for sale

Lease one of the best Charles II houses in England – but there’s a catch

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat2 Comments
Ashdown House, Oxfordshire (Image: wikipedia)

If an almost perfect example of a Grade-I listed, Charles II house set in beautiful protected parkland but only an hour from London was available for £4.5m you might think there was a typo.  However, it’s true but there are one or two minor catches.

Firstly, Ashdown House , built in 1661, is owned by the National Trust so your £4.5m only gets you a 60-year lease (or £205 a day if that’s easier).  Secondly, because it’s National Trust, the house is also open to visitors every weekend April to October (approx 2,000 last year) so that they can see the impressive staircase and ascend the 100 stairs to the viewing platform with it’s fine views over the Berkshire Downs.

So, basically, this is possibly the finest second home in the country – although rather than use it at weekends you may wish to be there during the week. The current owner, Mr Max Ulfane, a businessman and well-known philanthropist, has hosted such high-profile events as fund-raising receptions for the Ashmolean Museum.  Alternatively it might be possible to vary the lease to at least exclude some weekends – especially as the lease was offered with the same terms at the same price in May 2009.

*Update* The Sunday Times today (24 January) says that a 83-year lease is available for £5.3m (£175 per day for anyone putting it on expenses) and that the famous artist Anish Kapoor is planning to take a look and it has already been seen by several others including a top executive at Puma.

*Update* – Sept 2010 – The remaining lease has been taken by Pete Townshend of The Who.

Full story: ‘A grand Charles II house fit for a queen‘ [The Times]

Pell Well Hall finally sold – but will buyer finish the job?

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Pell Well Hall (Image from Strutt & Parker)

After abandonment, institutional use, and a serious fire, there is finally some good news for Pell Well Hall.  It’s reported that an offer has been accepted and finally the house can move to what will hopefully be the final stages of restoration.   Originally with an asking price of £750,000 the offer accepted was £550,000 – but with estimated costs of between £2m – £5m to complete the restoration.

With such a huge project and the need for significant financing, the hope is that the new purchaser will complete the work sooner rather than later.  However, after neglect and fire the original interior has been entirely lost meaning that in many senses this is a recreation rather than a strict restoration.  Perhaps leaving some evidence of this sad state would be an honest approach – and heaven forbid that the interior ends up as just some identikit footballers Surrey mansion.  This a special house and deserves a careful hand on the design and budget.

Full story: ‘New owner for historic hall as offer accepted‘ [Shropshire Star]

‘Beauty – but at what price?‘ [Daily Telegraph]

Ranton Abbey to be resurrected – or replaced?

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat9 Comments
Ranton Abbey, Staffordshire (Image: Knight Frank)

When the historic Ranton Abbey was accidentally set alight and gutted in 1942 by the Dutch troops stationed there, it was likely that it would go the way of many other houses and simply be demolished. Yet the Earls of Lichfield, who owned the 300-acre estate, simply left it and focused on turning the land into a first-class shoot, allowing the house to slowly collapse, leaving just the ivy-clad walls visible today.

The death of the 5th Earl, the famous photographer Patrick Lichfield, in 2005, prompted the family to look again at the estate.  However, rather than simply sell it they decided to obtain planning permission for the building of a new house and have now put both for sale at £3.5m.  Although an obvious course of action, the choices made seem a bit odd.  The new house is strongly Palladian in design but the projections produced so far have it sited so close to the red-brick shell of the old house, and the grey stone of the church, that it seems to have almost landed there by accident.  It certainly does not seem to appear at home in this location and appears almost arbitrary, resulting in three large architectural elements fighting for prominence in a small area.

As the respected architectural writer Marcus Binney says in the ‘Bricks and Mortar’ supplement of Friday’s Times newspaper, surely the better option would be to restore the original house.  This would bring back the balance which existed before and remove at once the obvious difficulties of leaving the old house as a giant garden ornament to compete with the new house.  Whoever buys the estate and planning permission will hopefully think again about this scheme and look seriously at restoration.

Full story: ‘Historic homes: restoration dilemma‘ [The Times]

Property details: ‘Ranton Abbey, Staffordshire‘ [Knight Frank]

Moor Place goes to second viewings

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat1 Comment
Moor Place, Hertfordshire (Image: Strutt & Parker)

Agents from Strutt & Parker have reported that the stunning Grade-I listed Moor Place in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, is receiving second viewings – though I doubt anyone would spend the offers-over-£17m asking price for the house and 781-acre estate without going back a few more times.

The beautiful red-brick house dates from 1779 with later additions, which combine to create an almost perfect view of a Georgian country house.  The house was built for James Gordon by the relatively unknown archictect Robert Mitchell who encased the originally Elizabethan house in an elegant facade with the south wing being rebuilt in 1907 by Sir Ernest Newton.  Inside a fine cantilevered stone staircase leads up to a master suite and five further bedrooms  on the first floor with five more on the floor above.  Downstairs the elegant staircase hall leads to a library, dining room and sunny drawing room. More accomodation is available in the 1886 Norman Shaw west wing.  All in all, this is a true trophy estate and the proximity to London means that the price tag is, judging by the viewings, not unrealistic.

Property details: ‘Moor Place, Hertfordshire‘ [Strutt & Parker]

House of the week for sale: Abbey House, Dorset

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Abbey House, Dorset (Image: savills.com)

The New Year period can be a very quiet time for the sale of country houses.  This can often be easily seen in the much-thinner-than-usual selection of property adverts at the front of Country Life magazine, the weekly bible of the country house.  However, someone has obviously decided to steal a march on the spring rush by putting a stunning home on the market; Abbey House in Witchampton, Dorset.

The Grade-II* listed property was originally built in the early 16th century and is thought to be the first brick-built house in Dorset.  Formerly known as Witchampton Manor, it has 5 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms (you might want to do something about that), plus the usual selection of outbuildings. The 6.8-acres of beautiful gardens also includes river frontage – perhaps an eco-alternative to the swimming pool.

This is a jaw-droppingly lovely house and I suspect with the currently dearth of decent larger homes on the market the owners may well have timed the sale very well as the bonus money from the City looks to find a country hole to escape to.

More details: ‘Abbey House, Dorset‘ [savills.com]