The only people more excited about the sale of Old House Barn in Highleigh than me are the agents — and it's easy to see why. I love barns. You have likely read this before, but I think they combine the very best of all things British, both on the exterior and the interior. I like the idea of re-using old buildings (it is good for the environment and protects our heritage), I like how many of them are unlisted (meaning that designers can get creative with how they lay out the living spaces) and I like how, almost by definition, they combine modern living with (out with the animals, in with th ..read more

Tumbledown Farm in Brockham is exactly the sort of place you're probably thinking of when you think of moving out to the country. Ask the average young family what sort of thing they’d hope to find when swapping town for country, and you’ll more than likely get a checklist which makes it sounds like they want to live in Camberwick Green: local shop, decent pubs, pretty old church, a family-run butcher, charming houses and a thriving little village hall, all arranged around an idyllic village green. Brockham Village in Surrey. As it happens that’s more or less a spot-on description of the Su ..read more

Marley House on Marley Common boasts nine bedrooms and some of the finest views in southern England. Marley House has staggering views across the South Downs National Park. The expansive hills of Surrey and Sussex have long attracted those who want to live in the countryside, yet be within easy reach of the capital. Anyone heading south from Guildford will notice that the hills quickly start to rise and, once you’re beyond the market town of Haslemere, set in a fold of high woodland, you enter the South Downs National Park. One route goes across the border from Surrey into West Sussex and up t ..read more

Buying agents excel at gaining access to houses of which there’s nary a whisper on the market. In the prime country house market, a lot of transactions happen off market. ‘Most clients come via word of mouth,’ says Guy Meacock, director of Prime Purchase. ‘The wealthy are used to getting advice, based on experience. Shouldn’t that be even more the case when it comes to your home?’ In the mid and upper echelons of the housing market, buying agents are familiar faces, quietly navigating highs and lows on behalf of their clients. In the Cotswolds prime country-house market, for example, 50% of tr ..read more

Our pick of the homes to come to the market via Country Life this week focuses on a handful of absolutely magnificent homes. Combe Court and its 98-acre estate is for sale at £18m in Surrey.Surrey — £5.5 million A house on a huge scale (nine bedrooms, almost 7,000sq ft) yet which has a truly bucolic, relaxed feel to it despite being within the M25, close to the centre of Cobham. The traditional architecture belies the fact that the home is only two years old. For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property. Northamptonshire — £2.5 million The Grade II-listed form ..read more

A vast expanse of parkland is literally on your doorstep at this charming house, with five bedrooms, a study and a wonderful library. The Gate House in Englefield Green has a private gate opening out on to Windsor Great Park. At the northern end of the county of Surrey, on the east Berkshire border, stands Windsor Great Park, a 4,800-acre landscape of forests, grasslands, lakes and gardens. It is part of the Windsor estate and acts as a large rural lung for those living within its proximity. In a relatively built-up part of the world with easy access to the capital, it’s no surprise that many ..read more

At Steeple Chase Farm near Cottenham, plans are afoot to turn a former grandstand into a family home. And now for something completely different. Here, we have the former Cottenham Racecourse near Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. Have you ever wanted to live on a former racecourse? In a former grandstand? Well now you can. Land, lots of it. I remember the first time I went racing. I must have been about 12 years old, and it was at a track near my parents house in Essex. Before then, I had been conscious of horse racing only on television, principally the Kentucky Derby when I was younger, and t ..read more

This property on Mallord Street shares a wall with the home that AA Milne lived in for 21 years and is a fine house indeed. As the old saying goes, if you can’t live in the former house of AA Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, then at the very least you should live next door. Naturally this is easier said than done. An entrance hall as traditional as Winnie the Pooh itself. Or at least it was, until the recent launch onto the market of this house in Mallord Street in Chelsea, London. On the market for £6.45 million with Knight Frank, the property boasts five bedrooms and three reception roo ..read more

Sharrington Hall near Holt manages to pay homage to its past, present and future thanks to a splendid restoration programme by the current owners. There’s a certain skill in marrying the elegance of the traditional English country home with the modern fittings that make life easy, more comfortable and more bearable. Emma Sims-Hilditch is one of the great proponents of this art, which sounds easy in theory, but in reality, is much more difficult to execute. A reception room. Behold the timeless charm. That’s not to say that every Elizabethan home with a flat-screen television and induction h ..read more

Nine-bedroom Plush Manor was once the home of Alfred Brendel and sits in one of Dorset's most desirable locations. For several years, Plush Manor, which occupies an elevated position within Dorset’s Piddle Valley, hosted wedding receptions, many of which were held in a decommissioned church that stands on the edge of the property’s nearly seven acres of gardens and grounds. During its heyday, speeches were sometimes given from the pulpit. The church is no longer associated with the property. An entrance hall in which to make an entrance. Listed Grade II, Plush Manor is a Georgian home with ..read more