Missed last week's issue? You can still view its magnificent property pages here.
Country Life March 25 2015announced the winner of our Britain’s Naughtiest Dog competition and also explored the recently restored interiors of Chinthurst Hill in Surrey.
It also boasted over 20 pages of fabulous premium property which you can view again here.
Highlights include:
Buckinghamshire, £3.95 million
Ferns, Great Hampden
A beautifully refurbished period home in the heart of the Chilterns with delightful gardens and grounds. Knight Frank (01494 675 368)
Berkshire, £2.75 million Baileys, Waltham St Lawrence
A stylishly presented Grade II listed property, set privately within its own 2.4 acres of glorious grounds. Hamptons (01628 439 906)
Warwickshire, £POA Honiley Hall, Honiley
A spendid manor house with a traditional courtyard and outstanding landscaped gardens. Fisher German (01295 271 555)
Cheshire, £POA Spurstow Hall, SpurstowA Grade II listed country house with spectacular grounds and a stable block with 5 boxes. Savills (01244 630 095)
Norfolk, £800,000
Scoulton, Norwich
An award-winning barn conversion with 5 double bedrooms and beautiful countryside views. Chewton Rose (01603 622 017)
These beautiful properties from Fine & Country boast wonderful waterside views.
Thakeham Manor, West Sussex, United Kingdom, £5,995,000 A spacious and detached modern residence inspired by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built to an exceptionally high standard by the current owner. The house comprises of 11,683 internal sq.ft. and 16 acres of land. There are six bathrooms, a cinema room, gymnasium, summer house, staff quarters, outdoor swimming pool, summer house, helipad, tennis courts and putting green, as well as a private lake.
Fine & Country Mayfair: 020 7079 1523
La Croisette, France, € 2,695,000
Situated in one of the most sought after waterside residences on the world famous Boulevard de la Croisette in Cannes, this superb duplex penthouse apartment has some of the best views you will find on the Cote d’Azur. Completely renovated to the highest standard, every detail has been perfected. Fine & Country Cannes: +33 (0)4 92 59 25 93/4
Rio Verde Beachfront, Golden Mile, Spain, £POA Stunning contemporary beachfront villa designed by a well-known and highly esteemed architect and located in the best part of the Golden Mile beach. This villa combines the best of modern architecture with the latest facilities and technology. The villa has been cleverly designed so that all of the rooms, even on the ground floor, have splendid uninterrupted views of the sea. The garden offers a heated pool surrounded by terraces and a jacuzzi that benefits from total privacy by the intelligent use of non-reflective glass around the boundary allowing you to enjoy the sea views while blocking the property from the public eye. Fine & Country Marbella: +34 952 764 010
Upper Crisbrook Mill, Kent, United Kingdom, £1,250,000 This striking waterside home is located within a picturesque valley within a protected conservation area on the south westerly rural fringes of the county town of Maidstone. The property itself is a Grade II Listed former working watermill that is now a beautiful family home set in an idyllic position next to its own mill pond and stream. The water wheel is fed by the mill pond via a controllable sluice. The water, having cascaded over the wheel, reforms into a stream that elegantly divides the front garden. Fine & Country West Malling: 01732 222 272
Ocean Heights, Brighton, United Kingdom, £1,275,000
An award winning sea view penthouse with panoramic views of the Brighton coastline and South Downs countryside. The private and spacious roof terrace with a six person jacuzzi and mood lighting leads off the huge open plan kitchen lounge through a wall of glass bi-folding doors. The master suite has its own dressing room, luxury ensuite and further south facing private sun terrace. Fine & Country Brighton & Hove: 01273 739 911
The town of Wincanton is synonymous with equestrian sport and Strutt & Parker (020–7629 7282) have leapt from the starting gate with the launch onto the market—at a guide price of £3.5m—of idyllic Brickhouse Farm at Charlton Musgrove, near Wincanton, a 62-acre farmstead with extensive equestrian facilities set in woodland and glorious rolling countryside on the borders of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.
The heart of the property, which abuts Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s immaculate Stavordale Priory estate, is a splendidly refurbished mid-17th-century farmhouse, substantially extended by the owners to provide four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, six bedrooms and five bathrooms. Outbuildings include two cottages, a large barn with stabling for four horses, and two manèges.
The guide price is £3.5m. For further information please contact Strutt & Parker on 01722 344 042.
With the start of the summer season nearly upon us, more and more country-house owners are dipping into the short-let scene, finds Roderick Easdale.
Now that the children have flown the nest, Frances Pearce Gould (and dog) lets rooms
in her house in Cambridge- shire through Airbnb.
We just can’t get enough large properties on our books,’ says Camilla Shaughnessy, founder and director of Eventful Stays (0333 800 1330; eventfulstays.com). ‘We saw a 300% growth in business in 2014. Country properties that can accommodate 12–24 guests are most in demand and these get booked up early, particularly for events such as Cheltenham and Henley.’
Eventful Stays will rent out someone’s home for short-term lets for parts of the year. The original idea was to tie this in with national annual events held locally, but it’s morphed into people booking for their own personal events, such as birthday and Christmas celebrations. ‘Most people don’t have a house large enough, so need to rent somewhere that can accommodate, say, 15 people,’ points out Miss Shaughnessy, who started out by renting out her own house, decamping to the annexe when she did so.
Airbnb (www.airbnb.com), which specialises in short-term lets in people’s homes, also started out with two of the three founders renting out their own accommodation. In this case, it was the floor of their San Francisco loft space equipped with three air mattresses. From this humble beginning has grown a multi-national company with more than a million listings worldwide. Twenty million guests booked through Airbnb last year.
‘Our owners are motivated by a variety of reasons,’ explains Miss Shaughnessy. ‘The financial return is obviously one aspect. Those with large, beautiful properties can expect to earn anything from £1,600 to £3,000 for a two- or three-night stay, depending on the size and facilities. Some owners use this to pay for the upkeep of the building to allow them to carry on living there. Others simply want to have their home occupied in their absence. And some do it primarily for the fun of it.’
John Seymour rents out part of his property through Airbnb. His house has been home to the Seymour family—as in Jane Seymour, wife of Henry VIII—since it was built in about 1690. He takes delight in ‘sharing with guests from all over the world our family history and home. It provides us with income and interest’.
One advantage of renting through these two companies is that the guests expect to come into a family home with photographs on the mantelpiece—and all the rest. ‘Just clear some wardrobe space and a bedroom drawer or two’ is Miss Shaughnessy’s cheerful advice.
Another plus point is that you can choose when and how often to rent it out. ‘Ideally, we ask the owners to make their property available for a minimum of 20 weekends or eight weeks a year. But this isn’t always possible,’ says Miss Shaughnessy.
Airbnb is ‘completely flexible’ as to how often you make your home available. It handles the payment and holds the money until after the guest has checked in. Airbnb will also verify guest IDs and provide £600,000 of insurance for hosts. After the stay, both host and guest can post reviews of each other on the Airbnb website.
Frances Pearce Gould rents out two rooms in Harston Manor in Cambridgeshire, parts of which date from the 16th century. ‘We were told about Airbnb by our children, two of whom are also Airbnb hosts. Our large house isn’t fully used as our children have flown the nest and it’s expensive to keep it going,’ she explains. ‘The best part of the experience has been the wide range of interesting people we’ve met. The worst part has been the odd week when I’ve had several people staying for one night only and the turnover can be quite exhausting. I should have introduced a cleaning fee earlier, to cover the costs of one-night stays.’
Her advice is that ‘it’s best to start with a low price, obtain some reviews and then put the price up. We’ve learnt and improved our service as we’ve gone along, such as provid- ing dressing gowns, toiletries, irons and hairdryers. We often have breakfast with our guests and help them to plan their day—this makes them feel welcome’. The whole household ends up with a role in the hosting— ‘all the guests seem to like our dog,’ Mrs Pearce Gould laughs.
Forget 2014: this county’s market is flourishing once more in the spring sunshine.
Fig 1: Imposing Cathanger Manor at Fivehead has a long and colourful history. £1.5m.
For almost everyone involved with the country-house market in Somerset, 2014 was truly an annus horribilis, says Brian Bishop of Jackson-Stops & Staff in Taunton, as he recalls the endless media coverage of the floods which left much of the Somerset Levels under water for weeks on end. ‘It was relentless. Every day, our screens were filled with horrendous images of floodwaters stretching as far as the eye could see, giving the impression that the whole of Somerset was submerged. In actual fact, only 2% of this huge county was directly affected, but it meant that buyers from outside the area weren’t even prepared to look at houses that were nowhere near the floods.’
Fortunately, circuses move on and memories fade and, following the recent mild winter, Mr Bishop is seeing London families who put their plans on hold last year heading west once again, with the area’s many excellent schools always a major draw—among them Downside near Bath, Millfield at Street and the Taunton schools.
Vendors of country properties are also beginning to put their heads above the parapet and the recent launch onto the market of some classic country houses suggests that this may be the year when the market in Somerset finally gets going again.
Jackson-Stops & Staff (01823 325144) quote a guide price of £1.5 million for imposing, Grade II*-listed Cathanger Manor (Fig 1) in the village of Fivehead, on the southern slope of the Curry Rivel ridge, seven miles east of Taunton. According to local records, the manor has been occupied con- tinuously since the Norman Conquest, when the thane, Watel, was dispossessed and the house handed over to the monks of nearby Muchelney Abbey.
The medieval house was rebuilt in 1559, as recorded on the date stone found on the outer wall of the west wing, with the inscription ‘John Walshe Anno Dnie 1559 Serjeant at Lawe’. In 1563, Walshe was made a Justice of the Queen’s Bench and his first-floor study, which probably also served as a courtroom, became known as the Justice Hall, and still exists today.
According to its English Heritage listing, the L-plan house was built in two distinct periods—the late-16th-century wing with its first-floor hall running east-west and the north-south wing, remodelled in the late 18th century around an earlier core. The walled garden to the south also incorporates some picturesque 16th-century remains, including two moulded stone gateways and a two-storey outhouse.
One of Cathanger’s more colourful occupants was Christabella Wyndham, who was chosen by Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, to be wet nurse to the infant Prince of Wales, later Charles II. At the siege of Bridgwater in July 1645, the feisty Mrs Wyndham, whose husband Col Wyndham was the town’s governor, defied the Roundheads led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and, seizing a musket, took a shot at Cromwell, shouting: ‘These breasts have given suck to Prince Charles—they shall never be at your mercy!’
Fig 2: Thorn Falcon House at Thornfalcon is a classic Georgian former rectory. £1.95m.
The mood changed in the 18th century, when the manor’s tenant was John Stone, who converted to the new Methodism. John Wesley preached his first sermon there in 1740 and again in both 1778 and 1785. Wesley later recalled with satisfaction the ‘ancient and venerable building called Cathanger Manor… where I spoke exceeding plain and think many of them, even Somersetshire farmers, felt as well as heard!’. The manor remained in the hands of the Wyndham family—although somewhat tenuously at times—until 1928.
Despite the weight of history, today’s manor house is a supremely comfort- able and manageable family home, with five/six reception rooms, a kitchen/ breakfast room, seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. Set in more than six acres of walled gardens, grounds and paddocks at the end of a long carriage drive, it has open views over adjoining parkland and the village of Fivehead and easy access to London by fast train from Taunton, with Exeter and Bristol airports both within an hour’s drive.
Jackson-Stops & Staff are also handling the sale, at a guide price of £1.95m, of charming, Grade II-listed Thorn Falcon House (Fig 2) at Thorn Falcon, five miles east of Taunton, a quintessential Georgian former rectory in an enchanted private setting next to the ancient, Grade I-listed village church of the Holy Cross. The original house, which dates from the early 1700s, was extended a century later to provide a blend of light and well- proportioned rooms. Full-length sash windows flood the later Georgian rooms with morning light and smaller, Queen Anne windows highlight the earlier part of the house.
Elegantly restored by its current owners, Thorn Falcon House has accommodation on two floors, inc- luding a reception hall with a fine staircase, four reception rooms, a kitchen, a breakfast room, master and guest suites, five bedrooms and two family bathrooms. It stands in almost nine acres of private wooded gardens, grounds and paddocks, flanked by courtyards of stabling and outbuildings, several of which have consent for further improvement.
Fig 3: The Old Rectory is set in the pretty conservation village of Hinton Blewett. Excess £2.5m
Also fresh on the market—at a guide price of excess £2.5m through the Bristol office of Savills (0117–933 5800)—comes The Old Rectory (Fig 3) at Hinton Blewett, a pretty conser- vation village halfway between Bath and Bristol. The delightful former rectory, listed Grade II, was altered and extended in classic Georgian style around a 17th-century core in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when local prosperity was at its peak.
Its 7,350sq ft of living space comprises four reception rooms, a study, main and secondary kitchens, six bedrooms, five bathrooms and cellars, overlooking the green at the heart of one of the Chew Valley’s most desirable villages. Behind its enclosed private gardens, The Old Rectory hides a secret not normally associated with traditional former rectories: a state- of-the-art garage for 10 or more cars, built by the current owners and guaranteed to wow even the most demanding of motor enthusiasts.
These country houses are all a stone's throw from Britain's beautiful coastline.
Devon, £1.75 million
Fursdon, Sherford
This pretty Georgian house stands in 12 acres of landscaped gardens and paddocks and comes with a two-bedroom barn conversion, stables and a tennis court. The house is approximately five miles from Kingsbridge and from the sea. Marchand Petit (01548 857588)
Devon, £1.35 million
Croyde Farm, Croyde
Located within the coastal village of Croyde, the farm is made up of two properties (a three-bedroom farmhouse and two-bedroom cottage) and a stone barn with planning permission. Jackson-Stops & Staff (01271 325153)
Cornwall, £850,000
Carwythenack House, Downderry
This house isn’t just near the sea, but on the sea and has views of Looe Bay. It has seven bedrooms, lots of period features and a fine colonial-style verandah. Country & Waterside (01872 240999)
Devon, £785,000 Old Park Hall, Axminster
This Grade II listed house is built in the Scottish Baronial style. It has four bedrooms and a self-contained two-bedroom flat on the second floor. The gardens were originally designed by Eleanor Sinclair-Rhodes and mentioned as worthy of note in the 1913 edition of Robinson’s ‘English Flower Garden’. Jackson-Stops & Staff (01308 423133)
Isle of Wight, £1.45 million
Bank End Farm House, Ventnor
This delightful thatched cottage, constructed in approximately 1750, boasts charming original features and wonderful sea views from its grounds, which extend to approximately four acres. It has four bedrooms, an orchard and a paddock. Watson Bull & Porter (01983 852021)
If you’re looking for somewhere with snow-sure winters and picture-perfect Alpine summers, Liz Rowlinson recommends the top 10 four-season resorts.
Lech, Austria
This old farming village set in a high and open valley in the Vorarlberg really is the chocolate-box perfect Alpine village. With a 14th-century onion-domed church and a river meandering through its traditional centre, Lech-Zürs attracts wealthy Germans, for whom it’s an easy weekend escape, as well as a lively, young crowd who enjoy the outdoor ice bars serving Champagne or the après ski at the Hotel Krone next to the lifts.
New lift links to the Warth area have added just over 40 miles of pistes to the Arlberg ski area, but, in summer, there are music and art fairs (yes, it’s a ski town with an arts scene), farmer’s markets and a car rally.
‘Chalets with second-home status rarely come on to the market in Lech,’ says Tom Joyce of Pure International. ‘When they do, they’re about €18,000 to €22,000 per square metre.’ Pure are selling a rare new-build project of four seven-bedroom luxury chalets at €6.2 million upwards, managed by a five-star hotel, but with their own pool and spa. They promise good rental returns, but, for affordability, look to the nearby village of Wald am Arlberg, where apartments at start at €195,000 (both through PURE International 020–3695 4095; www.pureintl.com).
Klosters, Switzerland
A traditional village bypassed by the valley traffic, Klosters couldn’t be more different from its metropolitan neighbour, Davos. Its discreet social scene has made it a favour- ite with the British royals—The Prince of Wales has two cable cars named after him. A great resort for intermediate skiers, it’s also very family oriented, with a superb children’s club operating in the summer holidays when 435 miles of walking trails are open, alongside a golf course, an adventure park and a classic mountain-biking route, the Swiss Bike Masters. ‘At 1,100m [3,610ft], it’s not a high resort, so the summer season is longer and the infrastructure is geared to year-round activity,’ explains Sascha Ginesta, Knight Frank’s associate in Klosters. He says overseas buyers (typically British, German or Dutch) tend to be residents and the best areas for chalets are Russna and Hofji. ‘Entry-level chalets are CHF3 million to CHF3.5 million [£2.02m–£2.36m] with prime examples at CHF7 million to CHF8 million [£4.7m–£m].’
KLOSTERS FOR SALE: CHF2.95m
A rare example of an apartment available for foreign buyers, this five-bedroom duplex within a traditional Graubünden chalet offers superb mountain views (£1.99m). Knight Frank (020–7629 8171; www.knightfrank.com)
Megeve, France
Big-name French resorts oozing old-world charm are rather thin on the ground but one really stands head and shoulders above the rest: Megeve. The medieval farming village that’s now a chic Alpine outpost of Paris has Michelin-starred restaurants, designer shopping and rustic-chic hotels around its 13th-century cobbled centre. Accessibility from Geneva is one attraction and year-round appeal is another; there’s Golf du Mont d’Arbois, lake-swimming at Combloux, climbing, canyoning or summer luge.
Families gravitate towards the Combloux area, where chalets offer larger gardens and magnificent views towards Mont Blanc, says Emmanuel Boan of Agence Boan, Knight Frank’s associate in Megeve. ‘There’s a demand for traditional properties, often with a contemporary finish and the core market remains between €500,000 and €2 million.’ In the sought-after Mont d’Arbois area, Knight Frank are selling an ideal family chalet with eight bedrooms and a south-west facing garden for €2.3 million (020– 7629 8171; www.knightfrank.com).
MEGEVE FOR SALE: €6.8m
New five-bedroom 330sq m chalet near the centre of Megeve offering a hammam,
indoor pool, wine cellar and garage. John Taylor (00 33 4 50 54 71 06; www.john-taylor.com)
Solden, Austria
Just an hour from Innsbruck, this lovely traditional Austrian resort is often overlooked in favour of nearby Obergurgl, but it’s at the end of one of the most breathtaking wooded valley drives in the Tyrol and you’ll soon see it appear in the forthcoming James Bond film, Spectre.
It’s a strung-out resort with a lively party scene, refreshing sense of space and although two glaciers offer reliable snow, in summer, there are 186 miles of hiking trails and Europe’s largest outdoor adventure park, Area 47.
Second homes in the Tyrol typically come with rental obligations and an attractive new development in the resort offers an unusually simple 50/50 split of income between owner and the hotel management, including use of the spa and facilities.
Prices at the Courtyard Apartments start at €347,500 through Alpine Marketing (020–8455 0505; www.alpineskiproperty.com).
Morzine, France
There are more charming Savoyard villages than you can throw a ski pole at, but many fall down when it comes to lively summer pursuits. Not so Morzine, with its lively cycling scene, 11 tennis courts, Europe’s highest waterpark, summer luge and riding, to name but a few activities.
New chairlifts up to Avoriaz have kept the skiers happy and this resort suits a growing number of buyers seeking to be within an hour of Geneva. ‘Like Les Gets and Chamonix, it’s getting some top-end chalets that simply didn’t exist there five years ago,’ says Knight Frank’s Matt Hodder-Williams.
Knight Frank have a good range of chalets starting at about €360,000 and Erna Low ski property have a selection of properties from two-bedroom apartments from €285,000 (www.ernalowproperty.co.uk; 020–7590 1624).
Grindelwald, Switzerland
The picture-postcard town of Grindelwald is a fabulous family resort in the Bernese Oberland. Like Wengen, it’s an historic favourite with the British market, yet it attracts a younger demographic with its modern coffee shops, lively vinotecas and outdoor sports.
‘Children enjoy the great outdoors, with mountain-biking, indoor climbing, zip-lines, mini-golf and modern amenities, but it remains a really traditional place, where the lady in the cheese shop knows your name,’ says Beat Hartmann of agent Hartmann Singleton.
Mr Hartmann is selling a three-bedroom, 138sq m resale apartment with panoramic views of the Eiger from its third-floor balconies, for CHF1.7 million (£1.15m). It’s available to foreign buyers and an ideal base, next to the popular Romantik Hotel Schweizerhof (01845 597795; www.hartmannsingleton.com).
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
It’s been Italy’s most stylish resort since the 1950s and is as much about the cafe culture, shopping and Moncler-clad passeggiata as the skiing, so is wonderfully laidback. The cobbled, traffic-free Corso Italia is full of chic shops selling Bulgari and Gucci, antiques, art or jewellery and the tall campanile of the parish church is so typical of the Veneto.
Around the town, the craggy teeth of the Dolomites tinge pink at dawn and dusk—in the summer, the vie ferrate (climbing routes) and rifugi (mountain huts) attract those seeking more than a stroll.
‘Houses in the centre change hands for €15,000 to €22,000 per square metre or €10,000 to €18,000 on the outskirts of town,’ says Linda Travella of Casa Travella, also selling a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for €550,000 in the charming little ski town of San Candido, 121⁄2 miles from Cortina.
CORTINA FOR SALE: €2.4m
This three-bedroom, two-bathroom property in the centre of Cortina is in typical rustic style with beamed ceilings. Casa Travella (01322 660988; www.casatravella.com)
Saint Martin de Belleville, France
With its authentic, all-year-round village feel, great range of restaurants and, most importantly, the easy access into the Les 3 Vallées ski area—the world’s largest— Saint Martin de Belleville is cementing its place among the most attractive places to own a ski property. During the summer months, the picturesque Savoyard village with a Baroque church at its hub erupts into a floral haven and welcomes mountain and road bikers, climbers and walkers. It’s a quieter —and more affordable—proposition to its Les 3 Vallées neighbours Courchevel and Méribel. ‘Expect to pay €200,000 for an apartment and about €1 million for a chalet, although in the neighbouring villages you can pick one up for €500,000,’ says Steve Pangli from Leggett Immobilier.
SAINT MARTIN DE BELLEVILLE FOR SALE: €636k
This compact three-bedroom chalet offers a large garden and boules pitch.
Leggett Immobilier (08700 115151; www.skifrenchproperty.com)
Grimentz, Switzerland
With its 15th-century chalets bedecked with geraniums, a traffic-free centre of narrow lanes and old hay barns burnt black by the sun, the Valais village of Grimentz really should be more popular. Go in summer for hiking, biking, paragliding, archery, fishing or even bungee-jumping or there’s golf at nearby Sion or Crans-Montana. Fabulous off-piste and uncrowded slopes make it worth a trip in winter, too.
Buy a new apartment on the slopes at the Volantis Residence from CHF331,000 (£223,240) or a new 102sq m three-bed- room chalet for CHF790,000 (£532,810) (through Investors in Property, 020–8905 5511; www.investorsinproperty.com).
A 165sq m three/four-bedroom (one of a trio of new chalets) for CHF1.5 million (£1.012m) through Hartmann Singleton makes it much cheaper than its Valais neighbour, Verbier.
Samoens, France
If you like your mountain pursuits punctu- ated with architectural tours, Savoy wine tastings and weekly markets, then this might be the French ski town for you. Its location only an hour from Geneva means it’s great for weekend breaks and the ancient covered central square is the heart of the town come snow or sunshine.
‘Samoens dates back to medieval times and the many traditional-style bars and restaurants still give a feel of the “real” rural France. It’s not so much a ski resort with summer facilities, it’s more of a traditional village with access to 165 miles of slopes,’ says Simon Malster of Investors in Property.
Your money goes further than in Chamonix and at the Vallée Blanche, so a new-build scheme just outside the centre offers one-bedroom apartments for €238,000 or a chalet for about €1 million, through Investors in Property.
SAMOENS FOR SALE: €1.94m
This eight-bedroom, 550sq m traditional Savoyard chalet enjoys striking south-facing views across the
Giffre valley. A smaller mazot could be fitted for guests.
Home Hunts (020–8144 5501; www.home-hunts.com)
With less than a month to go until the election, an escape to rural tranquility is increasingly appealing. Arabella Youens selects pretty country houses currently on the market.
Wiltshire, £1.295 million
Ashton House, Ashton Keynes
6 bedrooms, attic rooms, 1.1 acres
Ashton House is the principal part of a Grade II-listed village house. It’s accessed by a Cotswold-stone bridge over a tributary of the River Thames and has a pretty south-facing garden. The village has a shop, pub, all-weather tennis court and playing fields and Kemble station is five miles away. Strutt & Parker (01285 653 101)
Shropshire, £735,000
Penkridge Hall, Leebotwood
4 bedrooms, outbuildings, 21/4 acres
This Grade II*-listed Elizabethan country house has been restored by the vendors. It sits within the heart of the south Shropshire countryside 10 miles south of Shrewsbury. There is planning permission to build a one-bedroom nanny cottage. Samuel Wood & Company (01743 272 710)
Cornwall, £895,000
Hotch Potch, Helford
3 bedrooms, studio/office, river views
This traditional Cornish cottage stands above the River Helford and offers views overlooking the village and beyond. The ground floor is arranged as a series of rooms that open into each other, providing a good space for entertaining. There is planning permission to convert the attic into a further bedroom and shower room. Savills (01872 243 200)
Buckinghamshire, £1.595 million
Lost Cottage, Penn
5 bedrooms, garage with office, 0.46 acres
Although it’s set in the heart of this popular village, the cottage sits in the middle of its plot and has lovely views over the garden. The current vendors have added the kitchen/breakfast room, which includes an Aga and a generous area for seating. Knight Frank (01494 675 368)
Dorset, £795,000
Talbot Farm, East Burton
5 bedrooms, Aga, tennis court, 3.66 acres
Set on a no-through lane and within easy distance of the town of Wool, this house has pretty views across the water meadows of the River Frome. There are four reception rooms and a kitchen/breakfast room with an Aga. Outside are a stable block and three paddocks. Savills (01202 856 800)
Wiltshire, £1.5 million
Leigh Grange, Holt
5 bedrooms, swimming pool, pool house, 3 acres
The heart of this former farmhouse is focused on the kitchen/ breakfast room, which has an Aga and doors that open out into the garden. A barn has been converted into a pool house and a sixth bedroom with wet room or study. There is an extensive range of outbuildings. Humberts (01249 444 557)
Leicestershire, £695,000
The Grey House, Kibworth Beauchamp
3 bedrooms, 3 attic rooms, 0.3 acre
On the market for the first time in 40 years, The Grey House (which is actually painted blue) has an elegant reception hall- way, two further reception rooms and a pretty landscaped garden. The nearest train station is Market Harborough (London St Pancras 60 minutes). Strutt & Parker (01858 433 123)
Devon, £785,000
Old Park Hall, Axminster
4 bedrooms, summer house, 0.82 acres
This property is made up of the principal part of a country house and comes with a two-bedroom second-floor flat, which is held under a protected tenancy, but provides good income. There is a large family kitchen, a cinema room, a great hall and entrance vestibule and extensive attic space. Jackson-Stops & Staff (01308 423 133)
Warwickshire, £1.65 million
Holbrook Grange, Long Lawford
7 bedrooms, integral flat, 1 acre
Described as a ‘hidden Georgian gem’ by the selling agents, this house has a series of large reception rooms with excellent proportions. The first-floor bedrooms all have bath or shower rooms and the second-floor flat is currently used as staff accommodation. Out- side is a well-stocked garden with parkland grazing. Savills (01295 228 000)
Somerset, £850,000
Horsington House, Horsington, Templecombe
5 bedrooms, outbuildings, 5 acres, walled garden
An elegant and substantial apartment standing in beautiful grounds, along with the freehold of the house. The garden, which is adjacent to the village church, offers lovely views over the surrounding countryside. The remainder of the grounds feature a sunken garden and hard tennis court (in need of refurbishment). Palmer Snell (01935 812 218)
The ancient village of Twyford, on the banks of the River Itchen, three miles south of Winchester, is one of Hampshire’s loveliest villages, heir to a monastic and scholarly tradition dating back to the 7th century, when it was part of the Hundred Hides of Chilcomb granted to the church at Winchester. These days, it boasts a highly regarded prep school and easy access to London by train from Winchester or via the nearby M3 motorway.
At the time of the Domesday survey, there were two manors of Twyford, one belonging to the Bishop of Winchester to the north and one held by the Prior of St Swithun’s to the south, both of which were surrendered to the Crown following the Dissolution.
The Priory, in the south of the village, was a self-contained farm holding run by monks from St Swithun’s Benedictine community, who were housed in The Monastery, originally a medieval hall house typically surrounded by a variety of domestic and farm buildings, such as a dairy, a brew house, a bakery, a smithy, pigeon lofts, hen houses and sheds for pigs, cattle and sheep. Traces of such buildings can be found in the gardens surrounding today’s much-altered Monastery and its adjoining Manor House—previously one building which was divided vertically in the 1960s. Both houses will come to the market shortly through Knight Frank’s Winchester office (01962 850333), each at a guide price of £1.35m.
The Monastery.
The Monastery, listed Grade II, is an Elizabethan house of chequered flint and stone with red-brick gables, built in the 1660s by Sir Henry Mildmay, a successful lawyer and High Sheriff of Hampshire. Surrounded by immaculate walled topiary gardens, The Monastery has more than 3,000sq ft of light and spacious accommodation, including three reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, five bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The Manor House, also listed Grade II, was built of red brick over existing cellars during the late Queen Anne/early Georgian period, with inner walls of stone, and a tiled roof. Both houses retain parts of earlier roof frames.
The Manor House stands in its own pretty garden, with an outdoor pool and lovely views of the Itchen Valley. It has two main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, a conservatory, four bedrooms and two bath/shower rooms.
The guide price for each property is £1.35m. For further information please contact Knight Frank on 01962 850333.
Family-friendly Hampshire has much to offer, says Penny Churchill.
Fig 1: The Coach House at Fullerton has gone under offer for close to its £2.95m quide price.
One green shoot doesn’t make a recovery, but it’s good to hear that The Coach House (Fig 1) at Fullerton, near Stockbridge, has gone under offer within three weeks of its launch through Knight Frank and Jackson-Stops & Staff, and reputedly for close to its £2.95 million guide price. Interestingly, of the various parties competing for the house, several had City connections, although the successful bidder was locally based, underlining the fact that the core country market in Hampshire is still family-driven.
A former Victorian coach house on the Fullerton Manor estate, The Coach House—originally converted in 1967 and refurbished in exquisite ‘French château’ style by the vendor —is perfectly located two miles from Farleigh prep school and four miles from Andover, with London-Waterloo a 69-minute train ride away.
Set in two acres of landscaped, partly walled gardens overlooking the rolling north Hampshire countryside, the elegant, 6,000sq ft house has everything a family could wish for: four good reception rooms, five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a swimming pool, a tennis court and a handy one-bedroom cottage.
With less than a month to go before the great ‘mansion tax’ debate is resolved one way or another, owners of Hampshire houses valued at more than £2m have been keeping their powder dry. There is a significant under-supply of houses in the £2m to £3m price bracket and demand is greatest for solid family houses priced between £800,000 and £1.2m —the optimum level in terms of the new Stamp Duty thresholds.
Fig 2: Originally built as three houses now joined together, Lower Church Cottage at Cliddesden also offers a separate two- bedroom cottage. £1.25m.
Philip Blanchard of Jackson-Stops & Staff in Winchester (01962 844299), joint agent in the sale of The Coach House, has launched the highly com- mutable Lower Church Cottage (Fig 2) at Cliddesden, a thriving conservation village three miles south of Basingstoke at the northern end of the picturesque Candover Valley, on the market at a guide price of £1.25m.
Originally built as three cottages in the mid 1800s and now arranged as a charming, five-bedroom main house—with a separate two-bedroom cottage ‘in need of some updating’— Lower Church Cottage, which is unlisted, stands in almost half an acre of pretty gardens between the village duck pond and St Leonard’s church.
Fig 3: Georgian Blae‘Grove House is part of the Up Nately village conservation area. £3m.
The launch onto the market of Grade II-listed, Georgian Blae Grove House (Fig 3) at Up Nately, four miles east of Basingstoke, at a guide price of £3m through Knight Frank (01256 350600) and Savills (01635 277700), brings a whiff of life in the fast lane to a sleepy corner of rural Hampshire.
For the past 27 years, the charming, 18th-century former farmhouse has been the home of Adrian Hamilton, son of former Grand Prix racing driver and 1953 Le Mans 24-Hour winner Duncan Hamilton, who has carried on the classic-racing-car business established by his father in 1948, from a series of converted out- buildings in the grounds.
A substantial red-brick building with a symmetrical façade, Blae Grove House (formerly known as Bleakstone Farmhouse) is a key element of the Up Nately conservation area, designated in 1981, and reflects the village’s strong farming traditions. The house, which stands in almost six acres of beautifully maintained gardens, grounds and paddocks, has four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-bedroom converted coach house.
Fig 4: Woodway House at Kimpton. £3.25m–£3.5m.
With few comparable transactions to work with, it’s difficult for agents to value precisely country houses outside the inner-London commuter belt with any degree of accuracy. Hence the fairly elastic guide price of £3.25m–£3.5m quoted by Savills (020–7016 3780) for handsome Woodway House (Fig 4) at Kimpton, six miles north-west of Andover. ‘That’s not far from Ibthorpe Manor Farm, a Grade II*-listed Queen Anne house, which sold last year off a guide price of £3.75m,’ adds Phillippa Dalby-Welsh of Savills, helpfully.
These beautiful properties sit in the rolling countryside of van Gogh's Provence.
Eygalières, €3.390m
This six-bedroom mas, which dates from the 18th century and has been tastefully renovated, stands in landscaped parkland with olive, plane and cypress trees, a swimming pool and superb views of Les Alpilles. Valancogne & Partners (00 33 490 95 99 41; www.valancognepartners.com)
Near Saint-Reémy, €3.390m
This charming Provençal farmhouse, which has four bedrooms, sits in lovely gardens complete with olive and almond trees, an outdoor dining area and a swimming pool. Knight Frank (020–7861 5034; www. knightfrank.co.uk)
Near Uzès
Situated only two minutes from Uzès, this contemporary four-bedroom house has exposed timbers, an infinity pool in the pretty garden and far-reaching views across the valley. Valancogne & Partners (00 33 490 95 99 41; www.valancognepartners.com)
Lussan, Gard, €1.5m
Originally dating from the 18th century, this traditional stone mas, which comes with three smaller homes, features vaulted ceilings in the airy living area and exposed beams in the kitchen. Colpaert & Wehrle (00 33 4 90 54 73 76; www.colpaertwehrle.com)
Uzès, €980k
Situated in the heart of the town, this traditional stone building has two art galleries on the ground floor, 3–4 bedrooms and a large terrace overlooking the cathedral. Colpaert & Wehrle (00 33 4 90 54 73 76; www.colpaertwehrle.com)
We reveal what you can you buy for £1 million or less.
Dorset, £895,000
Green Lane Farmhouse, Kington Magna
This former farmhouse, which has four bedrooms and a garden studio, sits in just under four acres. It’s four miles from Gillingham station and has a heated swimming pool and a summer house. Humberts (01935 812 323)
Gloucestershire, £650,000 Norton House, Stone, Berkeley
An imposing Grade II listed 5 bedroom country residence in the village of Stone, with charming period features and flexible family accommodation arranged over three floors. There is a generous formal garden and an additional paddock to the rear of the garden. Chappell & Matthews (01454 412 565)
Surrey, £735,000
Windmill House, Ewhurst
A charming three-bedroom cottage in the heart of the Surrey Hills, which has a kitchen/breakfast room with an Aga and a south-facing garden of about an acre. Although the house is in the hamlet of Pitch Hill, nearby Ewhurst has a pub, a shop and a cricket club. Grantley (01483 893 939)
Oxfordshire, £695,000
The Snap, Wykham
Once an inn and converted into a private residence in the 19th century, The Snap has been in the same family since 1939. It could do with modernising, but has six bedrooms and stands in six acres. Strutt & Parker (01295 273 592)
East Sussex, £900,000 Cophall Farm, Rushlake Green
This beautiful Grade II listed country home is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty. The property boasts exposed timbers and comprises sitting room with inglenook, dining room, fitted Neptune kitchen/dining room, family room, fitted Smallbone utility room, cloakroom, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Freeman Forman (01454 412 565)
Hampshire, £765,000 Bedfont House, Prospect Place, Hythe
Bedfont House is situated on the waterfront at Hythe, approximately five miles from the village of Beaulieu. Grade II listed and formerly a merchants house of reputed 18th century origins, the property boasts 4 bedrooms, an elegant drawing room and a small enclosed formal garden. John D Wood & Co. (01590 677 233)
On the banks of the Hampshire Avon, The Walton Canonry sits in Salisbury’s highly sought-after Cathedral Close. £6.95m.
Set within a sweep of the Hampshire Avon, Salisbury’s famous Cathedral Close is bounded on the other three sides by ancient walls of Chilmark stone. At 80 acres—eight of which are lawn—it is the largest close in Britain and showcases an eclectic mix of architectural styles from the 13th to the 20th centuries. Originally created for the canons of the cathedral, its buildings have been remodelled over the years to form an august collection of museums, religious and educational institutions and a much-coveted collection of historic private houses.
Next week’s Country Life will see the official launch onto the market of the exquisite, Grade I-listed The Walton Canonry in tranquil West Walk at the southern end of the Close, at a guide price of £6.95 million through Savills (020–7409 8885). Built in 1720 of rose- coloured brick and stone on the site of a medieval canonry mentioned in documents dating from 1313, the early-18th-century canonry is a classic example of early-Georgian architecture, comprising a central block with wings added between 1750 and 1785.
The house bears the name of Canon Isaac Walton, the last inhabitant of the earlier medieval building, and the son of the renowned fisherman and writer, Isaak Walton, whose seminal work, The Compleat Angler, was first published in 1653.
The Close has long been a magnet for artists and writers. John Constable was a regular visitor and painted his famous views of Salisbury Cathedral from the meadows to the west of The Walton Canonry. The prolific 20th- century artist Rex Whistler leased the Canonry—sometimes referred to as the Whistler House—from 1938 until his death in 1944, when he was killed in Normandy on his first day of action as a tank commander with the Welsh Guards.
More recently, the writer Leslie Thomas—probably best known for his novel The Virgin Solders—who bought the lease of The Walton Canonry for £350,000 in 1988, recalled his experience in an interview in the Sunday Times: ‘When I saw that exquisite Georgian façade and its long, green garden floating down to the River Avon, I didn’t hesitate to put in an offer. Not that moving to a cathedral close is a straightforward business. I had to apply through my solicitor to the lease owners, the Dean and Chapter, who then vetted me. I was, apparently, “eminently suitable”, but I’m pretty sure they were referring to my willingness to spend money on renovating the building, not my saintliness.’
This time round, however, prospective purchasers of the Canonry need not worry about being investigated by the ecclesiastical ‘powers that be’. The house, gardens and grounds are for sale freehold, although the garaging and some outbuildings are held on a 999-year lease from April 2007.
Protected from West Walk by a wall and cast-iron electric gates, the Canonry enjoys spectacular views from the front towards the cathedral and, from the rear, over the gardens towards the river and Constable’s water-meadows.
The Walton Canonry’s inter-connecting drawing room, panelled family room (pictured) and dining room are flooded with light.
The house, which has been the subject of an inspirational programme of modernisation and renovation in recent years, has some 7,530sq ft of elegant living space, the whole awash with natural light. A flight of stone steps leads to the raised ground floor of the central, slightly older part of the building and the front entrance hall, off which are arranged the three inter-connecting main reception rooms—the drawing room, the dining room and the wood-panelled family room. Beyond the latter, in the south wing, a vast, well-appointed kitchen boasts an open-plan breakfast area with views of the Close and the garden. All five first-floor bedroom suites have views of either the Close or the garden.
Additional ground-floor accommodation includes a library, a media room, an office and a wine cellar. Meanwhile, the north wing, which has its own entrance hall, can be used as an overflow for the main house or as a separate apartment, which could be rented out.
Reflecting on the many charms of this dreamy house with its clear international appeal, selling agent Ed Sugden muses: ‘Where else could you find a country house with country views in the heart of a cathedral city?’ Where else, indeed?
Another important building with even older monastic origins is Grade II*-listed The Cloisters, in the Thames-side village of Hurley, Berkshire, which will be launched on the market shortly—through Hamptons in Beacons- field (01494 685140) and Knight Frank in Henley-on-Thames (01491 844900)—at a guide price of £4m. The house stands at the extreme northern end of the high street (unusually, for a Thames-side village, a no-through road) in the heart of medieval Hurley, yet enjoys privacy and seclusion within its three-acre site on the southern bank of the river, four miles from Marlow and five miles or so from Maidenhead mainline station.
The Cloisters and its neighbour, The Refectory, were originally part of a priory founded in 1086 by Baron Geoffrey de Mandeville for a cell of monks from the Benedictine Abbey at Westminster. The Priory was the centre of village life for 450 years until its suppression in 1536, after which the monastic estates passed to John Lovelace and the family became Lords of the Manor. Various archaeological investigations carried out on site reveal that The Cloisters was built in the 12th century, but also comprises significant 14th-, 16th-, 19th- and 20th-century elements.
The medieval village of Hurley in Berkshire is the perfect backdrop to peaceful The Cloisters. £4m.
The Lovelaces built a mansion called Ladye Place (demolished in 1837 when it failed to attract a buyer) around the original foundations of the priory, on the southern edge of the present lawn. The original 20-acre monastic domain was still called Paradise until 1948, when it was divided into separate properties.
The front entrance to The Cloisters is approached through a stone archway that leads into the peaceful cloister garth. Reflecting the tranquillity that pervades the historic site, the house itself is relaxed and unpretentious, its accommodation comprising a staircase hall, four reception rooms, a former monks’ refectory now used as an impressive entertaining space, a first-floor sitting room, 5/6 bedrooms and three bathrooms.
The property stands on high ground overlooking the river, its grounds divided into two by an avenue of Irish yew that separates the gardens near the house from the meadows by the tennis court and the former monks’ fishpond. Paths lead towards a timber bridge over the moat, bordered by mellow Tudor walls that surround the western and northern end of the property. A doorway leads to the riverside gardens, with their frontage and mooring, and an octagonal summer house noted by Pevsner.
The gardens at The Cloisters have long been famous and were visited in April 1931 by Queen Mary, who watched a game of tennis here while seated on a stone bench still known as Queen Mary’s Seat.
If your views are about to be spoiled by a new development, it’s worth exploring whether your property has a historic relationship with the land in question, finds Pippa Cuckson.
Despite the recent pressure from Westminster to release greenfield sites in villages for the development of new houses, ancient restrictive covenants over development remain enforceable in 21st-century Britain. Landowners are, however, often unaware that their predecessors may have taken out these covenants, which effectively control what can be built or how the land may be used, when they sold off parcels of their estate decades before.
This is because covenants are listed on the deeds of the property restricted by them (the ‘burdened’ party), but not on the deeds of property enjoying the control (the ‘beneficiary’). They may only be spotted after a painstaking search of old transfer records at the Land Registry.
The happy discovery that one benefits from a covenant can, however, lead to significant legal expense before the offending development is stopped or compensation received. Covenants cannot be cited to see off a development at local-council planning level and if pre-build negotiations fail, the beneficiary’s principal weapon is High Court proceedings for an injunction and/or damages in lieu.
The developer can apply for the covenant to be discharged or modified by the Upper Tribunal, Lands Chamber (previously the Lands Tribunal), although it’s a high-risk endeavour for them. Solicitor Richard Bartle of Pinsent Masons (www.pinsentmasons.com; 020–7418 7000), who has special interest in this niche field, says the difficulty in overturning covenants is evidenced by only ‘a few hundred applications in the past 10 years’.
The main grounds for discharge are ‘obsolescence’, such as an ancient covenant prohibiting the site’s association with the Catholic Church or the covenant no longer serving any practical benefit to the people trying to enforce it. This might include loss of privacy, views or reduced value of property.
The existence of planning permission rarely cuts much ice at tribunal, but developers sometimes press on with the build, gambling that no court would order demolition or disagree that, in this day and age, covenants taken out many decades ago impede ‘a reasonable use of the land’.
In a now infamous case from 2011, house builders Taylor Wimpey started work on 124 new homes at Prestbury, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, including 24 on just under two acres protected by a 1936 covenant. The tribunal said that, even if it had been inclined to modify the covenant, this would have been inappropriate in the light of Taylor Wimpey’s overt ‘flouting of its legal obligations’. The company thus tore the houses down.
Mr Bartle says escalating property values have led to what he describes as a ‘feeding frenzy’ in London over covenanted sites developers might previously have avoided. One such is a tiny green space in Holland Park, W11, sold for development in 1965, but left overgrown by brambles for 40 years due to a covenant empowering neighbours to approve all design plans in advance. This was finally challenged in 2013 by the architect Sophie Hicks. The court ruled the covenants were valid, but that neighbours should not ‘unreasonably’ withhold consent. Ironically, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea then rejected her subsequent planning application.
The Law Commission has recommended clarifications to covenant law, but there is no confirmation of when Parliament might review them. In the meantime, Mr Bartle strongly advises potential developers not to lift a brick until they’ve identified any covenants and reached agreement with those affected. ‘You often see that the beneficiaries’ concerns are not the same ones the planners had,’ he says. ‘As things stand, the law hasn’t changed. It’s an uphill struggle at tribunal, even though it’s been done on rare occasions.’
He adds: ‘If beneficiaries agree to negotiate, they can be entitled to a large cut of the profit, although valuations in rural areas don’t always justify the legal fees. They’re more likely to achieve a good win in an urban area.’
One rare and partial victory in 2012 was achieved by purchasers of part of a Northumberland sporting estate. They believed their redevelopment plans for an existing house and farm buildings had found favour with the seller—who, nonetheless, applied a covenant and lodged an objection. The tribunal felt that the seller’s action was primarily a ruse for compensation and branded as ‘absurd’ his claim for loss of privacy because of a window overlooking a disused family burial ground 550 yards away.
It's 60 years since the Marbella Club first opened its doors and put a small fishing village on the Costa del Sol on the glitterati map. We take a look at 6 spectacular properties currently on the market.
Nagüeles, €4.4 million
Rocio de Nagüeles is a contemporary six-bedroom villa in the heart of the golden mile close to the beach and town centre with panoramic sea views. Knight Frank (020–7629 8171; www.knightfrank.com)
Benahavís, €850k
Showing what good value for money you can get these days, this four-bedroom house in Benahavís comes with a separate guest or staff house, wonderful views and a heated saltwater swimming pool. Cluttons (020– 7647 7243)
Nueva Andalucía, €5.35 million
South-facing with sea views, this villa was designed by architect Angel Taborda in the golf valley of Nueva Andalucía, close to Puerto Banús. Five bedrooms, a spa, a hammam and a heated infinity pool. Savills Panorama Properties (020– 7016 3740; www.panorama.es)
El Madroñal, €10 million
This magnificent newly built villa on a 10,000sq m plot in El Madroñal comes with seven bedrooms, a cinema room, a self-contained apartment and views over Marbella, Gibraltar and the mountains. Aylesford International (00 34 608 264 148; www.aylesfordspain.com)
La Zagaleta, €5.9 million
One of the most innovative villas to be built on the La Zagaleta estate, with four bedrooms and geo-thermal energy. Its views can be admired from terraces around the gardens. Knight Frank (020–7861 1097; www.knightfrank.com)
Marbella Club Golf Resort, €3.95 million
The Marbella Club Golf Resort lies a few miles from the city, with golf, tennis and riding (the Spanish National Showjumping Championships are held here). This five-bedroom house with geo-thermal heated pool, landscaped garden and spa. Savills (020–7016 3740; www.savills.com)
These country houses are all a stone's throw from Britain's beautiful coastline.
Devon, £1.75 million
Fursdon, Sherford
This pretty Georgian house stands in 12 acres of landscaped gardens and paddocks and comes with a two-bedroom barn conversion, stables and a tennis court. The house is approximately five miles from Kingsbridge and from the sea. Marchand Petit (01548 857588)
Devon, £1.35 million
Croyde Farm, Croyde
Located within the coastal village of Croyde, the farm is made up of two properties (a three-bedroom farmhouse and two-bedroom cottage) and a stone barn with planning permission. Jackson-Stops & Staff (01271 325153)
Cornwall, £850,000
Carwythenack House, Downderry
This house isn’t just near the sea, but on the sea and has views of Looe Bay. It has seven bedrooms, lots of period features and a fine colonial-style verandah. Country & Waterside (01872 240999)
Devon, £785,000 Old Park Hall, Axminster
This Grade II listed house is built in the Scottish Baronial style. It has four bedrooms and a self-contained two-bedroom flat on the second floor. The gardens were originally designed by Eleanor Sinclair-Rhodes and mentioned as worthy of note in the 1913 edition of Robinson’s ‘English Flower Garden’. Jackson-Stops & Staff (01308 423133)
Isle of Wight, £1.45 million
Bank End Farm House, Ventnor
This delightful thatched cottage, constructed in approximately 1750, boasts charming original features and wonderful sea views from its grounds, which extend to approximately four acres. It has four bedrooms, an orchard and a paddock. Watson Bull & Porter (01983 852021)
It also boasted over 20 pages of fabulous premium property which you can view again here.
Highlights include:
Northamptonshire, £5 million
Ashby St. Ledgers
A Grade II listed manor house extensively remodelled by Lutyens, boasting 11 bedrooms, formal gardens, lakes, woodlands and paddocks. Savills (01295 367 302)
Rutland, £2.75 million
Barham Court, Exton
A beautiful 9 bedroom family home in one of Rutland’s prettiest villages, Barham Court was formerly the vicarage to the Exton Park Estate. Strutt & Parker (01858 433 123)
Cambridgeshire, £825,000
Home Farm, Foxton
A splendid Grade II listed period property dating back to 1550 boasting four double bedrooms and and beautiful south facing mature gardens.
Carter Jonas (01223 403 330)
Gloucestershire, £5.65 million
Newton Farm, Roel, Guiting Power
An idyllic north Cotswold Farm offering extensive farming, equestrian and sporting potential.
Knight Frank (01451 600 610)
Suffolk, £24 million
The Rushbrooke Estate, Bury St Edmunds
A highly diverse estate combining residential property, stud and agricultural land.
Bidwells (01223 559 352)
Relaunched on the market through Savills in Guildford (01483 796800) at a guide price of £5.75m, illustrious Woodhatch in Hascombe Road, Godalming, is fittingly described as ‘a country house with stature, symmetry and superb equestrian facilities in the heart of the Surrey Hills’.
Built mainly between the World Wars, the 10,000sq ft house has been sumptuously enlarged and modernised by its current owners. Set in some 40 acres of lovely gardens, orchard, wild meadow and paddocks, the main house has accommodation on three floors, including four reception rooms, an orangery, a kitchen/breakfast room, eight bedrooms and five bath/shower rooms. The international-standard equestrian facilities are spectacular and include an American barn with 14 loose boxes, a huge outdoor sand school, post-and-railed paddocks and a spacious indoor school—the latter hidden from view in a fold of the surrounding hills. And with easy access to the M3 and the national motorway network, there’s no need to worry about having to reverse a massive lorry up a winding lane when you meet a tractor coming the other way, says selling agent Phillippa Dalby-Welsh.
The guide price for Woodhatch is £5.75m. For further information please contact Savills on 01483 796800.
You may never want to move from these two Surrey houses.
Idyllic June Farm near Reigate, is the perfect family home, especially if they’ve got horses.
It’s a sad fact of life these days that few families live in the same house throughout their growing-up years, although the soaring cost of moving suggests that future demographic trends may take us in that direction once again.
‘We moved here in the autumn of 1970 with our two small sons, and had two more after that. They’re all in their forties now and have never known any other family home. They were dismayed when we told them we were selling and we’ll be very sad to leave, but time marches on,’ sighs Patrick Vaughan, the reluctant vendor of enchanting, Grade II-listed June Farm near Reigate, Surrey, which has been launched on the market through the Guildford office of Strutt & Parker (01483 306565) at a guide price of £6 million.
Having had only three owners in the past 100 years or more, June Farm is clearly one of those houses that no one wants to leave. The late Sir Neville Faulks—a distinguished High Court judge and the great-uncle of the writer Sebastian Faulks—who sold the house to Mr Vaughan, lived there for several decades. It was apparently Sir Neville’s predecessor who modernised and renovated the former 17th-century, timber-framed farmstead in the early 20th century, employing one of Sir Edwin Lutyens’s best-known pupils to link the original farmhouse and barn with a central building whose dramatic sweeping roof was a device much favoured by the master.
Mr and Mrs Vaughan have made numerous changes to the house and its 25 acres of grounds over the years, redesigning the bathrooms, adding a large conservatory, moving the sheltered swimming pool and redesigning the immaculate gardens. A gym, hobby room, vegetable garden, greenhouse and tennis court have all been strategically placed within the garden area to allow for privacy and independence whatever the chosen activity of the day.
The building work carried out inside the house, which takes the form of a medieval walled courtyard overlooking ornamental rose gardens and a carp pond, was overseen by Guildford-based architect and buildings historian Richard Greening. The interconnecting drawing room, dining hall and conservatory provide a wonderful entertaining space. The double-height dining hall has a dramatic viewing gallery and all three rooms take full advantage of the glorious south-westerly views. This side of the house has been extended by incorporating the conservatory plus adding onto the billiard room and the master bedroom above.
June Farm’s double-height dining hall makes the most of the views over the lovely gardens. £6m.
June Farm boasts some delightfully quirky corners, including the octagonal study that links the main section of the ground floor to what could be a separate wing with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchenette and a sitting/playroom—ideal in case of a mass invasion by grandchildren, of which the Vaughans currently have 10. In total, the house has five reception rooms, eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms.
Thoroughbred jumping horses are Mrs Vaughan’s passion and the equine accommodation and facilities are equipped to the same high level as every other aspect of June Farm. The equestrian centre comprises 18 loose boxes, a hay barn, a feed room, a tack room, a rug room, a solarium, a horse walker‘, a sand school and seven post-and-railed paddocks.
Apart from watermills, few domestic buildings have survived in England from Saxon times. The Domesday Book records many mills in Surrey, among them Leigh Mill at Godstone (near the Saxon village of Wolcnested), which stands on the banks of the Stratton Brook at the south end of the old village. Corn was last ground here before the First World War and, for almost 900 years, the local inhabitants baked their bread from its flour and fed their animals on its meal. They had little choice in the matter, as they were obliged to have their corn ground at the lord of the manor’s mill, enriching the miller in the process, as a result of which millers were viewed with suspicion by the populace.
In 1349, the village was devastated by the plague and the watermill, by then ‘rickety and ruinous’, remained tenantless and in ruins until 1423 or thereabouts, when it was owned by the St Clair family.
Elegant Leigh Mill House at Godstone has been converted into a private house and meticulously cared for by its present owners. Its 24 acres include a three- acre fishing lake. £2.75m.
According to the diarist John According Evelyn, it was his grandfather, George, who brought gunpowder to Godstone Mills. Until 1562, gunpowder had to be imported into England because no one in the country knew how to make saltpetre, one of its main con- stituents. Then, a German captain, who knew the secret, fled to England to escape religious persecution in Europe, and was paid £300 by Elizabeth I to teach Englishmen the art. Within a year, gunpowder was being produced in the country and, soon, George was making gunpowder for the government at Godstone.
The mills were eventually closed in 1636 and corn was again ground at Leigh Mill in competition with the local windmills, but it outlasted them all. Although the iron water-wheel no longer turns, there is nothing dilapidated about the present 18th-century building, built of red brick and white weatherboarding under a mansard tiled roof, which has been charmingly converted to a private house and meticulously cared for by its present owners, who have lived there for 35 years.
For sale through Knight Frank in Sevenoaks (01732 744477) at a guide price of £2.75m, Leigh Mill House, listed Grade II, is an elegant country house set in more than 24 acres of manicured gardens, grounds and paddocks, including a three-acre fishing lake, with a one-bedroom lake cottage.
The main house comprises some 5,700sq ft of living accommodation, including three main reception rooms, a study/library, a kitchen/breakfast room, two large bedroom suites, four further bedrooms and two further bathrooms.
Country-house owners are throwing out oil-guzzling boilers in favour of water as a source of heat—and you don’t need to live on the Itchen to do it, as Julie Harding discovers.
Avington Park in Hampshire is toastier than ever after replacing its four ancient oil boilers with
a water-source heat pump, which works using a nearby tributary of the River Itchen.
Ed Davey has been championing water as a renewable energy source. Launching an interactive online map last month, which reveals the energy contained in 4,000 UK rivers, estuaries, canals and coastal sites, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change said: ‘We need to make the most of the vast amount of clean, renewable heat that lays dormant and unused in our rivers, lakes and seas.’
Battersea Power Station, the venue for his announcement, was selected because it had just appointed SSE to carry out a water-source heat-pump (WSHP) feasibility study to look into connecting the new 4,000-home, shop and office complex with the River Thames. However, Mr Davey is by no means touting a new idea. Numerous estate owners across Britain are already basking in the reliable heat supplied by WSHPs and the icing on the eco-friendly cake is dramatically lower fossil-fuel bills.
Charlie and Sarah Bullen have a WSHP system at their Georgian manor, Avington Park in Hampshire, a popular film location and wedding and corporate-function venue. Like most historic country houses, Avington wasn’t renowned for its toastiness and friends knew to wear extra layers when visiting. Today, the grand rooms are comfortably warm around the clock and the ultra-efficient water system can supply seven showers at a time.
‘Old houses weren’t made for warmth, so it’s very exciting to find Avington toasty,’ says Mrs Bullen, who realised three years ago that her four ancient oil boilers, the youngest being 18 and the oldest 40, needed replacing. An article in The Telegraph, in which the Hon Simon Howard waxed lyrical about Castle Howard’s 200kW underwater ground-source heat system, prompted her to appoint Ecovision (01666 501580; www.ecovision.com) to install Avington’s WSHP, utilising the nearby tributary of the River Itchen.
A total of 24 200m (650ft) loops were sunk and then filled with non-toxic propylene glycol and a Dimplex 130kW WSHP was connected to the existing radiators. The whole package cost £125,000, but the Bullens, whose oil bills were once a hefty £18,000 a year, are hoping to recoup the outlay in 6–10 years via the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
‘When a client has a big body of water, it makes sense to use it,’ says Ecovision’s operations director Neil Otter. ‘For people looking for a constant lower-level heat, the system is perfect.’
WSHPs were first mooted as an idea by William Thomson, Baron Kelvin, as far back as 1852. During the 1940s, the UK’s first commercial WSHP was installed at Duke’s Wharf in Norwich, where a modern version is about to be reinstated at the 154-residential-unit complex using water from the adjacent River Wensum.
Glasgow-based Star Renewable Energy (0141–638 7916; http://neatpump. com)—which sprung to prominence when helping to heat the homes, offices, schools and a hospital in Drammen, Norway, with WSHP technology—is now assessing UK local-authority housing for its suitability for water-source heating.
‘If you’re connected to the grid, you’ll consume 50% less primary fuel and the cost is also 80% lower than burning gas,’ says Star’s director Dave Pearson. ‘As long as the water doesn’t freeze, WSHPs work well and most rivers in Britain only fall below 4 ̊C for 3%–4% of the year. We’ve even proved that large-system WSHPs can heat up to 90 ̊C, allowing buildings of any size to use them.’
But WSHPs are not just suitable for vast country estates, they fit smaller houses, too. Kensa heat pumps have been installed in a variety of locations, from a renovated watermill to Enstone Manor, a historic Oxfordshire farmhouse. Grove Springs, an ‘eco’ house in Drayton, was recently fitted with two pumps by Martin Buffery’s company Eco Heat, one for the underfloor heating system and one for hot water, utilising nearby spring-fed fish lakes.
‘We’re now looking to introduce this technology to an older brick-built country house that’s been converted into apart- ments,’ says Mr Buffery. ‘It doesn’t matter how big the house is and WSHPs are suitable for new or old buildings, although definitely with the proviso that older ones need to be reinsulated to minimise heat loss.’
Did you know?
A heat pump works by conveying and upgrading the heat from a low-temp- erature source, such as water, air or the ground
A heat pump will need to use a fossil fuel—electric- ity or gas—to extract heat, but it’s the renewable resource that is enhancing the performance
You don’t need to live next door to a river to have a water-source heat pump. You may be able to dig a borehole to access water
There are two main types of WSHP—open loop and closed loop. Avington Park’s system is an example of a closed loop, with the pro- pylene glycol contained within the loops extracting heat from the water and releasing it into the heat pump. In an open-loop system, water from an aquifer/well or large stream or pond is extracted and then fed directly into the heat pump, where the energy raised through compression is extracted as heat
You may need planning permission to fit a heat pump on a listed building or if you live in a conservation area
Buckinghamshire, £3.95 million
Berkshire, £2.75 million
Warwickshire, £POA
Cheshire, £POA
Norfolk, £800,000
