Mysterious 'floating' 1920s thatched commuter home next to the River Thames in Berkshire on sale for £2.45m

A 1920s mock-Tudor home with a thatched roof and garden on the Thames has come onto the market for £2,450,000.

Located in the picturesque Berkshire village of Wargrave, Elmwood offers a private patch of quiet on the river despite being just a forty minute train from London.

“It's really unusual,” says Savills’ Victoria Knight of the house’s riverfront location, thatched roof and original features. “If you look down the river, a lot of the properties there have been knocked down and rebuilt in quite modern way.

“And I think what's so lovely about this is to have something period from, we think, 1910 to 1920. It is unusual to have something still preserved in its original condition, but well preserved on the river.”

The house is a far more elaborate and detailed mock-Tudor build than the suburban homes of the style that were more common at the time, but its history is something of a mystery. Knight suspects it was a “lovely holiday home on the river for somebody local in London”.

Both the living space and principal bedroom open up onto a terrace overlooking the river, which makes visible just how close the house is to the water.

“To have it so close to the river that actually when you're in the house and looking out, you feel like you're floating over the river, that's quite unusual as well,” says Knight. “Most of [the houses] are further back, whereas this, you really feel like you're hovering over the water.”

The thatching was replaced completely in 2019, so should last another 25-30 years, she says. The interior of the main house is filled with characterful exposed timber, and the spacious main living room has a dramatic vaulted ceiling.

The triple-aspect space has windows stretching around most of the house, offering sweeping views of its 264 feet of Thames frontage.

The property boasts a private mooring as well as a hard tennis court in the garden, which is mostly grass-covered but has borders planted with mature shrubs and perennials.

The mooring allows for quick kayak trips as well as journeys on a more substantial boat – something many local riverfront properties on the smaller river Loddon do not offer the access for.

While you’d be unlikely to use a boat as part of your commute to London, day trips to nearby Henley and beyond, or even quick hops to the popular St George and Dragon pub in Wargrave, which many locals frequent by boat, would be easily achievable.

The garden also boasts a stand-alone timber-clad studio space – complete with its own open fireplace – ideal for working from home.

The ground floor of the house is made up of a hallway, garage, workshop and utility room, and was added later to the house, which was initially raised on pillars.

While flooding is a problem in the area, the bottom floor has been built with tiles and a water pump to be ready for high water levels, and Knight says that, with a bit of planning, the main effect on owners would be to occasionally have to park their car further up the street.

The rest of the home is split over two further floors, with the grand living space on the first floor, along with a dining room and kitchen, study and the master bedroom.

The second floor has three more bedrooms and three bathrooms, as well as built in storage on the landing.

Elmwood is a five-minute drive or half-hour walk from Wargrave train station, from which you can get to London Paddington in 40 minutes, with a quick change at Twyford onto the Elizabeth line.

Alternatively, Twyford is just a 12 minute drive away, perhaps not accounting for morning traffic, and Paddington itself an hour’s drive away.