Luxury five-bed farmhouse boasting full-size rugby and football pitches and indoor driving range goes on sale for £1.8m

A SPRAWLING farmhouse boasting full-size rugby and football pitches as well as an indoor driving range has gone on the market for £1.8million.

Owner Sally Richardson created the facilities on her 48-acre estate to cater for her sports-mad sons.

The grounds of Fire and Smoke Farm in Devon include goal nets and rugby posts as well as a dugout with professional-style leather seating.

Her teenage lads have enjoyed regular kickabouts with their friends on the two pitches and their local football and rugby teams have also played there.

The estate also includes a set of cricket nets, a golf simulator machine and a driving range.

Sally said: "Both my children love sport, they play absolutely everything so we thought why not put some facilities in.

"They have been used as a place for their teams to play and we have also had a few friendlies out there too.

"The grounds were all rough farmland when we arrived and we had to spend a lot of time clearing it.

"It's a lot of work to maintain the pitches but the boys enjoy it so it's worth it in the end."

Sally carried out an extensive refurbishment after buying the rundown property in Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth, 13 years ago.

The large extension added to one corner won an award.

Sally added: "The minute I got there I knew we could do so much with it, despite the terrible state it was in.

"It was such an enormous undertaking and a complete labour of love but we are delighted with the end result.

"It's a stunning place to live, the minute I open the front door I am in heaven.

"Unfortunately we are moving on to be closer to my childrens' school."

The original stone farmhouse is based around three good reception rooms, currently configured as a large cinema room, a snooker room and a study.

A wide hall connects the original farmhouse to the new extension, which houses a snug, gym and an office.

There are plenty of opportunities for changing rooms or a clubhouse as the grounds comprise numerous outbuildings, including a stable block, garage, workshop and railed paddocks suitable for houses or livestock.

All of this lies in highly-desirable location, within East Devon's Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Edward Clarkson, from estate agents Knight Frank, which is selling the property, said: "Fire and Smoke Farm is a superb blend of a traditional farmhouse with a modern extension, a combination which the owners have executed brilliantly.

"They have done an incredible amount of award-winning work on the property, which was in a terrible state when they bought it.

"They have been very careful to ensure the house's originality remained intact."

"The sports pitches are fantastic, they even come with a dugout complete with leather seats, like one you'd see at a premier league football club.

"The family are sports mad, if you didn't already notice."

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