THIS is the perfect Queen Anne house – oustandingly pretty, built of the loveliest pale pink brick and set idyllically next to a medieval parish church. If you have daughters to marry, bride and groom can walk through a gate in the churchyard wall straight on to your front lawn with their guests in procession behind them.

Yet Church House, equidistant between Hastings and Rye in East Sussex, is also a very secret place, opening off a quiet country lane with views over fields at the back and hardly a building in sight. It is also much more than the typical Queen Anne’s dolls’ house: the early 18th-century façade fronts a remarkably complete timber-framed H-plan house, presumably dating from the 16th century. There is exciting detective work to be done on the ancient beams with both medieval chamfers and early Classical mouldings.

Part of the fun of Church House it that all four fronts could belong to different houses.

The north front forms a second family entrance with gravel sweep and car parking. It’s partly faced in wood cut to look like blocked stonework – a typical Sussex technique, and so convincing that you have to tap it to discover that it’s not real stone. The timber-framed east front looks like a yeoman farmer’s house. The south front has both white-painted clapboarding and typical Sussex tilehanging.

Massive brick chimneystacks are set on the outside of the building, presumably to reduce the fire risk, and most of the windows have square leaded lights. The first-floor sash windows retain their original chunky early 18th-century glazing bars, while the Sussex clay roof tiles have mellowed to a perfect patina.

The family entrance opens into a large and welcoming kitchen with light streaming through windows on both sides. It’s in the position where you would expect a 16th-century great hall, and very appropriate for our modern taste for a life built around the kitchen. The floor is laid with large brick paviours, and there are new kitchen cupboards in blond oak.

French windows open on the garden terrace for alfresco lunches. At the south end is a family sitting room with a huge hearth for log fires. The very sporty owners play a lot of games here with their children, and can practise their putting on the landing above.

The Queen Anne range is the polite end of the house, suitable for entertaining in its handsome panelled drawing room and dining room, with a panelled study at the far end, far away from the noise of children.

Church House was built for the Puritan divine John Frewen, who was the Rector of Northiam from 1598 to 1628. The Frewens were patrons of the living and the Queen Anne wing appears to be the work of Thankful Frewen – who had every reason to be grateful to the Almighty because he served as the rector for nearly 60 years from 1692 till 1749. His handsome white-painted wooden doorcase opens into a delightful staircase lit by a tall arched window. The stair rises round an open well with corkscrew balusters, with clusters of taller corkscrews, similar in appearance to walking sticks, at the corners. Other interesting features are the 18th-century steel lockcases with brass handles, and folding window shutters with butterfly or “H” hinges. There is also a brick-paved cellar with a barrel-vaulted wine cellar.

Some of the ten bedrooms have attractive coved ceilings providing extra height: unlike in many timber-framed houses, you do not have to duck through doorways. The garden at Church House is formed into a series of sheltered green rooms, enclosed by hedges or walls. These form a complete circuit of the house, entered through imposing brick gatepiers on either side of the Queen Anne front. To the south is a large enclosed lawn: beyond is a smart all-weather tennis court. An inviting swimming pool is tucked out of sight but close enough for a dip in any weather. Beside the house is a traditional Sussex barn open to the rafters and retaining its silvery timbers and arched braces. It’s begging to become a large party room or studio office.

The property is in smart decorative order and is ready to move into, although the mellow roof could do with some attention from a skilled tiler. In short, this house is perfect for a banker with grown-up children who, he hopes, will soon be bringing the grandchildren to stay.

Join Marcus Binney’s tour of the finest private country houses in Britain at: timesonline.co.uk/marcusbinney

FACTFILE

WHAT YOU GET: Grade II* listed house with ten bedrooms, five acres, pool, tennis court and 17th-century barn. 8,471 sq ft.

WHERE IS IT: Northiam, East Sussex. Staplehurst station 15 miles; London 64.

SCHOOLS: Staplehurst primary; Sutton Valence independent coed secondary.

PRICE: £4 million. Savills, 01580 720161

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