Valley Lane Cottage

Buxhall sits in the farmland four miles southwest of Stowmarket, a small Mid Suffolk village built around the 14th-century St Mary's church, a windmill on the hill, and the Buxhall Crown for when you fancy a pint without getting in the car.

Valley Lane Cottage stands down one of the village's quieter lanes, its pink-washed walls beneath a heavy thatch are particularly lovely, charming you before you get to the gate. Inside, it's the beams that stand out: thick, dark oak ceiling beams and timber framing, unusually deep and distinctive, run through the ground floor, gathering the dining room and sitting room around them, with an electric burner set into a brick fireplace for the winter months. Upstairs, two bedrooms carry the same period character, the principal room looking out over open fields. A detached garage and a driveway with room for several cars sit alongside.

Outside, the gardens and paddock run to well over an acre, lawns bordered by mature trees giving way to a block-built stable, the plot's only outbuilding, the whole backing onto woodland with barely a neighbour in sight. Stowmarket station is a few minutes' drive, with direct trains to London Liverpool Street in around an hour and a quarter. Offered freehold.

Between the beams inside, the grounds outside, and Buxhall's quiet pace on the doorstep, Valley Lane Cottage brings a rare combination together.