2 bed flat for sale

Thicket Road, London SE20

Occupying the first floor of a handsome, tall Victorian building directly overlooking Crystal Palace Park, this beautifully characterful two-double-bedroom flat extends to around 804 sq ft, with huge rooms, wonderfully high ceilings, Victorian floorboards, period detailing and a shared garden to the front and rear.

Thicket Road is one of those addresses that needs very little introduction locally, particularly at this end near the Dinosaurs and boating lake. The building itself has real presence. Tall sash windows, stock brick, generous proportions and the sort of scale not seen in modern architecture; the Victorians were perfectly happy to give a house fewer, but grander rooms!

The entrance hallway has been opened to increase the flow between the rooms and allow natural light to pour in from the front and back of the house, so the flat is always bright and feels connected to the beautiful trees outdoors. A rarely found architectural technique that eliminates harsh shadows, amplifies proportions and creates a more pleasant overall space. There is also a hidden front closet behind the big mirror in the hall with room for coats and other necessities.

The living room measures around 17 ft 8 by 14 ft 5 and is a genuinely lovely room. The ceiling height gives it fantastic volume, while two huge sash windows look straight into the trees of Crystal Palace Park. Stripped Victorian floorboards run underfoot (reclaimed from a Victorian Church; they sit atop proper soundproofing), deep cornicing runs above, and a beautiful original Carrara marble fireplace anchors the room. It has all the good bones you hope to find in a Victorian conversion, without feeling like somebody has tried too hard to turn it into a museum.

There is easily enough room here to create distinct sitting and dining areas, as the current owners have, and importantly it doesn't become cramped once you put proper furniture in it. Big sofa, dining table, books, art, plants, records - this is a room that positively encourages you to surround yourself with things you love.

The spacious separate kitchen of around 12 ft 9 by 11 ft 7 looks out over the south-facing garden. White cabinetry is paired with dark worktops and deep teal Fired Earth metro tiles, with a 5-burner gas hob, double oven and plenty of storage and preparation space. The warm wooden floorboards continue through here, and there is room beside the enormous sash window for a breakfast table, overlooking the enormous back garden. With a large lawn, pond and mature native trees creating a wildlife haven and barrier to any neighbours overlooking, it is a particularly nice place to start the day.

Both bedrooms are genuine doubles. The principal is particularly impressive at around 16 ft 9 by 12 ft 3 - the sort of bedroom where a large bed barely makes a dent. There is plenty of room for large wardrobes, drawers and additional furniture, alongside another broad sash window overlooking the greenery outside.

Bedroom two measures around 10 ft 6 by 9 ft 3 and is currently being used brilliantly as a library/home office and occasional bedroom. For anyone now working from home for part of the week, having a separate room with a door you can close at 5.30 pm is considerably nicer than balancing a laptop at one end of the dining table. Equally, it is comfortably large enough to work as a permanent second bedroom.

The bathroom keeps things simple and sympathetic to the flat, with white metro tiling, a full-size bath with Carrara marble shelves and shower above, marble mosaic flooring and its own window for natural light and ventilation.

There is also access to a shared garden at the rear. It has a wonderfully leafy, slightly wild feel to it rather than being overly landscaped, and with the park immediately just at the front doorstep, there is a slightly surreal amount of greenery around you, considering you are still firmly in London. It’s notable that there are no buildings opposing to the front or rear, just greenery and also an abundance of bird life. Woodpeckers have often been spotted as have owls!

And then there is Thicket Road itself.

The flat sits at arguably the nicest end of the road, directly opposite Crystal Palace Park and just moments from the boating lake and famous Victorian Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. It means the park isn't somewhere you plan a trip to; it simply becomes part of where you live. Morning run, dog walk, coffee, Sunday wander, sitting under a tree with a book when London suddenly decides to be 28 degrees - you are there in a couple of minutes.

Brown & Green is tucked into this part of the park too, so breakfast, coffee and something considerably better than whatever you were going to make at home are close at hand. ParkRun and weekend food markets make every weekend fun and a magnet for your friends to visit. Beyond that, you have the lakes, paths, sports facilities, maze, concert bowl and acres of open space stretching all the way up towards the Crystal Palace ridge with its beautiful views of the Downs.

Transport is excellent too. Penge West is around 0.2 miles away, putting the London Overground within a few minutes' walk, while Crystal Palace Station is around 0.5 miles in the opposite direction with services towards London Bridge and Victoria as well as the Overground. Penge East is also around 0.5 miles away, providing the fastest connections in the area into Victoria. And of coruse there’s Anerley giving you access to the Windrush Line, which is only Having three stations this close gives you a genuinely useful choice depending on which part of London you need to reach.

For food, drink and everything else, you can head in several directions. Penge and Maple Road are close by for useful everyday shops and an increasingly good collection of independents, while Sydenham gives you another busy high street nearby.

And around 0.8 miles up through the park is the Crystal Palace Triangle, with the vibrant independent business areathat has made SE19 such an enduringly popular place to live: Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, wine bars, vintage shops, galleries, bookstores, yoga studios and the Everyman Cinema. Haynes Lane adds the brilliant Saturday Crystal Palace Food Market alongside its vintage market - very easy territory where you can accidentally lose an entire morning.

There is a lot to like about this flat before you even consider where it is: Around 804 sq ft, two proper double bedrooms, magnificent ceiling heights, original boards, fireplaces, enormous sash windows and rooms with enough scale to actually enjoy furnishing them.

Put all of that on the first floor of a beautiful Victorian building overlooking one of South London's great parks, with three stations and Crystal Palace within walking distance, and it becomes a very compelling first home indeed.

Location

And then there is Thicket Road itself.

The flat sits at arguably the nicest end of the road, directly opposite Crystal Palace Park and just moments from the boating lake and famous Victorian Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. It means the park isn't somewhere you plan a trip to; it simply becomes part of where you live. Morning run, dog walk, coffee, Sunday wander, sitting under a tree with a book when London suddenly decides to be 28 degrees - you are there in a couple of minutes.

Brown & Green is tucked into this part of the park too, so breakfast, coffee and something considerably better than whatever you were going to make at home are close at hand. ParkRun and weekend food markets make every weekend fun and a magnet for your friends to visit. Beyond that, you have the lakes, paths, sports facilities, maze, concert bowl and acres of open space stretching all the way up towards the Crystal Palace ridge with its beautiful views of the Downs.

Transport is excellent too. Penge West is around 0.2 miles away, putting the London Overground within a few minutes' walk, while Crystal Palace Station is around 0.5 miles in the opposite direction with services towards London Bridge and Victoria as well as the Overground. Penge East is also around 0.5 miles away, providing the fastest connections in the area into Victoria. And of coruse there’s Anerley giving you access to the Windrush Line, which is only Having three stations this close gives you a genuinely useful choice depending on which part of London you need to reach.

For food, drink and everything else, you can head in several directions. Penge and Maple Road are close by for useful everyday shops and an increasingly good collection of independents, while Sydenham gives you another busy high street nearby.

And around 0.8 miles up through the park is the Crystal Palace Triangle, with the vibrant independent business areathat has made SE19 such an enduringly popular place to live: Coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, wine bars, vintage shops, galleries, bookstores, yoga studios and the Everyman Cinema. Haynes Lane adds the brilliant Saturday Crystal Palace Food Market alongside its vintage market - very easy territory where you can accidentally lose an entire morning.

There is a lot to like about this flat before you even consider where it is: Around 804 sq ft, two proper double bedrooms, magnificent ceiling heights, original boards, fireplaces, enormous sash windows and rooms with enough scale to actually enjoy furnishing them.

Put all of that on the first floor of a beautiful Victorian building overlooking one of South London's great parks, with three stations and Crystal Palace within walking distance, and it becomes a very compelling first home indeed.