- 3 Bed Semi needing modernisation in prime family location surrounded by excellent schools
- 2 year-old boiler with 8 years warranty remaining & new electrical consumer unit going in
- Light-filled Entrance Hall and spacious front-to-back Lounge/Diner with open Fireplace
- Compact kitchen with potential to open into dining area; functional but dated
- Family Bathroom with electric shower over bath; very clean but ready for updating
- Three bedrooms including two doubles with fitted wardrobes - all with large windows
- Exceptional garden with 40 foot long initial section plus additional 30'x30' area with apple trees
- Block-paved driveway and garage with potential to expand Garden by removing garage
- Just 0.8 miles from Billericay Station (35 min to London) and 0.9 miles to High Street
- Convenience shops around corner; Lake Meadows Park 5-minute walk away
Situated in an uber convenient location for families, this 3-bedroom Semi-detached House is in need of modernisation, but this is far outweighed by its location, as it sits in the centre of a triangle of excellent local schools, each little more than a stone's throw away as the crow flies in either direction, and the fact that is offers the perfect opportunity for those looking to add their personal touch.
The Entrance Hall is flooded with natural light from generously sized windows and front door and the spacious front-to-back Lounge/Diner features a Fireplace.
A modern Combi Boiler sits up, out of the way, in the loft.
The Garden is another great feature, comprising two distinct areas - a lovely 40-foot initial section that extends to a substantial 30' x 30' additional space positioned behind the garage of the shared drive, offering tremendous scope for outdoor enjoyment and landscaping possibilities.
While the kitchen is compact and the bathroom retains an older suite (with the practical addition of an electric shower over the bath), both spaces present exciting opportunities to create stylish, contemporary areas tailored to your preferences.
This property combines immediate livability with significant potential to add value through thoughtful modernisation.
The Area
The hugely sought after local primary school is a mere 4 to 5 minute stroll away, and the also highly rated Mayflower High School us just a 2 minute dash for oversleeping teenagers.
For the commuter, Billericay Railway Station is just 0.9 mile away - about a 17 to 18 minute walk - providing quick access to London Liverpool Street in 35 minutes.
In addition, a parade of shops, including a handy Co-Op Convenience store providing the daily essentials, is literally just around the corner and the north entrance to the 40 acres of Lake Meadows Park is also just a quick 5-minute saunter away too. Billericay High Street with its Shops, Bars, Restaurants and its centrepiece Waitrose Store is also within easy amble too, being approx. 0.9 mile.
The Accommodation
HALL 10ft x 7ft 7" (3.05m x 2.31m)
A nice size Hall, which is also very well lit courtesy of the fully glazed front door and its large adjacent window.
The under stairs cupboard houses the electrical fuses and gas meter.
LOUNGE/DINER 22ft 6" x 10ft 6" narrowing to 10ft 3" (6.86m x 3.20m > 3.12m)
Dual aspect as it is a front to back living room, and as such, is flooded with light coming in through the large front facing window and the equally large rear facing set of sliding patio doors.
The focal point of course is the fireplace which we understand to be fully open and therefore giving options of a traditional open fire or a small log burner perhaps.
KITCHEN 11ft 5" x 8ft (3.48m x 2.44m)
Fitted with a dated yet very functional range of 'antique oak' effect units incorporating spaces for under counter appliances (washing machine, fridge, freezer, potential dishwasher etc.) and an open space for the freestanding electric cooker.
The original built-in Pantry (2ft 10" x 3ft or 0.86m x 0.94m) could easily be removed for more units, and would actually make the Kitchen feel bigger as well.
There is of course the obvious potential to open up the Kitchen with the dining end of the Lounge/Diner adjacent.
There's plenty of working light in this KITCHEN courtesy of the half glazed back door, large window over the 1.5 bowl sink and a further side facing window.
Stairs from HALL to:
1ST FLOOR LANDING
The large side facing window throws a lot of light across the stairwell, onto the notably spacious Landing which also has a built-in cupboard, originally housing the hot water tank, but with the new combination boiler up in the loft, this cupboard has been freed up for pure storage.
MASTER BEDROOM 11ft 8" x 10ft (3.56m x 3.05m)
A generous size double bedroom with fitted wardrobes along the far wall and a front facing window.
BEDROOM TWO 11ft 3" x 8ft 6" (3.43m x 2.59m)
The measurements exclude the depth of the fitted wardrobes which run along the left wall.
This is another good sized double bedroom with the exposed floorboards sanded and varnished and the large window brings in plenty of light.
BEDROOM THREE 8ft 2" x 6ft 9" (2.49m x 2.06m)
Not a bad size bedroom at all as the stair bulkhead hasn't taken up a lot of room as you often find in these third bedrooms.
There is a built-in cupboard and again we see a large window, front facing this time, which again streams in lots of natural light.
BATHROOM 7ft x 5ft 6" (2.13m x 1.68m)
Dated yet remarkably clean.
Fully tiled and with a modern Triton T80 Easi electric shower over the deep, cast iron bath.
A roof facing window provides plenty of natural light.
LOFT
Housing the two-year-old Vaillant ecoFIT pure Eco Gas combination boiler (therefore still retaining 8 years of its 10-year warranty).
EXTERIOR:
FRONT
The front garden has long since been paved over and in recent decades a large area of block paving has been laid across both this and next doors drive (obviously done at the same time).
Shingled relief along the front and left boundaries could easily be planted up, we thought. The front brick boundary wall appears quite sturdy too.
GARAGE 17'9" x 8ft (5.41m x 2.44m)
Of precast construction with a couple of windows, a set of timber double doors.
GARDEN
You can almost describe the garden as being two separate areas. Thwere's an initial area just over 41 feet (12.50m) long, which then runs on behind the end of the garage to another area roughly 36 feet (10.97m) wide max by 32 feet (9.75m) deep, currently occupied by three very established Apple trees.
We thought the rear area would make a super spot for a garden cabin, children's play area or a mini football pitch!
Of interesting note, the vendor gets on very well with the next-door neighbour to the right who has recently added a single story extension. The neighbour is also thinking of taking down their garage to open up the garden more - something that the vendor here has also thought about.
With both garages down, this will certainly let in even more light to the bottom end of the garden as well as increasing the garden size substantially. Food for thought
Council Tax
Basildon Council, Band D
Notice
Please note we have not tested any apparatus, fixtures, fittings, or services. Interested parties must undertake their own investigation into the working order of these items. All measurements are approximate and photographs provided for guidance only.
Billericay is a popular, historic market town just 30 miles from London.
The market at the top of Crown Road disappeared years ago and Billericay nowadays is more well-known as an excellent commuter town, with excellent rail links to the City (35 minutes by train), very good schools and a charming High Street, part of which is a conservation area.
It also has great access to the key main roads of the M25, A12 and A127.
The town lies on the edge of rural Essex, which makes it a very desirable place to live. This coupled with the City access goes some way to explain the high levels of Londoners we see looking to move here every year.
Since I moved here in 1973 and started as an estate agent in the mid 1990's, I have seen the town grow to where it is now, with some 14,000-15,000 homes and a population of over 40,000.
The Billericay you see today is economically and physically a thriving and attractive place to live and work. There are many open green spaces including the 40 acre Lake Meadows Park, a must in summer, and they throw a pretty impressive Fireworks Night too.
Norsey Woods is a great place for a walk or to exercise your dogs...or the kids! It dates back to the Bronze Age and covers about 165 acres with a visitor centre for the educational visits it has too.
I remember camping there as a cub scout back in the day and both Nick and myself have enjoyed many a afternoon there over the years with our families.
The High Street must be one of the prettiest in the county and dates back to Roman times. The shape we see now certainly hasn't changed much for over 500 years, our office itself is part of one of the 25 old coaching inns the town has seen over the years!
With well over 100 shops including some well known names and some boutique locally owned ones, the High Street also has some great pubs, bars and restaurants. The Chequers is probably the most popular, most people we know rate it as the best pub in town, with newer bars like Harrys Bar, Bar Zero and the Blue Boar, also very sought after, growing venues on friday and saturday nights.
There are too many great restaurants to name, suffice to say you don't need to travel out of Billericay to have a fantastic night out and there's a taxi rank by the station to get you home if you want to leave the car on the drive.
Waitrose is our local main supermarket with there also a very good Co-op over on Queens Park. Smaller supermarkets over in South Green, Sunnymede and along Stock Road also provide a super local service in their areas.
Billericay Christmas Market is a very popular annual event which sees the High Street completely shut to traffic for the day and then filled with stalls selling anything and everything Christmasy!
All the local schools, both Primary and Secondary have good OFSTED reports and there is a good choice of both State and Private. Please feel free to contact our office for more details although the OFSTED website is the ideal first port of call of course.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Billericay has an facinating history, much of which can be researched in our local museum, the Cater Museum on the High Street.
Billericay was first recorded as Byllerica in 1291 with notable events including a Peasants Revolt ending up in Norsey Woods in 1381 and some of Billericay residents, including Christopher Martin, the ship's victualler, sailing with the Pilgrim Fathers to the 'New World' of America on the Mayflower in 1620 - hence the many representartions of the Mayflower ship in numerous local businesses and the Mayflower High School.
In 1916 Billericay became famous as a result of a Zeppelin airship crashing in flames on the outskirts of the town, down what is now Greens Farm Lane.
A union workhouse was built in 1840 which later, together with additional later built buildings, became St. Andrew's Hospital in the 1930s. The regional plastic surgery and rehabilitation unit was opened here the same year I moved to Billericay, 1973. Many a local will still refer the estate there now to me, as 'one of the houses on the old Burns Unit', although it is in fact Stockfield Manor now.
Only the original workhouse building, including the chapel, and the main gatehouse, now survive, converted now into Grey Lady Place, a residential development of luxury apartments.
The railway came in 1889 and opened up opportunities for landowners to sell plots to Londoners looking to move out of 'The Smoke' into a cleaner rural environment. Both myself and Nick have sold many an old 'plot land' home over the years for redevelopment. A few still remain on the edge of Norsey Woods down Break Egg Hill.
With the housing shortage created by the war time bombing of London, pressure to build was great and the new town of Basildon was given the green light. The 'Green Belt' stopped expansion and the blurring of Basildon and Billericay, hence why lot of the Billericay housing estates were built on abandoned farmland around the town centre and Great Burstead/South Green, where permission was more easily granted.
