliantly for a family with an older relative, for guests who come to stay regularly or for anyone who simply wants a bedroom away from the main sleeping accommodation. It could even become a very generous home office if four bedrooms weren't all required.

Upstairs, the principal bedroom is a lovely size and has its own dressing area, fitted wardrobes and en-suite shower room. There are two further bedrooms and a family bathroom, with the landing also offering space that could be used as a small study area. Again, it is those little things that make the house feel practical rather than simply large.

But it is outside where Hickory Lodge really starts to feel different.

The property sits in around 0.61 acres, which is a considerable amount of ground, particularly when you also have the countryside beyond. There are mature trees, established borders and large areas of lawn, so there is plenty of space for children to run around, dogs to do what dogs do, or for a few friends to come over and take over the garden on a summer afternoon.

There are also vegetable beds and polytunnels, which I think add a lovely sense of personality to the grounds. This isn't a garden that has been created simply to look immaculate from the kitchen window. It is clearly somewhere that has been used and enjoyed, and there is something much more appealing about that.

I can picture this being a house that works particularly well in summer. The doors thrown open, people moving between the kitchen and the garden room, lunch stretching into the afternoon and the garden becoming an extension of the house. Then, when autumn arrives, you have the wood-burning stove in the main living room, the views changing outside and plenty of cosy corners to retreat to.

There is plenty here that makes the house practical for modern life as well. Solar panels, a 13.5kWh Tesla Powerwall, a 16kW air source heat pump and a 7kW Zappi EV charger have all been installed, so the property has clearly been considered not just as a family home, but as a home for the future too. It is also being sold with no onward chain, which is always worth knowing.

What I think makes Hickory Lodge work so well, though, is the balance. You have a substantial house, but it doesn't feel disconnected from the grounds. You have plenty of rooms, but they don't feel unnecessary. You have countryside around you, but you aren't completely cut off from everyday life.

And then there is the fact that it has clearly been a much-loved family home. You can see that in the way the spaces have been created and in the grounds, which feels established and properly lived in. That gives the property something you can't really add with a renovation or a fresh coat of paint.

At around 2,701 sq ft, there is certainly no shortage of space, and with four bedrooms and approximately 0.61 acres, there is plenty here for a family to grow into. But I think the real attraction is that you could make it your own without having to completely reinvent it.

For me, it is the kind of house where you can imagine the everyday stuff happening. The school run. Friends arriving for dinner. Someone working at the kitchen table. A Sunday morning in the garden. Vegetables growing in the polytunnel. Dogs coming in covered in mud. Someone sitting in the garden room long after everyone else has gone inside.