EVERY WEEK
FEBRUARY 21, 2024
The Fine Arts issue
Artists who say it with flowers and the AI debate Wig law, daffodils and how does your hedgerow grow?
Property market
Penny Churchill
All in a life’s work Shropshire lads supreme and joined-up thinking in Oxfordshire
A
FTER a distinguished career spanning almost 50 years, softly spoken Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills in Telford has stepped back from his longstanding role as head of the firm’s West Midlands operations to concentrate on his first love, the sale of prime country houses and estates in his native Shropshire, where he served as High Sheriff of the county in 2021–22. As the scion of one of Shropshire’s oldest families, he knows every nook and cranny of the county’s finest properties, many of which he has sold more than once over the years. 100 | Country Life | February 21, 2024
A recent success was the sale, last autumn, of Grade II-listed Woodhill Park, a glorious Georgian house set within a ring-fenced, 156-acre estate in unspoilt Shropshire countryside, four miles from Oswestry and 22 miles from Shrewsbury. Previously part of the Ormsby-Gore family’s Brogyntyn estate, Woodhill Park was sold by Mr Morris-Eyton to last year’s vendors in 1987 and again on their behalf last year, when the estate was quickly snapped up, at a guide price of £4.5 million, by a London buyer returning to his Shropshire roots. In 1985, Francis Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech inherited the Brogyntyn
The Mount, near Oswestry, is surrounded by glorious Shropshire countryside. £12.5m
estate following his father’s death in a car accident and was immediately hit by crippling death duties, which eventually forced the sale of the estate and his ancestral home, Brogyntyn Hall, in 2000. In the meantime, Lord Harlech had been living at The Mount, a crumbling Edwardian house on the edge of the estate, which was acquired by a dynamic local businessman and eventually demolished. The new owner swiftly assembled a team of building and conservation experts headed
Find the best properties at countrylife.co.uk
Late-17th-century, Queen Anne-style Hornton Grounds stands at the heart of 158 acres of farmland near Banbury, Oxfordshire. £3.95m
by Shrewsbury-based Andrew Arrol, doyen of country-house architects. Working together at speed, they soon convinced the planners that The Mount’s historic site deserved a classic Georgian house built in the grand manner, using state-of-the-art technology and materials. No expense was spared in
realising the owner’s dream country house, which was positioned to take advantage of the spectacular, far-reaching views over the surrounding countryside. For Mr Arrol, it was clearly an exhilarating ride, as he recalls the degree of thought and planning that went into every aspect
The hall with its cantilevered staircase sets the tone for the grand interiors of The Mount
of the project. Unlike most modern neoGeorgian houses, all the main walls have been built using hand-carved stone from a Derbyshire quarry, the entire stock of which was bought by the owner; the outside elevations are highly insulated cavity walls and all floors have underfloor heating; the windows throughout are triple-glazed with a discreet, but sophisticated Pilkington Spacia system perfected in Japan. To complement the house, the gardens have been beautifully landscaped, with three walled gardens that include a vegetable garden and three ponds, with a pump house equipped to ensure constant clear water. The Mount is approached through imposing double gates and a sweeping drive that meanders gently through the property’s 47 acres of parkland, flanked by immaculate estate railings to either side. As befits a 31,000sq ft country house of considerable stature, The Mount has everything today’s most demanding buyer could wish for and then some. The front door opens onto the main reception hall and the grand staircase hall with its magnificent cantilevered staircase that immediately sets the tone. The hall leads to a well-proportioned February 21, 2024 | Country Life | 101
Property market
Planning permission is in place for a new farmhouse at Manor Farm, a 503-acre arable operation at Hornton in Oxfordshire. £6.5m
dining room, a large drawing room, family room and a vast living kitchen. Upstairs, seven elegant bedrooms all have en-suite bathrooms. To the south, an orangery runs the length of the rear wing; beyond is a 20m (65ft) swimming pool and a plant room. Twenty years on, The Mount is as pristine as the day it was completed and few would gainsay the agent’s claim that it ranks among the most important new mansion houses built in the UK within the past two decades. However, following the owner’s decision to downsize, today sees the launch in COUNTRY L IFE of this remarkable country house in its unspoilt private setting near the market town of Oswestry, 19 miles from Shrewsbury and 27 miles from Chester; selling agent Mr Morris-Eyton (07967 555652) quotes a guide price of £12.5m. Beyond the Cotswolds in north Oxfordshire, Philip Hoare of Savills Farms & Estates in Banbury (01295 228055) is handling the sale of two previously integrated farming estates— the 158-acre Hornton Grounds, seven miles from Banbury, and the 503-acre Manor Farm at Hornton, almost six miles from Banbury, both of which were sold separately to different owners back in 2009. As neighbours, the vendors were well known to each other, and when the owners of Hornton Grounds revealed their intention to downsize, the owners of Manor 102 | Country Life | February 21, 2024
Farm suggested that they launch the properties at the same time, thereby giving a prospective purchaser the chance to create a single large farming estate of some 660 acres. It all makes perfect sense, given that Hornton Grounds centres on a substantial, Grade II-listed Queen Anne-style farmhouse surrounded by modern and traditional farm buildings, whereas Manor Farm is a large arable unit with a modest, three-bedroom bungalow, two sets of farm buildings and planning consent to build a five-bedroom principal farmhouse.
A purchaser has the chance to create a single farming estate of some 660 acres With Hornton Grounds on offer at £3.95m for the whole, and Manor Farm for sale, jointly with Butler Sherborn (01451 530106), at a guide price of £6.5m for the whole or in four lots, this means that a prospective purchaser with long-term investment in mind could acquire a historic farming unit in a prime north Oxfordshire location for a total outlay of some £10m to £11m. Early enquiries suggest that
about half of interested parties support that line of thinking, Mr Hoare reveals. Hornton Grounds stands at the centre of its land, which is currently farmed under a farm business tenancy (FBT) until May 2027. Although, according to the owners, no deeds exist for the house, it is believed to have been built of the local Hornton stone between 1680 and 1690. Part of the 5,500sq ft, five/ six-bedroom farmhouse, now in need of updating, is arranged as a separate cottage, which runs with the farm as part of the FBT. It comes with traditional farm buildings with potential for development, formal gardens, a walled garden, orchard and an avenue of trees leading to an Edwardian former tennis court, now used as a manège. Manor Farm, Hornton, is a productive arable farm currently split into three adjoining parcels, with an additional arable holding at nearby Alkerton. Planning consent has already been granted for the demolition and replacement of the existing bungalow and farm buildings with a 4,000sq ft, fivebedroom farmhouse and modern outbuildings. The permission allows for a house of generous proportions built to a traditional vernacular style of local Hornton ironstone under a slate roof, together with a range of outbuildings, including stables and storage, in a courtyard setting.
Properties of the week
Annunciata Elwes
Talk of the town A range of townhouses in all corners of England
Kent, £950,000 If J. M. W. Turner is to be believed, ‘the skies over Thanet are the loveliest in all Europe’. Also easy on the eye are the district’s Regency townhouses, many of which were built to accommodate Margate’s popularity as a sea-bathing resort from the late 18th century. One such Grade II-listed example, on Churchfield Place—which is within the old town, about a 10-minute walk from the seafront—has six bedrooms across four floors. Agents praise its ‘voluminous reception room’ with a ‘hand-painted botanical mural’. Inigo (020–3687 3071) Somerset, £2.25 million Thought to be the oldest house in Weston village (now part of Bath), Southbank was bought by the current owners in 2007 in a state of dilapidation and has since been thoroughly renovated, with roof work, electrics, new kitchens and bathrooms and an electric-car charging point. Once a separate cottage, townhouse and coach house, it is now cleverly linked on numerous levels, but still flexible; the vendors, for example, split off an annexe for holiday lets, which could also be useful for ‘multi-generational living’. There are six bedrooms in all, not including a dressing room/occasional bedroom and a nursery, and the principal bedroom suite takes up the entire second floor. From the study, a staircase leads up to a games room/bar via a secret bookcase door and beyond to a cinema room with an oculus window. Pritchard & Company (01608 801030) 104 | Country Life | February 21, 2024
London SW1, £5 million ‘This Grade ll*-listed property was built in about 1722 and is a fine example of an early-Georgian period house that only a handful of streets within central Westminster can lay claim to,’ say agents. Formerly a pub—and still called Salutation House—it was also home to Lord Reith, known as the founding father of the BBC, and has a Blue Plaque to prove it. Set over five floors on the covetable corner of Barton Street and Cowley Street, it has six double bedrooms, including a master suite, a wine cellar and there is an extra mini kitchen and living room on the top floor, which also gives access to a terrace offering a great view of Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. The lower-ground floor is a self-contained one-bedroom flat. Hamptons (020–3369 4386) Co Durham, offers over £600,000 It is said that Charles II rode his horse up the main staircase of Whitfield Place, before spending the night in the master bedroom—that was when half of it was the Pack Horse Inn, possible resting place of Edward III after fighting the Scots in Weardale in 1327. The rest of the building dates to 1677 and features massive fireplaces, wood panelling, mullioned windows, window seats, stained glass and a historic salt cupboard. Sensitively modernised, this three-bedroom house now includes a smart kitchen with an Aga, room for an American-style fridge/freezer and a spacious boot room/garden room. The Weardale Hills can be seen from the south-facing garden and terrace, as well as fruit trees, a vegetable garden and a hybrid walnut/hazelnut tree. The ancient market town of Wolsingham, on the River Wear, right on the edge of the North Pennines, hosts one of the oldest agricultural shows in the country every September—it was founded in 1763. Finest Properties (01434 622234)
9000
Cambridge, £750,000 On Eden Street, a short walk from the city centre, this charming earlyVictorian, mid-terrace property has been carefully renovated. It has two bedrooms and an open-plan kitchen/ dining room, with a porcelain butlerstyle sink and an integrated wine cooler. Outside, the ‘rather special’ rear garden, as the agents term it, has a terrace, water feature and a pebbled courtyard-style parking area. Cheffins (01223 214214)
February 21, 2024 | Country Life | 105