Smaller country houses
Elizabeth II: the style icon
Winning your stripes: the art of lawnmowing
Below decks on RY Britannia and a Fabergé mystery solved
Property news
Edited by Julie Harding
Snowdon’s save is now transformed
ST KATHARINE BY THE TOWER was designed for the dockmaster who oversaw the commercial port until 1968, when it became the first of London’s docks to close. At the time, Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, campaigned to save the property from demolition and it was converted into a private house.
The current owners, Viscountess Cobham and the former politician David Mellor, have carried out substantial renovations during their tenure, including merging the attached Toll House, the former dock office, and redesigning the property in the style of Sir John
Soane. Built directly into the dock walls, it is surrounded by water on two sides and offers uninterrupted views of Tower Bridge and the Shard beyond. The grounds were designed and planted with input from the landscape designer Todd Longstaffe-Gowan in a formal country-house-garden style.
Samuel Richardson of Carter Jonas says that it will appeal to a ‘discerning buyer [searching for] a statement property, in a globally renowned city, with an iconic vista and almost unrivalled security’. The five-bedroom property is on the market for offers in excess of £15 million (020–7493 0676).
My first house in the country Isabel Bannerman
Where was your first ‘country’ house?
Set in 12 acres in Chippenham, Wiltshire
A quick description
A Grade I-listed Baroque mansion built in 1727 with a Bath-stone façade
How did you find it?
My husband Julian bought it before he met me in 1981. It was derelict and boarded up. He had a friend living nearby who spotted it, but whose wife refused to let him buy it— so he passed it on
What made him buy it?
Julian thought it was too tempting to ignore—it was grand, untouched and cheap
Favourite aspect of the house
It had fabulous interiors, including the most incredible mahogany staircase, where we were jokily blessed during the wedding party that we held before the project to restore the house got under way
Best memory of it
Apart from coming back from the hospital with my first baby, probably our wedding. We had 150 guests
A Messel masterpiece
BUILT in the early 1700s and remodelled in the early 1970s by the theatre designer Oliver Messel, Fustic House in Barbados is back on the market. Last seen in these pages in 2012, the 13,000sq ft property, which sits within an 11-acre plot, has been launched with Knight Frank for $22.5 million (about £16.7 million).
Sustainable living on Skye
Scotland’s most visited island offers some of the most attractive landscapes in the British Isles. Enjoying views towards the Cuillin mountains, this new-build house at Drynoch has six bedrooms and bathrooms laid out over two floors. The house is timber-frame and designed by the Skye-based businesses Rural Design Architects and builder James MacQueen. It comes with an air-source heat pump, underfloor heating and a private water supply. Offers over £560,000 (01478 497880).
and no facilities. There was no electricity. Everyone dressed in Baroque clothes and had a picnic of bread, pâté and cherries
Biggest mistake
Housebuilders offered Julian the walled garden for £1 if he would agree to them constructing two or three houses on the edge of the land. He refused and regretted it, as we could have made it into a wonderful garden
Anything unusual about it
The setting. In the early 18th century, it must have been fun overlooking the A4. By the time Julian bought it, it was marooned on an island between two main
roads and we had to build up mounds to disguise them
Biggest indulgence
Using traditional distempers on the walls and linseed-oil paint for the woodwork. We bought them from Potmolen Paint in Wiltshire
What happened to it?
We sold it to a judge and bought Hanham Court in Bristol Isabel Bannerman is a garden designer, writer and photographer (www.bannermandesign.com). An online course Creating a Romantic English Country Garden with Isabel and Julian Bannerman is available through Create Academy (www.createacademy.com)
by Arabella Youens
Compiled
What’s hot…
Country-house appetite
As long as vendors and agents adopt what Philip Harvey of buying agency
Property Vision describes as a ‘datadriven and pragmatic approach to valuation and pricing’, the market should regain a level of normality not seen since before the pandemic.
Literary luxury
The Duke of Devonshire and bookseller Heywood Hill have been asked to curate a 1,000-volume reading library, inspired by the Pavlovsk Palace in St Petersburg, Russia, for a new luxury development, 1 Mayfair, London W1.
… and what’s not
Housing hopefuls
People aged 40 and under own only 10% of UK housing wealth, whereas those aged 60 and over hold £2.92 trillion in primary residences alone, which is a record high, according to research by Savills. Barracks rejig
Amid a market shift and waning appetite from buyers, luxury townhouses are being swapped out for apartments in the next phase of the Chelsea Barracks redevelopment, SW1.
Llanfaes Lodge is a detached former gate lodge to the nearby Henllys Hall estate in Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. It enjoys a quiet rural aspect at the rear, looking across Henllys Golf Course towards Snowdonia. £625,000 through Joan Hopkin (01248 810847)
The Capston, the final development within Embassy Gardens in London’s Nine Elms, SW11, is putting art centre stage, with a dedicated artists’ parlour, library and drawing room provided for residents’ use. Prices start from £750,000 (www.thecapston.com).
Illustration by Matthew Rice from Language of Buildings and Church Primer; www.matthewricewatercolours.co.uk
Properties of the week
Julie Harding
Let’s raise a glass
Homes with wine cellars offer discerning buyers climate-controlled conditions that let collections age gracefully, so that every gathering becomes a toastworthy triumph. Cheers!
Warwickshire, £2.5 million
Grade II-listed Moreton House, in the village of Moreton Morrell (with views over countryside to the back), was built in the 18th century and altered in the 20th. Its limestone frontage earns plaudits and a brick wing adds interest. Inside, period features, including open fireplaces, proliferate. Connoisseurs of wine will be able to store it in the cellar and will be spoilt for choice for rooms in which to enjoy their Chablis or Pinot Noir, thanks to formal reception rooms with grand proportions, as well as smaller and cosier spaces. The seven bedrooms are spread over two floors, three of them particularly characterful, being in the eaves. Outside, wrought-iron gates with brick pillars signal to visitors that they have arrived, passing sweeping lawns and formal gardens with ornate box and yew hedging before heading inside. For fans of the Bard, Stratford-upon-Avon is only 8½ miles away. Butler Sherborn (01451 830731)
Warwickshire, £3.5 million
Once installed in Oldfield Farm, why would a new buyer want to move beyond the confines of its boundary? This five-bedroom home, you see, has everything a new incumbent could possibly need for themselves and any invitees, from a party/games room and a gym to a substantial indoor swimming-pool complex that also includes a sauna and a cinema room. An attractive, almost circular wine cellar measures 10ft by 6½ft. Grade II-listed, historic features, such as exposed beams, meet modern comfort in this family home located in Rowington. Guests or family could even stay in the separate one-bedroom cottage set within the almost 17 acres of grounds that include landscaped gardens and three fields. Also in the grounds is an elevated moated orchard. Believed to have been the site of a lookout tower associated with Warwick Castle, it is a designated Ancient Monument and as such will be a great talking point for all those gatherings fuelled by wine from the cellar. Knight Frank (01789 297735)
Worcestershire, £2.3 million
Grade II-listed Bretforton Hall in the village of Bretforton is gloriously Gothic in style, having been built in the late 18th century and altered about 100 years later. Unusually, the east corner boasts a three-storey water tower with a crenellated parapet. ‘Magnificent proportions [are] layered with glorious architectural finery complemented by beautifully landscaped gardens and grounds,’ enthuses the agent of a property that offers more surprises, such as a vaulted drawing room that can double as a ballroom. ‘This is a brilliant family home and an entertainer’s dream to truly wow your guests—wine and dine in the beautifully proportioned dining room, whip up a pre-dinner cocktail in the tower bar and... dance the night away in the ballroom,’ continues the agent of this six-bedroom house. Add a wine cellar and Bretforton Hall does look to be the real deal. Set in about two acres, there is even a swimming pool—of course! Morgan Aps (01905 384848)
West Sussex, £2.85 million
Woodshill House first took shape in the mid 17th century and, today, the Grade II-listed property offers 5,000sq ft of accommodation that includes five reception rooms and six bedrooms, meaning plenty of space for family gatherings and parties with friends. A useful asset for such gettogethers is the 18½ft by 10ft wine store in the cellar, which allows supplies to be replenished with ease when all the bottles at the soirée have run dry. Spaces on the ground floor for such occasions include the 19¼ft by 16¾ft drawing room, the 17ft by 16ft formal dining room, a kitchen filled with Shaker-style units and an Aga, plus a light and airy orangery that is part of a recent extension. This handsome house is set within almost three acres of grounds that include lawns, as well as grassy meadow areas. A hard tennis court and a heated swimming pool come in useful when those celebrations move outside in more clement weather. Woodshill House is a mile beyond the boundary of West Chiltington, which has a village shop and a butcher’s. Strutt & Parker (01403 246790)
Kent, £1.65 million
Berkeley House has seven bedrooms, three reception rooms, a chic look and an ideal location that is only a stone’s throw from Deal town, with its seafront and its mainline train station for fast links to London. Grade II listed, the attached house dates to the 1700s; it was extended during the Georgian period, but in more recent times it has been sympathetically restored and brought up to date by its current owners (the house has been re-roofed, rewired and replumbed), who have adeptly mixed new with old. The three-room cellar has built-in wine bins, so it will appeal to those who love a spot of vino with supper and afterwards. The new owners of Berkeley House will find themselves, too, with a separate two-bedroom coach house—which has also undergone an extensive, but sympathetic refurbishment—and which will, of course, come in handy during social gatherings. A glasshouse, woodstore and mature landscaped gardens complete the picture. Bright & Bright (01304 374071)
If only I’d bought… November 17, 1960
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