national trust

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]

Castle Drogo under seige – from rain

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat1 Comment
Castle Drogo, Devon (Image: wikipedia)

The last castle to be built in the UK, Castle Drogo, occupies a commanding position far up the Teign Gorge in Devon.  Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built in the 1910s and 1920s and finally finished in 1931 for the wealthy businessman Julius Drewe, the Grade-I listed house is a brilliant modern interpretation of a castle combined with the comforts of a country house.

It was also one of the last houses to be built entirely in granite, the local stone of the area.  The grey stone and the clever massing of towers and wings give the house a solid, impregnable air but the house is under attack from the elements, with rain penetration causing serious concern.  The many flat roofs hidden behind the battlements started causing problems only two years after the house was finished and ever since it has been a constant battle to keep the house watertight.

House manager Bryher Mason told BBC News: “I wouldn’t be surprised to walk into a room one morning and find a section of the ceiling having fallen in because the metalwork in the ceiling has failed.”

The National Trust, who have cared for it since it was handed to them in 1974, have instigated a restoration and repair programme on the many roofs, which will include the replacement of all 13,000 window panes, and has been estimated to cost £10m, and will be completed by 2016.

Full story: ‘Leaking castle needs £10m repairs‘ [bbc.co.uk]

Seaton Deleval Hall nationalised

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Seaton Deleval Hall

It’s been announced that the National Trust has today succeeded in it’s campaign to acquire Seaton Deleval Hall, regarded as one of the finest Baroque houses in England.  However, the success in securing the future of the hall has again come about as a result the damage caused by inheritage tax leading to treasures – usually art or antiques, but sometimes buildings – being taken into ‘national’ ownership rather than remaining in private hands.

Seaton Deleval Hall was built for Admiral George Deleval by Sir John Vanbrugh and was completed in 1871.  Vanbrugh’s other notable commissions included Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace.  However the house suffered a devastating fire in 1822 which gutted the central block which remained as a shell until 1980 when the 22nd Baron Hastings (Edward Delaval Henry Astley) partially restored it.

The 22nd Baron and his wife both died in 2007 triggering a significant inheritance tax bill.  It was this that led to the house being put up for sale and the start of  a fund-raising campaign to save it for the nation.  The house and 400 surrounding acres have now been accepted in lieu of £1.7m of tax (the first time since Calke Abbey in 1984) with the contents covering a further £3.2m.

The National Trust have generously contributed £6.9m to the endowment with a further £3m raised to cover other costs associated with opening it to the public.  The first visitors are expected to arrive in April 2010, part of an estimated 50,000 a year who will be able to see one of Vanbrugh’s masterpieces.

So whilst there is a success in that the house will now be secure and not carved up into flats, it’s still a shame that another part of our national architectural heritage is denied its primary function of being a home.  Inheritance tax has a pernicious creep – it can’t be avoided and just results in each generation selling off more historic artefacts to fund government budgets.  Give it a few hundred years and one conclusion could be that a majority of the crowning jewels of our artistic heritage including buildings, art and antiques could well end up being owned by a national organisation, be it the National Trust or the galleries.  For me, the art treasures of a nation are best located in the houses and families for whom they were produced or bought for, rather than part of a vast national archive, only brought out once a decade or less.  Inheritance tax makes a relatively small contribution to the national budget but it does have a disproportionate impact on our cultural heritage.

Full story: ‘National Trust saves stately home‘ [BBC News]

‘National Trust takes control of Seaton Delaval Hall‘ [The Art Newspaper]

Scottish National Trust saga continues

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The sad decline of the National Trust for Scotland continues with the news that they are to vacate their offices in the historic centre of Edinburgh for an anonymous office block.

The financial mis-management that has beset the Trust has led to the closure of some of it’s houses and drastic cuts within the rest of it’s operations so this may be seen as a logical step.  However, as the project to convert the buildings for their HQ was funded by the National Lottery, as much as 70% of the hoped-for selling price of £10m will have to be paid back.

Full story: ‘National Trust loses its own stately home – and faces bill for millions‘ [Scotsman]

National Trust loses its own stately home – and faces bill for millions