A happy-making home office is now more important than ever before
Dorset, £2.5 million Once pacing the sizeable (17ft by 13ft) study at Muston Manor has lost its appeal, a splash in the heated outdoor pool may revive a tired brain. Beyond, within a little more than three acres of grounds, including a newly resurfaced tennis court, croquet lawn and walled kitchen garden that would catch Mr McGregor’s approval, say agents, with pear, fig and apple trees, there is plenty more distraction at hand.Set in the Piddle Valley village of Piddlehinton, about five miles from Dorchester, this Grade II-listed 17th-century manor house has five bedrooms, a second-floor twobedroom flat and a long-standing connection to the Churchill family. Domvs (01305 757300)
London NW1, £4.35 million Inspiration never seems to stray far from Primrose Hill Studios—it has previously been home to pre-Raphaelite painter J. W. Waterhouse, fairy-tale illustrator Arthur Rackham, conductor Henry Wood (who founded the Proms), writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and artist Patrick Caulfield. Built in 1877, there are only 12 Grade II-listed studio houses here, hidden away on a little cul-de-sac off Fitzroy Road, not far from Regent’s Canal, and they rarely emerge on the market. No 4 has been refurbished by the current owners with plenty of glass and light, as you’d expect; it has a 30ft reception room with double-height ceilings, a master bedroom with en-suite dressing room and bathroom, two further bedrooms, a separate study area and its own private walled garden (as well as access to communal gardens). Winkworth (020–7586 7001)
Surrey, £2.35 million The future owner of Smallbrook Farm will be spoilt for choice when it comes to working from home, as the four-bedroom property comes with a study on the ground floor and two separate studios within the grounds ( just over an acre), which could also double up as further accommodation. The family kitchen is ‘magnificent’, say agents, housed in an exposed-oak extension with a lantern roof, marble flooring, breakfast bar and wide bi-fold glass doors leading into the garden via a Yorkstone terrace. A ‘mixture of formal garden, wild and woodland area
