£390,000

A four/five bedroom maisonette, part of a co-housing community in the village of Laughton in the heart of the South Downs. Laughton Lodge is on the edge of the village and the property has the advantage of sharing 23 acres of community land with the possibility of vegetable growing, (allotments and poly tunnel,) lounging in the wild flower meadow, joining the horse club, walking in the woods, playing in the tree house, camping or enjoying a full size football field.

There is a large community building with kitchen and dining room, large hall for parties, rehearsals, a music room, a games room, and potential office/studio space, for your own private use as well as communal use. Lots of communal activities for adults and children, shared childcare, car sharing possible.

The village has a primary school and the secondary school is three miles away. Steiner Schools and the Dharma school are twelve miles away. There are lots of social events in the village and there is a lively, well-stocked village shop, Post Office and Pub. Brighton twelve miles, London 53 miles, trains straight to London from Glynde (3 miles away) Lewes (5 miles) Uckfield (5 miles) Glyndbourne 2 miles, surrounded by South Downs walks from the front door through bluebell woods up to the hills.

FIRST FLOOR

Entrance

A spacious open staircase, 40" wide, carpeted with sisal, lit by window 9ft x 4ft.

Hallway

Finished with reclaimed rustic pine, with modern style cupboards housing boiler under stairs including extra room for storage. Hall also leads onto utility cupboard housing washing machine again with storage above.

Kitchen/Lounge - 26 ft x 16ft

Craftsman built oak work surfaces, double sink, 6 ring gas cooker, oak flooring

1st Floor Bathroom - 8ft x 6ft

Comprising bath, sink and toilet with slate flooring and fold away clothes hanger.

Bedroom 1/Study - 11.5ft x 11ft

With large window looking over Shawfield and the New Builds. Reclaimed pine rustic flooring.

Bedroom 2/ 2nd Study - 11.5ft x 6.5ft

Window overlooking the villa courtyard. Platform bed with space below for table, draws or work station. Reclaimed pine rustic flooring.

SECOND FLOOR

Bedroom 3 - 14.5ft x 14ft

Sloping ceilings but spacious at 8ft to the ceiling. Lit by two Velux windows, fitted with sliding blinds, overlooking Shawfield and courtyard. Fitted carpet.

Shower Room - 8.5ft x 7ft

Fitted with duel flush toilet and sink. Walk-in shower - push button controlled with glass surround and measures 58" x 30". Tasteful marble floor and stone skirting.

Bedroom 4 - 17ft x 8.5ft

Part dormer with some sloping ceilings. Large window overlooking Shawfield, New Builds and the meadow beyond. With fitted carpet.

Bedroom 5 - 15.5ft x 14ft

Two Velux windows light this generous room. Fitted carpet

Ecological Aspects

• Water comes from communally owned borehole.
• Super efficient double-glazed wood windows throughout
• Hot water supplied by district heating system fueled by wood chip, backed up by oil

Purchasing a House or Flat within the Community - Project-Notes for purchasers

The Community Project is a group of people who have jointly purchased a hospital and converted it into individual houses and flats. Three large 1930s buildings have been converted into 16 homes and 4 new houses have been built. The 23 acres of land and a few other buildings provide communal facilities for the group. There is no specific ideology that defines the group and whilst maintaining the privacy of individual homes we aim to live co-operatively as neighbours, jointly managing the land and communal facilities to foster an enjoyable, supportive community environment. As an intentional community our leases and organisation have been developed with that aim in mind. This means that purchasing a flat or house within the project differs from an ordinary house purchase, as you are not only buying a property but also becoming a member of a community. We hope the following helps explain the process.

Purchasing a property

You purchase property leasehold on a very long lease. Mortgages can be obtained in the normal way. On purchase you become a Director of the Community Project Ltd. which holds the freehold of the land and all the buildings. All the land is owned communally but people create gardens and patios outside their homes. The lease is very particular to the CP and as such probably more restrictive than usual (for example, the process for selling the property is detailed in the lease). You may want to discuss this with your solicitor.

The CP maintains the fabric of the property you are purchasing, and all the maintenance of the communal buildings and the land, a monthly service charge payable to the CP covers this. The management of the residential and communal buildings is undertaken by the residents directly, we do not use an external management company.

Finding out about the Community Project

We invite you to come and see us working and socialising as a group at a regular 'pot-luck' supper (Friday nights), a work day (1st Sunday in the month) or at a monthly business meeting. We strongly recommend that you come to an information session on the legal and financial structure of the Community Project. In case people don't get the chance to meet you it's helpful if you send in some information about yourself/your family, no more than 1 side of A4.

Contacting us

If you are interested in joining us we suggest you read our information pack which details our history, organisation and current residents. You can obtain this by emailing:

newm...@laughtonlodge.org

(click on the missing part of the e-mail to get it) or looking us up on the Cohousing web site www.cohousing.org.uk. During the purchase you can contact either: Simon/Rachel (vendors) 01323 815 742 or Jed (from the community) 01323 815 704 (or 07930 400798 or jed...@mac.com)