Jakanoro is situated on a quiet, leafy lane in Arborfield, near Reading. This peaceful, private house has been updated over the years and is very well presented.

The common theme in the house is the wonderful natural outlook – every window opens onto mature trees and garden, so the house is flooded with natural light and vibrant colours.

The hallway opens onto a dining area, also ideal as a playroom. The sitting room is dual aspect with double doors onto the large patio area.

The kitchen/dining room really has the ‘wow’ factor with on-trend two-tone units, integrated appliances, a dining area, pantry, room for an island and a separate utility room. The kitchen/dining room opens onto the garden, creating an ideal ‘day room’ for a family.

Upstairs there are 5 bedrooms, 4 of them doubles and 2 of them en-suites plus a family bathroom. All rooms have big windows with that wonderful outlook. The landing also has a nook, ideal as an office or homework area.

Annexe

The annexe is a fantastic, flexible space. It’s self-contained with its own entrance, full kitchen, large living room, double bedroom with bay window and shower room. The kitchen opens onto a patio area overlooking the garden with its year-round colour.

If an annexe isn’t required, this space can easily be used as additional reception space – there’s internal access via the main house laundry room, in which case it’s perfect as an additional private living room and separate office with self-contained facilities.

Grounds

The back garden is bordered by mature trees and shrubs providing year-round colour and privacy from nearby properties. There is a large back patio plus a terrace in the corner of the garden, ideal for evening drinks and a chimenea on colder nights. Tucked away there’s a large brick shed for tools , garden furniture and additional storage.

To the front there is a large gravel driveway with enough parking for 8 cars and a modest front garden screened by mature hedges.

Location

Arborfield is a pretty village 5 miles from Reading, offering all the delights of village life close to excellent transport links. Local facilities include a new secondary school, leisure centre, tennis, rugby, cricket and football. This quiet corner of Arborfield is also perfect for country walks.

Lockey Farm shop is a wonderful local spot, including a butcher, café and play area it’s just 1 mile away, as is a Londis store. Sainsbury’s is 3 miles away while Waitrose is 5 miles away.

The highly rated Bull Inn gastro pub is a mile away while Henry Street Farm shop is 1.5 miles away, with a restaurant, garden and homeware offering.

Reading town centre is 7 miles away with a huge selection of shops, restaurants and cafes. Reading is the ideal spot for a day of shopping and recreation and draws people from miles around. The transport links – including Crossrail to and from London – are a huge draw for this area and make Reading and the surrounding area highly attractive for commuters and those looking to ‘escape to the country’ with the conveniences of transport and facility infrastructure.

Seller Insight

We moved to Jakanoro 16 years ago with our teenage daughters. We fell in love with the setting – we have neighbours but can’t see them, it’s quiet and private and still accessible to everything we need. And we have lots of bathrooms, essential for our daughters.

The kitchen has always been our hub, we ate dinner there as a family and wandered in and out of the garden. Even on cooler days we love the view, we see squirrels, birds and even deer in our garden. Every room has a view of nature with year-round colour, every morning when we open our curtains we see nature and space, we appreciate it every day.

We work from home and need home office space, so we use the 5^th bedroom and landing office area as our own personal work spaces. The terrace at the end of the garden has Wi-Fi too, it’s a lovely cool spot on hot days.

We also needed an annexe for parents so we built the adjoining annexe. We didn’t want them to feel they were stuck in a cupboard so we created what is a good sized 1 bedroom flat. We wanted it to be flexible so we designed it to work as additional living space as well.

The walks around here are lovely, right from the door. The girls loved foraging for blackberries, as our grandchildren do now, it’s a family tradition. Both our girls ride horses and used the local equestrian facilities, they’re still avid riders today so living here was a real investment in recreational activities for them. They also had access to bus transport to Reading from the end of the lane which gave them some freedom, they’d often catch the bus to the cinema or Reading town centre.

We entertain a lot and there’s plenty of space for guests. Christmas is always at Jakanoro, we’ve had up to 16 people round the dining table. Between the house and annexe we have 3 ovens and 2 fridges so entertaining is pretty easy! During 2020 and 2021 we hosted ‘fakeaway’ nights and BBQs with the neighbours when we could. We’ve had the same neighbours for years and will miss them, it’s a very friendly community.

We’ve had more people stay over than we imagined we would. Everyone loves it here; it’s always been a welcoming home. We now have grandchildren we care for often, our grandson recently said “this is just like a very nice hotel”. We love that! That said, our bedroom is at the end of the hallway so it’s a good spot to retreat to if we need a moment of quiet!

It’s funny how the little things can be special in a house. For us, besides the above it’s the little walled garden behind the terrace. We always wanted a walled garden – the wall and shed are over 100 years old which added a sprinkle of history and character to our modern house.

Beyond the focus of Church Lane – which has mostly been enough for us – The George & Dragon in Swallowfield is very good for food, as is The Bull. There are also National Trust properties nearby we enjoy visiting.

This is the best house we’ve ever lived in and we’ve got some great memories here, but we’re moving to be nearer our grandchildren and are really look forward to passing it on for someone else to enjoy.

Transport links

Reading train station: 7 miles – reaching London in 26+ minutes

M4 East: 9 miles

M4 West: 4 miles

A33: 3 miles