Old meets new in the heart of Worcestershire's Malvern Hills

Contemporary minimalism is wrapped in a quaint, 18th-century shell at this four-bedroom cottage in the heart of Worcestershire’s Malvern Hills.

Westminster Bank is for sale via The Modern House for £1.45m, and the West Midlands property has undergone a very clever and sensitive renovation that’s expanded its cramped Victorian footplate to just under 3,000 sq ft across two levels.

On the outside, it looks like a classic chocolate-box cottage with its patinated brick and stone facade, but step across the threshold and living spaces are bright, crisp and mostly open plan.

The star of the show is the living room, whose pitched roof features warped, characterful wooden beams. Pale floor tiles run underfoot and beyond a set of bi-folding glass doors out to the landscaped gardens. Bespoke joinery marries the older parts of the house with the new interventions, especially in the monochrome kitchen, which has all-new cabinetry and a classic Aga oven.

Landscaped gardens and terraces have views of the Malverns in the distance and extend to almost two acres across the property’s hillside plot, surrounded by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

See more in the gallery above.