2 Bedroom Apartment, Bourdon Road, London, SE20

A beautiful two/three bedroom split level garden flat on a quiet residential road, with incredible living space, bags of charm and a long lease, with low annual charges. Situated on a quiet road convenient for Penge, Crystal Palace & Beckenham, this flat would make for a fantastic first-time purchase and represents excellent value for money, especially considering the square footage, which exceeds 1200ft2.

The heart of this home is definitely its large open-plan kitchen-diner, and you may find yourself becoming a popular host given the layout of this room; it’s an incredible space to entertain in and will likely be where most of your time is spent when at home. As well as being spacious it’s also super bright; which is helped by the vast expanse of windows. There’s a lovely feel to the kitchen/diner, especially with the exposed brickwork, which adds some texture to its interior.

The kitchen is also super generous in size. There are quite literally acres of worktop space, and the central part of the kitchen is arranged in a bit of a horseshoe shape, which is really useful when cooking. The vast amount of worktop space allows for large meals or multiple courses to be prepped with ease. There’s a gas hob, integrated oven, fridge, and freestanding washing machine, everything needed is here and it’s all presented very smartly.

At the front is the main reception room, which has a western aspect, so it gets the sun in the late afternoon into the evening. It’s another fab-sized room, easily large enough for a couple of chunky sofas or a large L-shape that could fit nicely in the square window bay. There are good double-glazed windows and carpeted floors, which make for a nice cosy room.

Adjacent to the reception is one of the larger bedrooms; it has a view over the garden to the rear and is also carpeted. The aspect, like the garden, is southeast-facing, so it gets great light first thing in the morning. In fact, both rooms upstairs have the same aspect, and their large skylights flood the rooms with light in the morning. Upstairs has a very cool and quirky layout, and although there is some restricted head height, the larger of the rooms has a good footprint. The smaller one would make for a great office/work-from-home space, especially given the light it gets.

The bathroom is at the rear, which is surprisingly large, there’s a rain shower over a full-size bath. It also has that southeast-facing aspect, so it’s lovely space to get ready in in the morning. There’s some integrated storage around the sink and also a large cupboard behind the door.

The flat has direct access to its own private garden via internal stairs at the rear. Owing to its length it gets the late afternoon and evening sun from the west, but of course, as we’ve mentioned - the morning and early afternoon sun due to its southeastern aspect. It’s fairly low maintenance, directly off the flat is a patio with Indian sandstone and beyond that is a lovely lawn; there are some borders which break the lawn up nicely, and at the rear is an area shaded by a small willow tree, it’s a space in which you can enjoy a drink or meal with some protection from the sun and also in privacy. Notably, there is a rear access to the garden with a new shed, which cyclists will find very useful!

The flat has…

·      A current lease of 101 years. 

·      A service charge of £0 PA

·      A ground rent of £100 PA

·      A share in the cost of the building insurance, which is circa £450-£600 PA.

Location-wise, the flat is 0.3 mi from Birkbeck Station, with two trains per hour to Beckenham Junction and London Bridge via Crystal Palace. There’s also a tram every ten minutes, which takes you into Beckenham Junction or East Croydon in the opposite direction (great for the Gatwick Express!). Beckenham Junction Station opens up a direct link to both London Bridge & Victoria. Elmers End Station is just over half a mile away and offers another tram link and a direct connection to Charing Cross.

Anerley station is just over half a mile away which has the over Overground, taking you to Dalston via Sydenham, Forest Hill, Brockley & Shoreditch High St.

The local parade on Elmers End Rd has a Co-op, a gym, a great barber, a friendly dry cleaner and a post office, there’s a café, nail bar and other useful amenities, including the newly opened Italian restaurant “Bella Vista”. There’s an Aldi close by, and Penge High Street is not far for a wider selection of shops, including a larger Sainsbury’s which is just down the road.

Beckenham High St is really easily accessed for a night out, via Birkbeck station it’s a short tram journey away and offers a wide variety of restaurants providing a truly global selection of cuisines to choose from, as well as many cafes and coffee shops.

Crystal Palace is just under 1.4 miles away, famed for its independent shops and artisan sellers, there are very few chain shops on The Triangle which is widely celebrated and it has an abundance of lovely coffee shops, incredible restaurants and gastro pubs, as well as galleries, yoga schools, an everyman cinema and a farmers market which operates every Saturday on Haynes Lane.

Elmers End is just down the road, for your bigger shops there is a large Tesco Supermarket, and just before Elmers End is South Norwood Country Park which offers 125 acres of parkland, wetlands and meadows, great for dog walking and exercising.

The local schools are very sought after, if you’re thinking of putting down roots in the area, with the most popular ones being Stewart Fleming (rated outstanding) which is a couple of roads away, Churchfields, and the perennially popular Balgowan primary school are also very nearby.