Wakeham is a minimalist house in a classical shell. It won the Country Life 'House of the Year' award. It is in the middle of our farm, with multiple woods, valleys & a river, and stunning views of the South Downs. Its pool is 12ft deep and has 3m and 1m springboards (it is one of the deepest private pools in England - an Olympic medal winning diver used to train here). There is also a shallow pool for beginners, a tennis court, and a brilliant sandpit. Please look at the pictures! We are fully booked until Christmas 2024 but welcome enquiries for summer 2025. Really sorry to disappoint people this year, but a family needed somewhere to live after they moved into the area! Please do come and don't be discouraged. The house has striking architecture, and most people love it. It has recently been redecorated inside and out, and much of the external woodwork has been renewed. But it's not ultra-smart or a hotel! This is a lived-in house, not a property set up mainly for rent - so it has family photographs and books all over the place. So don't expect perfection! The atrium and kitchen are the main living spaces. The atrium is triple-height, and wrapped around by balconies at first floor level. There are hundreds of books, ranging from thrillers to more serious novels, in shelves on the balconies (and there is also a large children's book section). The centre of the kitchen is a huge polished granite table (which seats 9), leading up to a stainless steel island unit with a large multi-ring ceramic hob, a built0in oven, and multiple drawers for storage . The 1950s reclaimed aluminium kitchen units run up both sides of the room, and the whole rear wall is taken up by a long and colourful painting by the contemporary British artist, Thomas Newbolt. The kitchen is well equipped with top of the range Miele kitchen machinery, assorted other machines, and plain white porcelain crockery. In decent weather you can eat under the portico which leads directly from the kitchen and from the atrium. The house opens up onto the portico so that becomes an extra living space. There is a small study with a very large desk, a couple of chairs, a television (which we seldom watch) with an Apple TV box and a Freeview box, and more bookshelves (one of which holds several hundred biographies, ranging from the 16th to the 21st centuries). In bad weather there are two open fires, including a huge fireplace in the atrium - and the underfloor heating works well. Upstairs, one double room has an en-suite bath and the other an en-suite shower. They are well set up with Egyptian cotton sheets, and comfortable pillows. The bunk rooms - one of which is set up as close to a 1950s spaceship as I can manage, and decorated with a lot of pictures from the Dan Dare strip of that era - each contain bunk beds for two children (or very tolerant adults). The bunk rooms share a family shower and WC. There is also a downstairs toilet by the front door. Outside, there is a large laundry room with two washing machines, two tumble driers, an ironing machine and an ancient but functioning deep freeze and very ancient 4-ring cooker. This provides extra capacity - there is cooking equipment and a small freezer in the house itself. The garden is large but shabby in places - rabbits keep undermining it. It is mainly laid down to grass and trees.