Safe havens of the West

Wildlife and people alike can thrive in four magnificent estates in Wiltshire, Somerset and Devon

- Penny Churchill

THE ancient Wiltshire parish of Woodford lies between Salisbury and Amesbury on the western side of the River Avon, bounded on the east by the winding course of the river and on the west by the old turnpike road from Salisbury to Devizes, now the A360. The land rises sharply from some 200ft above sea level in the valley to about 400ft at the top of the down. The land on the slopes is mainly pasture and, in the valley, the famous chalkstream runs fast and deep. For centuries, it was fished by permission of the lords of the manors of Woodford and Heale.

It's a tranquil pastoral setting where, according to the Victoria County History (1962), 'the most notable event in the history of the parish occurred in 1651, when Charles II took refuge at Heale House during his flight from Cromwell's army after the battle of Worcester'. Undisturbed by housing development in the 19th and 20th centuries, the relatively small number of good houses available along the picturesque valley is much sought after nowadays by country-house buyers from Salisbury and further afield.

Oliver Custance Baker of Strutt & Parker (020-7591 2213) quotes a guide price of $4.5 million for the charming Moor Hatches, a converted former 18th-century farmstead set in six acres of formal walled gardens, kitchen garden and orchards at the head of the valley. The house, which is unlisted, lies within the UNESCO Stonehenge World Heritage site and is bounded by the Avon, which runs along the bottom of the garden. Built of brick and flint under a clay-tiled roof, the former farmhouse, barns and an older non-conformist chapel were combined in the 1930s to create a significant, 4,850sq ft country house, which has been thoroughly and tastefully modernised by its current owners.