Property of the week: Country charm meets city pad

If decamping to a country house sounds like the dream move for you and your family, but you don’t actually want to sever ties with the capital, then this could be the perfect solution – no compromise needed.

Heathview Gardens sits over four floors and covers 8,584 sq ft. The clue to its desirability lies in the name – it sits not only within the privacy of its landscaped gardens but also inside the enclave of Putney Heath and its cricket ground. Richmond Park is easily walkable, and you are still in zone 2. You have views of nature everywhere and the echos of leather on willow in the cricketing months.

Adding to the nine-bedroom, five-bathroom detached country house feel is the garden’s swimming pool and brick-built pool house. A grand carriage driveway to the front sets you comfortably back from the residential road. For staff, a bedroom suite on the ground floor is close to the service kitchen and utility room.

And for your country house guests, you only need place a copy of the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s book Heart of the Antarctic next to their bed to gain extra kudos. Shackleton wrote his account of the 1907-9 British Antarctic expedition when he lived at Heathview Gardens from 1911, and the expedition made him a national hero.

For day-to-day family life everyone piles into the kitchen/dining/family room, but when you’re entertaining – and this can be as grand as you like – you can invite guests into the home’s drawing room, dining room, and then for an evening’s game of billiards or a look around your wine cellar at your favourite bottles.

The property is currently empty so it’s a bit of blank canvas for your interior designer of choice to start thinking about a luxurious refurbishment, retaining all those highly desirable period features, such as the stunning glazed windows looking over the roofline, but creating a new home that will suit your extensive family perfectly for years to come.  

£ On sale with Savills Putney, savills.com