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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits a home in Bedford Hills, New York which reminds us that a famly that swims together clings together.

Broker: Houlihan Lawrence

Agent: Angela Kessel

Let me tell you why I liked this home in Bedford Hills so much. Was it the 13 acres of beautifully landscaped and tended gardens? Yes, but. Was it the 6 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms? Yes, but. Was it the spacious, wood panelled drawing room? Yes, but. Was it the fabulous outdoor pool with superb pool house? Yes, but. Was it the tennis court and 7-car garage, Yes, but. Was it the easy access to the local town and train station to Grand Central in NYC only 44 miles away? Yes, but.

There is no doubt at all that I liked all those features very much indeed. But the bit that I really, really liked was the amazing arrangement of what can only be described as a glorious family area. This is a serious family house for a large family that likes being together. Sure there is plenty of space elsewhere in this home for essential privacy, quiet, concentration, homework and solitude, but what really works is this family area comprising an enormous and beautifully fitted and equipped kitchen with sitting and breakfast areas, games room and, best of all, an indoor pool.

Who makes an indoor pool virtually part of the kitchen? Well the owners of this house do and for good reason. It works. Mother, father and nanny/home-help can keep a careful eye on young children in the pool while doing kitchen things, Older children get to have a great time with two very important items in their lives close together – the pool and the fridge! All family members get to hang out with each other in a friendly, sophisticated, purpose-built area designed with three things in mind – comfort, efficiency and above all encouraging the people who reside under this roof to spend time together.

That is why I loved this house. If you have a large family or plan to have a large family, like a short walk to the station and a long walk round your garden then this beautiful home is for you.

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty peels back the centuries at a magnificent estate in the Hudson Valley, New York.

Broker: Houlihan Lawrence

Agent: John Friend

1768 was a busy year on both sides of the Atlantic. In the British parliament the Townshend Acts were passed imposing duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. Many American patriots including Samuel Adams viewed this taxation as an abuse of power, resulting in the passage of agreements to limit imports from Britain. That year also Captain James Cook departed from Plymouth, England on the first of his three voyages, to the Pacific Ocean and the eventual first-recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands.

That same year in pre-American revolution Staatsburg – a small hamlet in Dutchess County, New York that had been founded by English in the seventeenth century and then settled by the Dutch – a new farmhouse was built. Set close to Rhinebeck in the extraordinary beauty of the Hudson Valley the farm must have seemed a world away from the fast-developing business and political worlds of New York and Boston.

It remains much the same today. At first sight there is little here to distinguish the twenty-first century from the eighteenth. From the outside the original building can have altered little. Other buildings, put up over subsequent years, only add to the period feel.

But things have changed commercially. No longer a farm in the true meaning of the word, Old Stone Farm has been developed into a luxury country inn, retreat, horse farm and wellness centre within 236 acres of grassland and forest. Keeping up with the times has been something of a speciality at Old Stone Farm over the years.

Things have altered internally as well. Each of the buildings, the farmhouse, guesthouse and mill house, has been given complete renovation that maintains the integrity of the Colonial style but provides a contemporary look, feel and specification. Additionally, a ten-room inn built in 2010 and a magnificent, world-class horse barn with eighteen stalls and indoor ring with viewing galleries offer a wonderful range of options and facilities that also include a spa and yoga barn.

Whatever the use or whichever the century the Old Stone Farm seems to offer the perfect answer.

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Nick Churton of Mayfair International Realty visits a New York home with pedigree of design, beauty of landscape and harmony of living.

Broker: Houlihan Lawrence

Agent: Angela Kessel

Okay, here is a treat – architecture, interior, landscape and location all in harmony. Sounds easy but it isn’t. There is not much one can do about location but the other three can be a minefield. At Fern Hill the 15-acre, hilltop estate near Bedford in New York architect, decorator and landscape designer have not only come through the minefield unscathed but have triumphed.

Using a magnificent, heavily wooded and boulder-studded hillside the architects, Shope, Reno and Wharton built a vey fine stone and shingle house and, using the contours of the plot, created a home that looks as if it really belongs there. The award winning architectural practice, based in South Norwalk, Connecticut, specialises in buildings with a timeless quality, and how it shows!

The Shingle style was made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture during the late nineteenth century. Indeed Frank Lloyd Wright, the father of American modernism, designed his own house in this style. Signs of Lloyd Wright’s influence, whether by accident or design can, be seen in Fern Hill – in its placement within the landscape and in the wonderful architectural detail including the fabulous stair and landing balustrades.

The house has recently been brought fully up to date with a beautifully contemporary but entirely-in-keeping interior. So the house works as piece inside and out. But how does it work with the landscape? I can’t remember seeing better woodland planting. Shade-loving plants create a verdant carpet that stretches from the house and up to the curtain of trees which acts as the garden boundary. So clever is this planting that one can hardly tell where the cultivated garden ends and nature’s wild garden begins. It is all very special and extremely beautiful.

I should also mention touches like the fieldstone floor-to-ceiling fireplaces, the three-bay motorcar house with gym and sauna over, and the fabulous pool and pool house on another garden level.

It is all extremely harmonious and lovely on lots of levels.