This “magnificent” country house for sale has Jacobean origins and sits in eight acres of land.

South Hay House, in Kingsley, is a Grade II listed house dating back to the early 1600s, retaining period features throughout such as mullioned and leaded windows, and stone fireplaces.

The house was once lived in by travel writer and journalist H.V. Morton, who converted the stone barn into a 40-foot library.

Entering the property, the original Jacobean section of the house includes a large kitchen and dining room with exposed oak beams, a vaulted ceiling, an AGA cooker and a pantry.

To the rear of the ground floor is the 40-foot reception room, which is used as a library and features built-in carved wooden bookshelves, as well as oak beams, a stone fireplace, and bay windows with window seats overlooking the garden.

Also on this level is an L-shaped drawing room with an open fireplace and exposed oak beams, a dining room with similar features, a sitting room, a garden room, two utility rooms and two cloakrooms.

On the first floor, there are five bedrooms, the principal of which has an en-suite bathroom, and a family bathroom.

There is also a lower ground floor with storage rooms, a boiler room and an attached double garage.

As well as the main house, there are various annexe areas, including a cottage with two bedrooms, a sitting room and a shower room, and two further areas with a total of three additional bedrooms.

Outside, a carriage driveway leads to the integral double garage and a further detached stone building with a double garage, a single garage, a workshop, two stables and a storage.

The grounds extend to approximately eight acres, including a kitchen garden with a greenhouse, a tennis court, a greenhouse, landscaped gardens, lawns, woodland and paddocks.

The property is for sale with Savills for a guide price of £3,500,000.

Max Rhodes of Savills Farnham commented: “This magnificent country house has Jacobean origins and a wealth of beautiful period features.

“With about eight acres of picturesque grounds, the house is surrounded by the rolling countryside of the South Downs National Park.”