The House: 22 Round Hill Club Road, Greenwich, CT

The Agent: Maria Crowley

The Broker: Houlihan Lawrence 

Nick Churton of the Houlihan Lawrence London office finds an extraordinary family home in Greenwich, Connecticut with a top golf course at the end of the road.

Fiction has notable houses that nurture their family occupants; homes that are loved by generations. There is Barton Cottage in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, P G Wodehouse’s Blandings Castle, and, more recently, Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey.

In real life there are many more, but it is good to be reminded sometimes of the power a house has to provide stability and protection. When I visited this house in Greenwich, before I knew it the house had wrapped its arms around me. I felt comfortable, safe and at home.

Parents, your children will be in good hands here. One secret of the property is the spacious adult-and-child-friendly party barn. If you want to be at least within earshot of the kids this couldn’t be better. Teenagers will never want to be anywhere else. It’s akin to an adult being imprisoned in a Four Seasons or Mandarin Oriental hotel. Why on earth would you ever want to escape?

Between the party barn and the house is a tennis court, space for lacrosse practice, a large pool with changing room, and a tiled-roof, open-sided pavilion with TV connections for watching a game between dips in the pool. How Mandarin Oriental is that? The difference is that you don’t have to share it with anyone else outside family and friends.

And so, to the house which has a genteel Arts & Crafts style and feel: tell you what, checkout the images on the website – it will show you a family home at the top of its game. And what about local amenities? As the address suggests, one of Connecticut’s top ten golf courses is just a stone’s throw away.

I loved this house and still do. It would be a privilege to have been brought up there. I might even have featured it in a book. But for now, this blog must suffice.