Property focus: properties with the added wow factor (From York Press)

Property focus: properties with the added wow factor

3:27pm Thursday 11th March 2010

There was a certain irony this week in my limping out to view bungalows in Dunnington.

Yes, I did say limping. With all the bad weather we’ve been having lately I’ve been feeling the old war wounds. Well, wrecked knees from playing too much football until too late an age.

With Dunnington Veterans (aka old codgers), as it happens… hence the irony.

Football in Dunnington having turned my knees into elastic bands, it seemed appropriate to be considering bungalows in the very same village.

But then these were not any old bungalows. In fact, all of them are what you might call surprise packages.

The first, for instance, in Hull Road, looks from the outside like one of a kind – but boy is it a beauty.

The wow factor here begins the moment you step into the hallway and then into the stunning through-lounge dining room. It’s an eye-catching spacious (24ft) combined room with a feature fireplace and log- burning stove as a focal point. The stripped and polished floorboards are stylish and warming and light streams in from a bow window to the front.

Double doors open on to an equally impressive breakfast kitchen. If you like your homes with character, then here’s one for you. The kitchen has exposed beams and a tiled floor and a superb range of base and wall units and a stylish range cooker.

On one side, doors open on to a decked seating area and on another a further set of doors open a conservatory/morning room, another great living space with a vaulted ceiling and exposed beams and double doors opening on to another seating area under a pergola.

And then comes the rest of this glorious package – brilliant landscaped gardens and cunningly divided into a series of separate areas which include lawns and flower and shrub beds and a water feature and fish pond with ornamental bridge.

What’s more, there is open land to these rear gardens so you get super, uninterrupted views.

With all that on show, it’s hard to drag yourself back inside, but we should because there is more to look and marvel at.

The truth is that this is not strictly a bungalow but has been cleverly extended. So, on the ground floor we have a double bedroom and house bathroom and a fourth bedroom or study.

And upstairs (we might have creaking knees but it was worth the effort) we found a master bedroom with en-suite shower room – and great views across that open countryside. There is also another bedroom on this floor.

All in all, a superb home with so much to view. And if you fancy taking a viewing you should contact William H Brown on 01904 621138. The agents have given this one a guide price of £309,950.

Hobbling down the road, meanwhile, we called in to see another surprisingly big property – this time in a sleepy cul de sac close to the village centre in Greencroft Court.

‘Deceptively spacious’ is a term that might have been invented for this tidy bungalow. The extra space created by the present owners – who have lived here for 16 years, so you know it can’t be bad – is apparent from the moment you pop your head into the living room which has windows to the front and side and an attractive Adams-style fireplace.

The two bedrooms are a grand size, too, both being good doubles and one of them having patio doors out on to the back garden and a tuckedaway en-suite shower room.

But it is when you reach the back of the house that you find the wow factor – in the shape of a big combined space which is home to a fitted kitchen, a dining area – and a conservatory sun room. It’s a fantastic spot with a versatile range of uses from living, dining or just chilling out (if that’s the right phrase for an area that is bathed in sunshine thanks to its south-facing aspect). Add to this a lean to sun room/utility area and you can see that this is a property with a lot to offer.

Hudson Moody’s personal agent for Dunnington, Alex McClean, is the man to contact on this one. He’s on 01904 489906 or 07760 628915. The guide price is £269,950.

And making up this week’s triumvirate of homes with a little bit extra to offer is a pretty bungalow in Garden Flats Lane. This, again, has a few suprises. We liked the way this one has been skilfully extended and refitted. Once through the reception hall, you come into a huge living and dining room with masses of floor space (17ft5ins by 10ft 5ins to the living area and nearly 19ft by 10ft to the dining room) and there is a well fitted kitchen which opens onto a very smart conservatory sun room to the side.

There are three bedrooms, along with a recently refitted bathroom. Another spacious home worth a second look, this one is with Ashtons (01904 659222) at a guide price of £249,950.