Detached house for sale in Bradgate Road, Bedford, Bedfordshire MK40

Fine family home, with delightful gardens, in quiet tree-lined street

A superb, 6-bedroom, detached Bedford home, with garage, driveway parking for two cars and balcony overlooking a wonderful garden. Built in the Roaring Twenties, this is many a family’s dream home for the 2020s, especially as there’s scope for adding future value, not least in the huge loft space. And, if you have servants, you’ll be delighted to discover that the old call system is still in place.

In one of the County town’s lovely, leafy streets, your new home is within walking or cycling distance of the railway station, just over a mile away, with its fast trains to London in under 40 minutes. And close to every sporting club and facility, including Bedford Blues Rugby Club and the exclusive Riverside Lawn Tennis Club, as well as the historic badminton club at the end of the road that has spawned many a champion, including the gold medal-winning Gail Emms.

‘The Place’, a performing arts venue described as “a hidden gem of a theatre” is next to the badminton club. And one of the finest river embankments in the Country is a short stroll away through Bedford’s quirky Castle Quarter.

Walk the children to their little primary school (rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted) which is less than a couple of hundred yards away. The catchment secondary is in Biddenham. The world-renowned Harpur Trust schools and the outstanding Free School are all between one and two miles from your front door.

Supermarkets, surgery, shops, cinema, galleries and music venues, pubs and restaurants are all within walking distance. Your car might feel decidedly unwanted as it languishes in your garage once you move to your lovely new Bradgate Road home.

More about the property

Clematis climbs the columned front porch, sweet-scented Viburnum, Lilac Chaste and magnificent Magnolia vie for attention above the roses - and you cannot wait to see if the back garden is as beautiful.

Step onto the gorgeous oak floor of the hall, with its lovely arch, picture rails and original six-panel doors, and the excitement about inside is as palpable. A glance at plans (which demand to be framed) drawn up for a Mr J.W. Matkin in the late ‘20s, shows that much has changed over the years, not least a garage and utility added, with additional bedrooms above.

Then, today’s kitchen overlooking the garden from its breakfast area, was a scullery, coal store and larder. China was kept where your cloakroom is now. In the ‘20s, the house had a separate kitchen where there’s now a peaceful reading room. And where you can now entertain friends in your bay-windowed dining room, Mr Matkin had his sitting room. Your sitting room might be a little less formal, but no less delightful for that, with its cosy winter fire and French doors thrown open to the terrace in summertime.

Despite any changes, and you may wish to make some yourself - to the bathrooms for instance – the original character is intact. Spacious rooms, cast iron fireplaces, doors with locks and handles sought by collectors, are a constant reminder of the heritage of the house.

You can almost see Mr Matkin taking morning coffee on the balcony. You will surely do so too, although you might not receive such a willing response from the kitchen if you press the call button near your bed. No matter, the garden view is worth any inconvenience.

A pathway winds behind a striking Twisted Hazel, through a kitchen garden complete with crab apple to eating apple, damson to plum and pear. Wander to the greenhouse under the vine, rose and clematis-clad arbour, and relax in the gazebo beneath the gigantic Grey Poplar. Children can play on the lawn, where even the delightful Juneberry is overshadowed by the wonderful Mulberry tree. While you can relax with glass of wine on the terrace above the rockery and wildlife pond - and reflect that, yes, the back garden is as beautiful as the front; in fact, it’s all rather special.