For sale: country house with good local shopping

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Stone Castle
Stone Castle

To call Stone Castle a country house is pushing it really.  The house, built on the site of the castle where William the Conquerer signed a peace treaty with the men of Kent in 1067, is now besieged by property development which has marched to within 70ft of the front door.  Current owners, Land Securities, have used the house as a venue for conferences and weddings.

The house is perched on an outcrop high above the old quarry which now houses the vast Bluewater shopping centre. The house has a tower dating from the 14th-century but the majority of the house is late Georgian, built in 1825.  The house now only has 2.5-acres of gardens but luckily the developments are to the rear of the property leaving lofty views from the lawns.

The house is being auctioned on 5 November with a guide price of £750,000 – but expect to spend even more to make it a home.

Full story: ‘STONE: Hidden castle from medieval era up for auction‘ [News Shopper]

Ouch – Melville House sold for £1.6m; down from £4.5m

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Melville House, Fife
Melville House, Fife

In a cautionary tale of how ambitious restorations can come unstuck, Melville House has been sold for a ‘knock-down’ £1.6m by agents Knight Frank.  The 17th-century Palladian mansion boasted 11 bedrooms, seven receptions plus stables, a tennis court and even a cricket pitch.  It was built in 1697 for George, the 1st Earl of Melville, then secretary of state for Scotland by James Smith.  The 1st Earl died a few years after his creation was finished but the house remained in the Melville family until it was sold – along with the contents – in 1949.

It had been requisitioned by the Army as a barracks during the war (the probable damage from which led to the sale) and then became a hospital and subsequently a residential school before being sold to a developer for £400,000.  It was then sold on again in 2003 for £1m and the new owner then spent over £2m on restoration.  The latest owner has secured a bargain – here’s hoping it’s now in safe hands.

Full story: ‘Repossessed mansion sold for ‘knockdown’ price‘ [stv]

Odd goings-on at Oddington

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The Sunday Times reports that permission has been granted to Sir Anthony Bamford to demolish the lodge at Oddington House.  Sir Anthony bought the Grade-II listed house as a £10m wedding gift to his son – who decided to decline (wonder what else was on the wedding list!).  Rather than sell the house it appears the JCB tycoon has grand plans – but looking at a photograph of the lodge it is obviously a substantial and attractive building  so one hopes that the report is wrong as this sets a rather worrying precedent.

Mentmore’s London sibling for sale

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Mentmore Towers
Mentmore Towers

Simon Halabi’s original plan was to develop a super-luxury, six-star club experience with members enjoying country facilities at Mentmore Towers, in Buckinghamshire, with a London base at the In and Out Club on Piccadilly.  However, the recent global crisis seemed to put the plans on hold and concerns had been raised (including in comments on earlier blog post: ‘Simon Halabi and Mentmore Towers’ – 17 July) as to whether sufficient maintenence was being undertaken at both locations.

The master plan appears to have now been changed with the news that the In and Out Club has been put up for sale.  Included in the deal are various neighbouring buildings which give the potential for the sale to raise up to £250m. It’s not known what Mr Halabi’s plans are but one can only hope that the money raised will benefit Mentmore Towers, preserving and protecting this important country house.

Full story: ‘Mayfair’s In and Out Club on market‘ [Financial Times]

Viewhill House to be demolished

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Local Inverness councillors have managed to cut off their nose to spite their architectural face  – and claim it’s a triumph of cosmetic surgery.  Viewhill House (mentioned in this blog on 13 Oct) has been approved for demolition and will almost certainly be built over – another important and interesting piece of Inverness architecture will be lost forever.  Meanwhile the builders have been claiming that it was the objections of Historic Scotland which have prevented the restoration of the house.  What they mean is that they haven’t been given free reign to do as they wish and now they’re having a tantrum.  The worst developers are prone to claiming that their vandalism is ‘necessary’ to secure jobs/investment/tourism/etc but usually the price is paid in lost architectural heritage.  Viewhill House is another casualty.  Give it a few hundred years and maybe the developers will hold a party when they get rid of the last of these historical speed bumps.

Full story: ‘Heritage in danger of crumbling away‘ [Inverness Courier] / ‘Quango accused of causing failure of three businesses‘ [The Press and Journal]