All about Thames Cottage: Exterior Views

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Exterior Views

The first floor window looks out from the master bedroom and features a window box for planting annual colour. Most helpfully for commuters, it's close enough to spy on activity at the train station, but far enough away to not be bothered by train noise.

The large bay window looking out from the kitchen is one of the cottage's character features.

The trees at the end of the road grace the park beside the River Thames. The view across it is into Windsor Home Park and the Castle. Miles of pleasant riverside paths spread out from here.

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A character cottage on a charming, historic street

Thames Cottage sits in the middle of the historic, architecturally rich yet convenient high street of Datchet, half way between the train station (58 minutes to Waterloo) and the River Thames. It is just a mile to central Windsor.

It is a fully detached two-bedroom house with a fine margin of space around it. This unusual situation comes from its beginnings as an end-of-row workers' cottage built for the house (then business) next door around 1820. The rest of the row was demolished in the mid-20th century, leaving this small house surrounded by its elegant, larger neighbours.

Its exceptional features include: character touches like the front bay window, a wood-panelled spiral stair and a brick-walled garden with fountain, sun-deck and custom built storage area; a good variety of built-in storage areas inside the house; wood panelling and hard wood floors in several rooms; a larger-than-average kitchen for a property of this size.

The cottage as it stands today is the result of major renovations and additions in the early '90s, plus regular enhancements made over the past five years by the current owner.

Its location makes it ideal for the London commuter who prefers village life. Anyone who likes to entertain will love the large kitchen and combined dining/living area spilling into the walled garden.

Recent renovations and enhancements

Work is just ending on a complete re-pointing of the cottage's brick work, which will improve heat efficiency and ensure the exterior structure for decades to come. This also includes replacement of the current, badly-aged door lintel, plus re-rendering and fresh paint on the front and left side of the house.

Inside, all curtains have been replaced in the past six months.

The cottage had a major round of renovations and enhancements before becoming a rental property at the end of 2010. This included: a new, high-efficiency boiler, currently under warrantee with British Gas; new flooring in the single bedroom (top quality oak) and the upstairs bath (tile); new carpet up the stairs, in the upstairs hall and bedroom; all interior paintwork (walls, ceilings and door frames) refreshed and returned to neutral colours.

Both the refrigerator and the washer/dryer are top quality appliances installed earlier in 2010.

The single bedroom has a second phone line, not currently active but available for use and particularly good for a home office. Note that the telephone cabinet just across the street has been enabled for high speed broadband, meaning this property will benefit from some of the fastest times available on the national network.

What about parking?

Thames Cottage does not have its own off-road parking. Residents can acquire an inexpensive annual pass from the council for street parking on The Avenue. Even at the peak of the commuting day there are almost always spaces here, and the former owner usually claimed parked in the same spot, first on the bend and just two minutes walk to the house.

As long as you make an effort to be friendly to the neighbours, you can use the drive to the right of the house to load and unload. The neighbour on the left will sometimes allow parking for your guests, if you are nice and and arrange this well in advance.