With the uncertainty of the General Election now over, vendors are keen to come to the market in the region.
The immediate reaction to the outcome of the General Election among country-house owners in the West Country has been ‘a noticeable sense of relief,’ says Martin Lamb of Savills in Exeter, who has been fielding calls from new prospective vendors ever since the result was announced. Among the first to translate talk into action were the owners of the four-square, Georgian Great Weeke House (Fig 2) at Chagford, Devon, on the north-eastern edge of Dartmoor National Park, which launches through Savills (01392 455755) in this week’s Country Life at a guide price of £1.65 million.
Handily located a mile from Chagford (voted Best rural place to live in Britain 2015 by The Sunday Times) and 20 miles from Exeter, Great Weeke House has far-reaching views towards Drogo Castle to the north and the rugged Dartmoor landscape to the west. The reassuringly solid, three-bedroom house, set in three acres of paddocks and woodland, with landscaped gardens designed in 2014 by Chelsea gold-medal winner Hugo Bugg, has been more or less rebuilt in recent years, with the installation of new heating, wiring and plumbing systems, new flooring, a new kitchen, new bathrooms and a newly built double garage with a self-contained flat above.
Fig 2: Georgian Great Weeke House, at Chagford, Devon. £1.65m
Three-storey Georgian houses are rare in Devon and, after 42 years in the same family, handsome, Grade II-listed Uplowman House (Fig 1), five miles from Tiverton, needs some modernisation, ‘but its style, position and privacy will make this a very worthwhile investment,’ says Mr Lamb, who quotes a guide price of £1.5m. The imposing, 6,770sq ft house, which stands in 18 acres of lovely gardens, parkland and paddocks on the edge of unspoilt Uplowman village, was originally the rectory, owned and improved by a succession of wealthy rectors before being sold off by the Church in 1948.
In 1952, Uplowman House was bought by Denys Rhodes and his wife, the Hon Margaret Rhodes, a first cousin of The Queen and a lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Mother. Mrs Rhodes grew up with the royal princesses and they were frequent visitors to Uplowman House, where the guest bedroom is still called The Queen Mother’s Room.
Described by Pevsner as a ‘regular three-storey late 18th century stuccoed range overlooking a pretty valley east of the church’, the house has a drawing room, dining room, study and kitchen/breakfast room on the ground floor; four bedrooms, three bath/shower rooms and a one-bedroom flat on the first floor; and a kitchen/breakfast room, four bedrooms, two bath/shower rooms and a games room on the second floor. A range of period outbuildings provides storage, stabling and garaging, and previously had planning consent for partial conversion to residential use.
The gardens and grounds are beautifully laid out, with sweeping lawns broken by paths, shrubs and mature trees, including some splendid cop- per-beech, oak and chestnut trees. A croquet lawn in front of the house slopes down to the swimming pool with its secluded paved surround— the perfect spot for summer drinks or barbecues. The land is divided into four main paddocks and is ideal for horses or young stock.
Fig 3: Avishays House at Chaffcombe, Somerset, £5.25m.
Also launched by Savills (01392 455755) in this week’s Country Life —at a guide price of £5.25m for the entire 91-acre parkland estate—is historic, Grade II*-listed Avishays House (Fig 3) at Chaffcombe, south Somerset, two miles from Chard and 15 miles south-east of Taunton. Known in medieval times as Avenesleigh, and Avishays by 1530, the estate was owned by the Browne family from 1559 until 1697, when robert Browne sold it to his long-term tenant, Elias Sealy.
It eventually passed by marriage down the Sealy female line to William Elton, who sold it to Edward Clarke, a Chard solicitor, in 1859, after which it changed hands at regular intervals. In 1990, its present owner, a leading Dutch businessman, bought Avishays from Nicholas de Savary and carried on where Mr de Savary left off, building up a famous private shoot, mainly over land leased from the neighbouring Cricket St Thomas estate, the rights to which may be acquired by separate negotiation.
Fig 3: Avishays House at Chaffcombe, Somerset, has a dramatic staircase. £5.25m.
He also lavished considerable resources on improving and maintaining Avishays House, whose Georgian façade faces west over sweeping lawns and parkland, although the main approach is from the east and is 17th century in style. The door opens into the impressive full-height hall with its dramatic imperial staircase. The panelled drawing room to the left overlooks the park, with the library on the west side opening onto the garden; the pine-panelled dining room has its own special charm.
There are seven first-floor bed- rooms, six en-suite, and a separate bathroom. A half-landing on the back stairs leads to a luxurious leisure suite with a 42ft swimming pool, gym, sauna and steam room.
The estate, which includes seven further houses, is for sale as a whole or in eight lots and is being offered on a turnkey basis, with a full inventory of the fine art, furniture, effects, chattels and machinery currently housed on the property.