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The economics of selling a country house: Kiddington Hall

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat9 Comments
Kiddington Manor, Oxfordshire (Image: Country Life)

An article regarding the sale of Kiddington Hall in the Financial Times has highlighted that the asking price of a country house when put on the market is not the amount which will end up in the buyer’s pocket.

When grade-II listed Kiddington Hall was launched on the market in September 2009, the price tag of £42m reflected its status as one of the most important houses to be offered since the sale of Easton Neston in 2004.  The main house was built in 1673 and sits in the centre of it’s 2,000-acre estate in Oxfordshire, with parkland designed by ‘Capability’ Brown. The house was remodelled in the 1850s by Sir Charles Barry in his trademark Italianate style which included the creation of a large courtyard and extensives terraces in the gardens.

The beautifully elegant house is being sold by Erik Maurice Robson, whose father bought the house for £115,000 in 1950. The sale was court ordered to fund his £8m divorce settlement, and valued his freehold interest in the house and estate at just £16m. This article states that this value is what remains after “excluding furniture, capital gains tax and sale costs”.  Mr Robson has now asked the court to reduce the value of the settlement as, due to a fall in property values, his interest is now worth only £13.18m.  This seems a remarkably small amount to be able to realise from such a high asking price and perhaps emphasises that a country house is not the pot of gold many imagine it to be.

Full story: ‘Stately home at heart of divorce appeal‘ [Financial Times]

Lytham Hall restoration to secure future

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat1 Comment
Lytham Hall, Lancashire (Image: Lytham Hall blog)

To secure the future of what is considered to be one of the finest Georgian houses in Lancashire, the owners of  Lytham Hall have unveiled an ambitious £5m restoration plan.

The house was built for Thomas Clifton by the famous architect John Carr of York between 1752-64 and incorporated elements of the existing Jacobean house.  It remained the Clifton family home until the 1960s when it was finally sold to Guardian Royal Exchange Insurance who owned it until 1997, and is now run by Heritage Trust for the North West on a 99-year lease on behealf of the owners, Lytham Town Trust.

The £5m plans are the first part of an eventual £10m plan to upgrade every aspect of the house and estate to provide holiday accomodation, a tea room and conference facilities.  Although a shame that the house is no longer a home, it’s encouraging to find plans which respect the history and architectural importance of the house as they seek ways to ensure a secure future.

Full story: ‘New lease of life for historic hall‘ [Lytham St Anne’s Express]

English Heritage grant helps towards Sockburn Hall restoration

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat1 Comment
Sockburn Hall, County Durham (Image: Sockburn Hall Project)

A project to restore the long-neglected Sockburn Hall has received a boost with a grant for £37,000 from English Heritage.  This is in addition to the £38,000 it was also awarded last year as part of a long-term project to make the house watertight, eliminate the dry rot and then restore the interiors.

The grade-II* listed Sockburn Hall was originally built in 1834 in a neo-Jacobean style for the Blackett family on the site of a lost Jacobean house built for the Conyers family which had vanished by 1823.  The house became notorious in 2000 when the sisters who lived there were prosecuted for keeping animals in squalid conditions in the various rooms of the house. Listed on the English Heritage ‘Buildings at Risk’ Register it had long been a cause for concern as water penetration and vegetation growth threatened the structure of the house.

The family have taken on the house as a restoration project to avoid selling it and risking it being developed and have created a small group of volunteers who are valiantly clearing the grounds and restoring features whilst specialist firms are working on the house. The grant in 2009 enabled emergency repair work to be undertaken on the roofs and guttering to remove the temporary tin sheeting and to ensure good drainage to help stop water ingress into the building.  This project will take years but hopefully, one day, the family will be able to move back into this house and make it a home again.

You can follow the progress of the work either on their website or via the Sockburn Hall Facebook group where you can also volunteer to help out.

A house and it’s garden to be reunited? Leonardslee, Sussex

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Leonardslee House, Sussex (Image: tom@picasaweb)

Often the course of the country estate over the last 100 years has been for the land to be gradually sold off, starting with the outlying areas, and moving closer until just the house and it’s immediate gardens remain intact.  At Leonardslee in Sussex the process was eventually taken one step further with the house being sold off.  This, however, may about to be reversed.

Sir Edmund Loder bought the manor house and 225-acre gardens from his inlaws in 1889 and soon opened them to the public.  Over the next five generations, the Loder family added to the planting and landscaping to create what is now one of the only 163 grade-I listed gardens in the country.  Despite the family still owning the gardens the grade-II listed Italianate manor house, built in 1853 and featuring a 900 sq ft central hall decorated with Ionic columns, was sold off separately in the 1980s and became offices.  The gardens grew in reputation so it was something of a shock when in April 2008 it was announced that they were being put up for sale by Robin Loder for £5m through the estate agency Savills.  Cleverly, the company who owned the house also announced they were open to offers at around £3.25m for the house.

The Times is now reporting that after nearly two years on the market, the gardens have been sold to a private businessman and are likely to close to the public.  They are also reporting that the house may also be under offer at £2.75m to the same businessman giving him a perfect  opportunity to once again recreate a stunning small estate which, with the addition of the house, could be worth in the region of £10m.  Though a sad day for the many garden-lovers who have made many a pilgrimage to wander among the wallabies, it’s an encouraging reversal of the trend for houses to lose the control of the landscape which so often perfectly frames them.

Full story: ‘Leonardslee Gardens to close to the public after being sold‘ [The Times]

‘Aristocracy is dead’ says Duke of Devonshire *Updated*

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Chatsworth House, Derbyshire (Image: wikipedia)

Although the country houses are often impressive in themselves there is always heightened interest when they are associated with a grand title.  Unfortunately the 12th Duke of Devonshire, in an article in today’s Sunday Times magazine, believes that the concept of aristocracy is dead and that if the current government succeed in removing the last remaining hereditary peers he will take this as a sign from the public and would be willing to give up his own.

To me this seems very sad as his own title comes with 300 years of history and in some ways it’s not his to declaim as his heirs may be willing to keep it going.  The family seat of Chatworth in Derbyshire is synonymous with the Devonshire title following the recent films and books and to lose it is as much a commercial loss as it is one of heritage.  Perhaps he might consider just not using it and placing it in abeyance until his death and then it can be used or not as his son wishes. I can’t believe that the current legislation is a fair reflection of the will of the people who generally have a greater respect for the nations heritage and traditions than those currently in charge.

Full story: ‘Aristocracy is dead, says Chatsworth’s duke‘ [Sunday Times]

Update issued on behalf of the Duke of Devonshire  [22 Feb 2010]

“Sir

Further to reports in the press I would like to clarify my position on the use of the Devonshire title. Should hereditary peers be removed from the House of Lords I would indeed strongly consider dropping the public use of my title, as I believe that I would have to consider and respond to any future democratic mandate against hereditary peerage. However, my principle duty will continue to be to preserve and enhance Chatsworth itself for future generations and I remain immensely respectful of my Devonshire predecessors who have bequeathed us this very special place.

Yours,

Stoker Devonshire

The Duke of Devonshire, KVCO, CVE, DL

Chatsworth, Bakewell, Derbyshire”