THE EXPERT COLLECTOR Munstead Wood contents sale

Left e arched replace in the hall of the house, image courtesy of Knight Frank

Below left A replace at Munstead Wood, taken from Houses and Gardens by E.L. Lutyens 1916, by Lawrence Weaver (1876-1930), image public domain

Right e drawing room at Munstead Wood, image courtesy of Knight Frank

Below right Rosa Munstead Wood bred by David C. H. Austin named after the garden designer Gertrude Jekyll’s home, image Shutterstock e house was built in a U-shape around a courtyard open on its north side. e west wing originally contained Jekyll’s workshops, while the east side contained its service wing. On the house’s south elevation, the tiled roof extends down to the top of the ground oor and is broken by two large gables.

Long Gallery. e interior of the house contains a number of innovative designs by Lutyens and Jekyll –including the window furniture, doors, replaces and furniture.

Jekyll had de nite views on what she wanted for her new home but lacked the skills to bring them to life. In Lutyens she saw a talent she could mould and soon entrusted him with the design of Munstead Wood, the home she would live in till her death in 1932.

e Hut

e Hut was the rst building Lutyens designed on the property for his patron in 1894. It was intended as a workshop but also had the dual pupose of allowing Jekyll to keep a weather eye on the progress of the main house.

But when her mother died in 1895 and her brother and his family took up residence in Munstead House, Jekyll moved into the workshop-cum-outhouse, which she described as “tiny” in House and Garden in 1900.

Jekyll mentions the progress of Munstead Wood in her books Wood and Garden in 1899, which charts a year of owers and planting, and Home and Garden a year later, the rst chapter of which describes the building of the house. Jekyll liked to watch thunderstorms and Lutyens designed the under House in 1895, as well as Munstead Orchard which was designed by Lutyens for Jekyll’s Swiss gardener, Albert Zumbach, in 1898-1899.

Arts and crafts

e building was constructed using Bargate stone lined inside with brick, following arts and crafts principles of using local materials and local craftsmen ( omas Underwood) but combined with a more modernist approach (for example, the casement windows which are set ush with the outside walls).

e house has long roofs of clay tiles and prominent brick chimneys. Inside, Lutyens’ chose solid oak throughout the house (using wooden pegs rather than

Memorial stone

Jekyll lived at Munstead Wood until her death in 1932 and is buried in the church at Busbridge – only a few hundred yards away. Her memorial was designed by Lutyens, by then her long-term collaborator and friend.

After her death, Jekyll’s nephew, Francis, lived on at the property, during which time he wrote his aunt’s biography, based on her papers and drawings.

In 1948, buildings to the north and west of Munstead Wood, including Jekyll’s former gazebo, potting shed, gardener’s cottage and stables, were sold o and converted to four privately owned properties.

Francis Jekyll continued to live at e Hut until his own death in 1965. e upcoming sale of Munstead Wood follows the death in March this year, aged 97, of Lady Andolyn (Marjorie) Clark, who bought the house in 1987 with her late husband, Bob, later Sir Robert Clark.