With its wealth of Georgian features, visiting The Old Rectory at Bergh Apton is like stepping back in time. It needs a serious renovation to bring it back to life, however, making it a wonderful opportunity for a thorough restoration.

With its wealth of Georgian features, visiting The Old Rectory at Bergh Apton is like stepping back in time. It needs a serious renovation to bring it back to life, however, making it a wonderful opportunity for a thorough restoration. The Regency property is set in 25 acres, and is for sale in four lots with a guide price of £950,000 for the whole, through Brown & Co. Keiron Pym reports.

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A grand country house which has hardly changed since its 19th century heyday, the Old Rectory is a property of great appeal, but equally great challenge.

The imposing Georgian home at Bergh Apton is on the market with a guide price just under £1m, but it has seen better days and hundreds of thousands of pounds will need to be spent restoring it to its former glory.

The Grade II listed building abounds with original features, but has been neglected and is on South Norfolk Council's Buildings at Risk Register.

Surrounded by more than 25 acres of paddocks and unspoilt parkland, it represents an opportunity for someone to renovate an unusually well-preserved rectory that brings with it an interesting ecclesiastical history and a recent association that will be well-known to people with an interest in horseracing.

Until his death in 2005 at the age of 88, the renowned bloodstock agent Keith Freeman had lived at The Old Rectory - his home for more than 30 years. Mr Freeman was considered one of Britain's leading post-war experts in his field, and the Bergh Apton Stud's stables bred and housed many top class, race-winning stallions and mares. Grey Sovereign stood at stud here until his last years, eventually being buried in the grounds. Mr Freeman was also responsible for the Derby winner Grundy and the world famous Blushing Groom.

David Hooper, from Brown & Co, believes the property would suit someone with a passion for renovation, and if they have equestrian interests, then so much the better.

“It is built in a classic Regency architectural style, probably around 1790 and 1810,” he said. “The house hasn't been touched for years. It's an opportunity for someone to reinvent it from top to bottom.”

Records show that early residents included Rev John Nevill, who held the office of Chaplain to the Prince Regent in 1818 and was rector of Bergh Apton from 1818 to 1831. Then the Rev John Pelham was rector of Bergh Apton from 1837 until 1852, before becoming Bishop of Norwich. Mr Freeman is thought to have bought the rectory in the 1960s after the death of Rev Frederick Martin.

Inside, features include, original doors, Belfast sinks, a mahogany-inlaid banister, a well-pump in the kitchen and more than a dozen summoning bells in the servants' quarters below stairs, to name a few.

After entering the property's double-entrance drive (one entrance is blocked), you pass through a part-glazed double door into the parquet-floored entrance hall, and then through another door to the inner hall. This leads to a beautifully proportioned, south-facing drawing room with shuttered full-length sash windows and original fireplace. This leads to the dining room, again with fireplace and sash windows, and then onto a kitchen/breakfast room. A rear hallway leads to the former servants' quarters. The old kitchen has a pamment-tiled floor and a wonderful 19th century cooking range, which is not in working order but makes a stunning feature. There is also a scullery, a laundry room and office space.

Stairs from the hall lead down to a vaulted cellar with a lockable gate, presumably to keep the servants from the wine, and another set of stairs lead to the first floor.

Here there are seven bedrooms, including a south-facing master bedroom with en-suite bathroom. Two of the seven are off a rear hallway and would have been for servants. A further staircase leads to the second floor, where there are three rooms in the eaves.

Another door at the end of the first floor's rear hallway adjoins the rectory to an annexe, the coach house flat. This can be accessed independently from the Old Rectory via an entrance hall, and so could be converted to a self-contained annexe or could be reincorporated into the main house. The annexe sits above the old coaching stables, which are now garages.

The grounds are as glorious as the building. Although once landscaped, they are now largely overgrown, although the large lawn to the south is neatly maintained. An old iron gate leads from the lawn into a copse, where saplings have overgrown a sunken garden, complete with ornamental pool and old stone urns.

To the north of the Old Rectory is the former stable block, now needing repair. This had consent for conversion to residential use, but the permission has lapsed.

Mr Freeman built a further stable block to the west of the rectory featuring a central courtyard surrounded by 21 stables, with feed and tack room and a foaling box. By this is a range of open steel-frame buildings used for straw storage.

The Old Rectory is for sale as a private treaty as a whole for £950,000, or in four lots. Lot one forms the main house, coach house flat, stable block and 25.6 acres, and this lot is valued at £850,000. There are three lots of grazing land, which come to a further £100,000. One of the fields is home to an ancient oak, which only adds to the atmosphere of stepping back in time.

Now there is a chance for someone to preserve that historic feeling while giving the house a new lease on life.

t For more information, contact Brown & C0 on 01603 629871.