The Victorian villa with the ultimate home office in the garden

If working from home is about to become a permanent reality for you, or you have your own business and want to ditch the leased office space, this house has something in the garden that might excite you.

Due to the current coronavirus restrictions, many office employees are having to work from home and find spaces to accommodate their office life.

How many people across Wales are having to share the kitchen table with partners working from home or children doing online schoolwork?

But instead of a cramped corner in a small bedroom or squeezing a desk into a space under the stairs, the owner of this house located just outside Cardiff has ample desk spaces, a cool meeting area and a room dedicated to filing – in the garden.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Plenty of parking at the front but plenty of surprises around the back

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Coach house to full operational office building in the back garden

They simply step out of the back door and across the garden to a completely separate, detached, two-storey office building.

This mini office building even has a high gloss, funky purple kitchen so at lunchtime there is no need to tiptoe back to the main house to fix lunch and possibly get distracted.

The building also has a cloakroom, of course, as well as additional office space and storage space on the first floor.

At this Vale of Glamorgan property, there’s even enough parking space outside the little office building for a few employees should your business expand or you are moving your SME out of an urban office space and into your garden.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Funky meeting room at the front of the office building

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Plenty of space for desks, filing, a kitchen and a cloakroom

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
There’s a gym in the garden shed next door too

According to the estate agent selling this property called Hillside, the detached office building was once a coach house but now it is the hub of work activity.

And if sitting at a desk all day makes any worker feel sluggish, there’s a garden room housing a gym to be found within the grounds too.

If this cute coach house would be better suited as extra living accommodation for a new owner, after investigating the change in planning required, it could become a useful granny annexe or separate living space for the younger generation.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The house has been extended at the rear

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
There’s a separate annexe to the left side and rear of the house that includes a kitchen diner, lounge bedroom and ensuite

But if more separate space is required from this property, then the main house can also offer a self-contained annexe; Hillside really is a property that just keeps on giving.

The renovation and refurbishment of the Victorian villa located on a hill overlooking Cardiff has been extended and designed to realise the potential of every scrap of space on offer.

The annexe in the main house is located to the left of the central front door, and includes a ground floor kitchen breakfast room extension.

This spacious room with glass doors at the front to allow light and views of the garden to flood in, then flows into the annexe sitting room, which is part of the original house as was once the rear left reception room.

From this dedicated lounge, the annexe then flows into a bedroom and ensuite bathroom found in another extension that runs the width of the house at the rear.

But the occupants of the main portion of this handsome house should not be worried about running out of space in their dedicated domain, as the substantial house still offers them three reception rooms in the original house and a large kitchen diner in the rear extension.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Principal bedroom

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Principal bedroom flows into a substantial dressing room

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Dressing room flows into the large ensuite

Upstairs, the first floor is for the exclusive use of the main house, no annexe in sight.

Arguably the stand-out space on this level is the principal bedroom suite that occupies the entire right side of the house, running from the front of the property to the back.

The sleeping zone is at the front, enjoying the feature bay window that frames the views out over the capital city.

This space is connected to the dressing room next door via an open double doorway. Here, two former, separate bedrooms have been joined by the partial demolition of the partition wall between them.

This sizeable dressing space then flows into a substantial ensuite with a full-size bath and large walk-in shower.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The house has four bedrooms in total

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The family bathroom features an eye-catching statement free-standing bath

On this first floor is an additional double bedroom with ensuite, a spacious bedroom with bay window at the front of the house opposite the principal bedroom, plus a family bathroom with a stylish, contemporary free-standing bath.

Arguably the most surprising and welcome addition on the first floor is the discovery of a balcony at the front of this charming home.

Accessed from the landing, and perched above the columned entrance and front door below, the balcony has ample room for a bistro table and chairs for sunny Sunday brunches or even a deckchair or two for elevated relaxation with a cool drink on a hot summer’s day.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The first floor balcony is a welcome addition to the house

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The view across Cardiff and the Bristol Channel to England are mesmerising

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The garden has great views too, as well as all the extra buildings and spaces

Even just standing at this special spot on the balcony is worth the time allocated to it.

Mesmerising views of Cardiff, the Bristol Channel and even England on the horizon, stretch out across the landscape below to enthral and entertain you, trying to located landmark city buildings and spotting ships out to sea.

However the owner decides to use the balcony, it is yet another additional and surprise feature that ensures this home is a unique property proposition bulging with extras that is surely going to delight a potential buyer.

The renovation of the period property has seen a re-imagining of the spaces to suit a busy and sociable family lifestyle combined with separate, quiet rooms.

The main living room on the ground floor flows into the family room next door via a wall of doors installed in the partition wall, so the whole space can connect, or if peace or separation is required the doors can be closed.

For total tranquil relaxation, there is a separate sitting room on the other side of the hall.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
The renovation is a mix of old and new

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
On one side of the hall there is a quiet and welcoming quiet adult lounge

The kitchen diner at the rear of the property is another social space.

Accessed via the family room and found in the rear extension, it is surely the heart of the home, with ample space for even a large family to gather.

The bespoke fitted kitchen has granite worktops and integrated appliances, as well as space for an American style fridge-freezer. The kitchen is flooded with natural light thanks to three roof lights and there is also door onto the garden and your pathway to the office outside.

Off the kitchen is a utility room with space and plumbing for a washing machine and tumble dryer, as well as a downstairs cloakroom.

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One of the more unusual but arguably very successful design elements of the kitchen is the modern ‘hatch’ between this space and the family room next door.

Not a throwback to the 1970s that saw a tiny serving hatch in the kitchen wall with little double doors, this modern hatch is a large section of dividing wall removed to make this whole space a perfect ‘broken-plan’ area – connected but not totally open-plan and zoned according to allocated function.

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Social lounge connects to the family room beyond which connects to the kitchen via a large, modern ‘hatch’

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
Dressing room flows into the large ensuite

© Savills, Cardiff / rightmove
A full-width extension means the kitchen is a spacious and bright room

Throughout the home the owners have created warm and welcoming spaces, inviting visitors and family members in to linger and enjoy.

The addition of a log burner in the main lounge makes it the ultimate area to gather on a cold winter’s evening but there’s also one in the separate adult lounge too, so wherever you decide to park to relax, chat or enjoy a movie, your toes will be toasty warm.

Solid wood flooring, feature coving, the period staircase and intricately detailed ceiling roses remind a visitor of the home’s vintage past, but the addition of modern interior design, multiple bathrooms and a family-sized kitchen diner ensure it is a perfect home for the present and the future.

From the beautiful floor tiles in the hall to the choice of accent colours and use of natural materials such as wood, stone and slate, this house has been updated into a welcoming, modern and stylish home that has all the versatile space a family could need for work, rest and play.

Hillside, located on The Tumble above Culverhouse Cross on the western fringes of Cardiff is on the market for £1.1m with estate agent Savills, call their Cardiff branch on 029 2036 8919 to find out more.