From coaching inn to comfy cottage

AT the top of Streatley’s High Street, where Georgian brick, flint and old coaching inns set the tone, sits 1 Pound Cottages.

It is an end-of-terrace, three-bedroom “mews” home with three reception spaces, its gardens sweeping round three sides. The property has period poise on the outside and thoroughly modern thinking within.

A columned portico with a scrolled pediment and an artisan front door with Banham ironmongery opens on to limestone flooring and a sense of order. To the left, the sitting room takes the corner position with a deep bay window and a handsome limestone fireplace fitted with a Chesney’s log-burner.

Across the hall, the dining room opens straight to the garden for easy summer suppers. Beyond, an open-plan Shaker-style kitchen flows into a breakfast/family room with broad doors to the terrace. Lighting is digital Lutron, finishes are up-to-date without being faddish and the whole place feels coherent rather than “bits added over time”.

Upstairs, a galleried landing serves three bedrooms and a family bathroom with Burlington fittings and more limestone underfoot. There’s an airing cupboard, a laddered loft for the overflow while there’s mains gas central heating, outside power and water, a remotely controlled Banham alarm and fire system with a safe and high-speed Gigaclear fibre for those who work (or stream) at home.

In all, the accommodation extends to about 1,216 sq ft including a separate garage.

The gardens are beautifully structured rather than high maintenance. There’s a brick-and-flint part-walled at the front, then lawns on two levels with established planting and a limestone terrace that wraps the house, giving morning coffee, lunch and evening sun options without moving the furniture.

There’s a tucked-away lower terrace for the barbecue or a quiet read, a bespoke timber shed in one corner and, when the cherry trees put on their pink show, the whole plot feels celebratory.

The garage is just behind the house off a short private lane, recently improved with a new roof, damp-proof tanking and a reinforced door, so it’s just as useful as a lock-up workshop as it is for a car.

Streatley sits in the Goring Gap between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns, with National Trust land on the doorstep.

From the cottage you can stroll to the river, the Swan hotel, the old Bull Inn at the top of the High Street and across the bridge to Goring for the station, shops, a modern health centre, library and everyday bits.

There’s immediate access to a network of footpaths and bridleways and the views run out to the Chiltern escarpment across the Thames.

For commuters, Reading is roughly 10 miles, Oxford
17 and Henley is about
13 miles. From Goring and Streatley you have mainline services to Reading and London Paddington in under an hour, connecting the village cleanly to the Thames Valley and London.

Streatley Primary School is well regarded; The Downs is the local outstanding secondary with its own bus route and there’s a strong independent choice within striking distance — Cranford House, Moulsford, The Oratory (prep and senior), Pangbourne College and Downe House, among others.

l 1 Pound Cottages has a guide price of £665,000, freehold. For more information and to arrange a viewing, call Warmingham & Co on (01491) 874144.