CLASSIC cottage.

Byline: BY KATE WOLFE

THE Old House, in the Worcestershire village of Upton Snodsbury, exudes the classic "old England" image that so beguiles foreign visitors.

In a settlement dating back to pre-Saxon times, the 300 year old cottage is a comparative newcomer.

Even so, the charming 17th century half-timbered and thatched cottage is a lovingly preserved reminder of the rosy, rural, heyday of the orchard hamlets that were once Upton and Snodsbury.

The two settlements eventually joined up with neighbouring Cowsden to form the present day parish of Upton Snodsbury, six miles from Pershore.

Many of the orchards once surrounding it have died out.

But history-conscious residents celebrate their apple growing agricultural roots with a village Apple Festival, visited by apple experts keen to identify old varieties still surviving on trees in local gardens.

There is also an annual Music Festival in a lively village where The Old House is currently for sale, together with its 24ft timber barn and garage, at a pounds 439,950 guide price, through Andrew Grant Country Homes.

The Grade II Listed cottage, with a multi-vehicle parking area and box-hedged front garden behind its traditional fivebar gate entrance, has been comprehensively refurbished.

It is now a three-bedroom family home with such modern comforts as underfloor heating of the flagstone flooring to most ground floor rooms.

Upper floor rooms have original oak floorboards, complementing original doors and exposed wall and ceiling timbers.

On the ground floor, the formal dining room, next to the breakfast-kitchen, is currently used as a family room.

The kitchen has extensive cream units with integrated appliances and solid granite worktops.

A wide glazed door from the kitchen opens into a conservatory which, in turn, opens into the rear patio.

On the west side of the ground floor is a guest bedroom with its own en-suite shower room.

The drawing room, with French doors to the garden, has a brick inglenook fireplace with an oak mantel beam Upstairs, there is a landing with a useful study area, two generous double bedrooms and a family bathroom with Victorian style roll-top bath.

It is, quite simply, a little bit of England.

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The 17th century Grade II listed building is a relative newcomer in the village which dates back to pre-Saxon times