- Gorgeous 2 Bed Apartment at the top of the High Street and just 0.5 mile from the Station
- ....sq ft of accommodation spread over two floors with high end fittings and specification
- Garland Court is a superb gated collection of luxury apartments within Billericays Conservation area
- A conversion of the 200 year old 'Rising Sun' Pub along with a second new Georgian style building
- This apartment is in the new building, designed to look like a Georgian Town House Conversion
- Hall with built-in cupboard and WC Room, cleverly built under the stairs
- Open plan Lounge/Dining/Kitchen Room with sunny South facing Balcony
- Good size and very versatile second bedroom across the Hall presently used as a Gym AND Home Office!
- Master Bedroom and beautifully appointed Bathroom upstairs, the bedroom with fitted wardrobes
- Allocated Parking Bay and covered secure cycle parking for each flat too
For over 200 years the 'Rising Sun' Inn served travellers and locals alike from its prominent position on the crossroads of the Brentwood to Southend and Chelmsford to Tilbury Roads (the foundations of Billericay High Street and the town you see today), now Sun Street, Laindon Road, London Road, and the historic High Street.
The 'Rising Sun' took its last orders in 2014 and since then has been converted into 'Garland Court', a superb gated collection of luxury apartments, spread across 2 buildings within Billericay High Streets' Conservation area.
WITH NO ONWARD CHAIN, this gorgeous 2 Bedroom Duplex Apartment is one of five luxury flats forming a brand-new red brick building with a clay tiled 'Mansard' roof, built in keeping with the character of the site to look like a converted Georgian Town House,
The original building, opened as a Public House in 1810 and replacing an older house that stood there since 1593, has been remodelled and extended to incorporate the other 8 luxury apartments, with behind the two, landscaped grounds and a secure, private Car Park.
Our apartment is a smartly designed, first & second floor, split-level affair, with a lovely open-plan Living/Dining/Kitchen with double doors opening on to its own full-width South facing balcony. The upper floor is dedicated to the Master bedroom and Bathroom.
The private Front Door opens into the Hall which has a useful built-in cupboard and a WC Room, cleverly built under the stairs. Being South facing, the open plan Living/Dining/Kitchen is flooded with light, reflecting off the White Gloss Kitchen units running along the right wall and 'Grey Oak' effect wood laminate flooring.
Across the Hall is the second Bedroom - a truly versatile room, presently being used as a Home Office, Gym, and a Makeup Room! We like the twin front facing Sash windows, pouring in light.
Upstairs is the Master Bedroom and Bathroom. The bedroom with Grey Shaker style fitted wardrobes along the far wall and also featuring a Sash window, the Bathroom featuring a ShowerBath and attractive grey tilework.
Each apartment has both its own parking bay (plus there's an additional 3 spaces for visitors) as well as covered secure cycle parking for each flat.
During the day, the packed historic high street outside, with its many well-known high street names mixed with smaller privately owned boutiques and a central Waitrose, provide more than the daily essentials and the numerous intermingled restaurants, bars and pubs will hopefully be back open soon, once more giving the High Street a real buzz of an evening, particularly Friday and Saturday nights.
Plus, for the City worker, the commute into the Capital is short. A brisk half mile walk through the High Street and you're at the Mainline Railway Station, London Liverpool Street just a 35-minute ride away.
The Accommodation
Standing at the 'Front Door' of the Building, to the right, a 5 door Video 'call station' links the Main Entrance Door to all the flats, enabling the door release system. The polished black door opening through to:
COMMUNAL ENTRANCE HALLWAY
Notably well looked after, clean and tidy, and with pigeonholes on the right as you enter for your post.
At the end of the hall is another external door leading out to the private and secure rear car park.
Stairs rising to the upper floors.
1st FLOOR COMMUNAL LANDING
Private 'Grey Oak' entrance door through to:
ENTRANCE HALL
Complementing the Grey Oak Front Door, a matching 'Grey Oak' wood laminate floor extends through to the main living room and a wall mounted video intercom links through to the Main Entrance Door.
A good size full height built-in cupboard provides useful storage and houses the electrical consumer unit.
WC ROOM
Making a great impression in a small space and cleverly housed under the stairs, this beautifully appointed Cloakroom sees a back-to-wall WC with a concealed cistern and a White Gloss Vanity unit, complimented by gorgeous Grey tiling to the walls and half wall height.
OPEN PLAN LIVING ROOM/KITCHEN 18ft 6' x 14ft 4' (5.6m x 4.4m)
A contemporary Living Area offering multi-functional use - so whether you are socialising, relaxing, dining or cooking, this open plan Kitchen/Dining/Living Room creates one space designed to be used for every part of life.
Bathed in light which streams through the double doors and their accompanying side light windows at the far end of the room (themselves opening to the full width balcony), this room takes full advantage of it South facing aspect, thus enjoying all day sunshine.
Along the right wall, sleek White Gloss handleless units topped with quartz worktops incorporates all the requisite appliances - there is a Gas Hob with a stainless-steel Chimney style Extractor Hood above and a Multi-function Oven below, integrated Slimline Dishwasher, integrated Washing Machine, and an integral fridge freezer.
A matching White Gloss unit opens to reveal a Potterton 'Promax' Combination Gas Boiler serving the gas central heating and hot water.
BEDROOM TWO 12ft 6' x 9ft 1' (3.8m x 2.8m)
This versatile room offers a plethora of uses, it presently multitasking as a home office, Gym, and a make-up room!
The twin UPVC sash windows beautifully enhance the buildings appearance, in keeping with the character of the conservation area.
Staircase from hall rising to:
UPSTAIRS LANDING
A nifty recess Provides additional open storage.
MASTER BEDROOM 14ft 4' x 9ft 2' (4.4m x 2.8m)
Finished with attractive Grey ‘Shaker' style doors, twin floor-to-ceiling wardrobes maximise space and provide great clothing storage.
BATHROOM 6ft 3' x 5ft 5' (1.9m x 1.65m)
The luxury fitted bathroom features a large 'Showerbath' with an extra wide showering area and an overhead, Rainfall type showerhead and a separate hand set too, for extra flexibility.
Gorgeous grey tiles, a shaver/toothbrush charging socket and a chrome towel radiator completes the very stylish look.
EXTERIOR
As previously mentioned, the flat apartment is one of five, encompassed within a brand-new red brick building, designed to looks like a conversion of a Georgian townhouse.
In keeping with the Regency look, there is an ornate landscaped 'Front Garden' retained by a low brick wall topped with classic 'ball top' black railings.
Between this building and the converted Pub, a tall set of iron gates providing privacy and security swing open to access the private Car Park behind.
The Car Park is block paved with each apartment allocated a space plus, there are three visitors' spaces too.
LEASE
125 years from 25th March 2018. So a healthy 122 years remain.
SERVICE CHARGE
£1,500 per annum.
GROUND RENT
£250 per annum
Council Tax
Basildon Council
Notice
Please note we have not tested any apparatus, fixtures, fittings, or services. Interested parties must undertake their own investigation into the working order of these items. All measurements are approximate and photographs provided for guidance only.
Billericay is a popular, historic market town just 30 miles from London.
The market at the top of Crown Road disappeared years ago and Billericay nowadays is more well-known as an excellent commuter town, with excellent rail links to the City (35 minutes by train), very good schools and a charming High Street, part of which is a conservation area.
It also has great access to the key main roads of the M25, A12 and A127.
The town lies on the edge of rural Essex, which makes it a very desirable place to live. This coupled with the City access goes some way to explain the high levels of Londoners we see looking to move here every year.
Since I moved here in 1973 and started as an estate agent in the mid 1990's, I have seen the town grow to where it is now, with some 14,000-15,000 homes and a population of over 40,000.
The Billericay you see today is economically and physically a thriving and attractive place to live and work. There are many open green spaces including the 40 acre Lake Meadows Park, a must in summer, and they throw a pretty impressive Fireworks Night too.
Norsey Woods is a great place for a walk or to exercise your dogs...or the kids! It dates back to the Bronze Age and covers about 165 acres with a visitor centre for the educational visits it has too.
I remember camping there as a cub scout back in the day and both Nick and myself have enjoyed many a afternoon there over the years with our families.
The High Street must be one of the prettiest in the county and dates back to Roman times. The shape we see now certainly hasn't changed much for over 500 years, our office itself is part of one of the 25 old coaching inns the town has seen over the years!
With well over 100 shops including some well known names and some boutique locally owned ones, the High Street also has some great pubs, bars and restaurants. The Chequers is probably the most popular, most people we know rate it as the best pub in town, with newer bars like Harrys Bar, Bar Zero and the Blue Boar, also very sought after, growing venues on friday and saturday nights.
There are too many great restaurants to name, suffice to say you don't need to travel out of Billericay to have a fantastic night out and there's a taxi rank by the station to get you home if you want to leave the car on the drive.
Waitrose is our local main supermarket with there also a very good Co-op over on Queens Park. Smaller supermarkets over in South Green, Sunnymede and along Stock Road also provide a super local service in their areas.
Billericay Christmas Market is a very popular annual event which sees the High Street completely shut to traffic for the day and then filled with stalls selling anything and everything Christmasy!
All the local schools, both Primary and Secondary have good OFSTED reports and there is a good choice of both State and Private. Please feel free to contact our office for more details although the OFSTED website is the ideal first port of call of course.
A BIT OF HISTORY
Billericay has an facinating history, much of which can be researched in our local museum, the Cater Museum on the High Street.
Billericay was first recorded as Byllerica in 1291 with notable events including a Peasants Revolt ending up in Norsey Woods in 1381 and some of Billericay residents, including Christopher Martin, the ship's victualler, sailing with the Pilgrim Fathers to the 'New World' of America on the Mayflower in 1620 - hence the many representartions of the Mayflower ship in numerous local businesses and the Mayflower High School.
In 1916 Billericay became famous as a result of a Zeppelin airship crashing in flames on the outskirts of the town, down what is now Greens Farm Lane.
A union workhouse was built in 1840 which later, together with additional later built buildings, became St. Andrew's Hospital in the 1930s. The regional plastic surgery and rehabilitation unit was opened here the same year I moved to Billericay, 1973. Many a local will still refer the estate there now to me, as 'one of the houses on the old Burns Unit', although it is in fact Stockfield Manor now.
Only the original workhouse building, including the chapel, and the main gatehouse, now survive, converted now into Grey Lady Place, a residential development of luxury apartments.
The railway came in 1889 and opened up opportunities for landowners to sell plots to Londoners looking to move out of 'The Smoke' into a cleaner rural environment. Both myself and Nick have sold many an old 'plot land' home over the years for redevelopment. A few still remain on the edge of Norsey Woods down Break Egg Hill.
With the housing shortage created by the war time bombing of London, pressure to build was great and the new town of Basildon was given the green light. The 'Green Belt' stopped expansion and the blurring of Basildon and Billericay, hence why lot of the Billericay housing estates were built on abandoned farmland around the town centre and Great Burstead/South Green, where permission was more easily granted.
