The best equestrian properties for sale

Country loving Britons have always been potty about horses, a fact reflected in the prices paid in popular areas for even the smallest pony paddock. And although the market for top-of-the-range training centres with ‘all the toys' remains more or less stuck in the mud, at grass-roots level, there is still demand for family houses with good equestrian facilities. Buyers may even be surprised to find that such facilities can sometimes be made to pay their way.

Times were easier in 2004, when The Red House at Rudgwick, West Sussex, was last on the market, and Surrey-based agents Browns (01483 267070) were asking £1.95 million for the traditional, 17th-century, Sussex farmhouse-a horse-lover's delight, with a separate three-bedroom cottage, a groom's flat, 14 stables, an all-weather sand school and a horse-walker, set in 21 acres on the banks of the River Arun. The property caught the eye of David and Amanda Savile, who were not at all horsey, but who were looking to move, with their two children, to a house with land out in the country. At first, it all seemed a bit of a pipe-dream, for not only did The Red House offer equestrian facilities that the Saviles didn't need, but the asking price was several hundred thousand pounds more than they wanted to pay.

‘It was selling agent Serena Brown who eventually came up with the answer-she suggested that we rent out the cottage, groom's flat and training facilities at The Red House to help fund the difference in price. We've had no problem finding suitable tenants, an arrangement that currently produces
an income of some £35,000 a year, and one that our present tenant would be happy to continue,' Mr Savile reveals. Meanwhile, he and his wife set about renovating the main house, which now has three reception rooms, a study, a family room, a new farmhouse kitchen, five principal bedrooms and three bathrooms, plus a second-floor bedroom with an en-suite shower room and
a sitting room.

An unusual feature is the priest's hole above the inglenook fireplace, said to be large enough to accommodate six priests-depending on their girth, of course. But the real labour of love was the creation of beautifully landscaped gardens that involved more than 2,000 hours of ‘agonising, back-breaking planting', most of it planned and executed by Mrs Savile. Homes for owls, bats and otters were created in a large area of woodland, and down by the river.

The couple have also worked with the Millennium Seed Bank and the local council to plant seedlings of a rare black poplar, once indigenous to the area but now almost extinct. The Saviles are proud to have created a haven for nature and wildlife around The Red House, but now that their children have gone off to university, the property is too big for just the two of them, and Browns have been recalled to find a buyer, this time at a guide price of £2.95m.

The combination of a historic house, a riverside setting, views of the South Downs and a paddock or two has invariably proved irresistible to London buyers moving out of town to Surrey or West Sussex. That presumably was the thinking behind Jon and Louise Bunning's purchase of rundown Beeding Court at Upper Beeding, near Steyning, West Sussex, a year ago. Since then, the Bunnings have restored and modernised the Grade II-listed, 16th-century manor house on the banks of the River Adur, which has panoramic views across the river to the Downs and Chanctonbury Ring. So, with their next project already in mind, Beeding Court has been launched on the market through Savills (01444 446000) at a guide price of £1.295m.

The renovated, 5,400sq ft manor house, which was once used as the village Sunday school, has accommodation on three floors, including three main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, a study and studio, six bedrooms and three bathrooms. The grounds and outbuildings, however, represent a more or less blank canvas that could be adapted for a number of uses, including equestrian, given the presence of a range of farm buildings and pens, a four-acre paddock and a pair of timber stables in need of repair.

Down in the Cotswolds, Sam Trounson of Strutt & Parker in Cirencester sees little sign of people cutting back on their horses, and the number of riders supporting his local VWH hunt this season suggests that the passage of the years ‘is still the only thing that persuades lifelong hunt followers to finally call it a day'. Mr Trounson agrees that renting out surplus equestrian facilities can be a good way to offset the rising cost of keeping a hunter, but he emphasises the importance of thoroughly checking out prospective applicants. Getting rid of unsatisfactory tenants can be an expensive and time-consuming process.

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That said, Strutt & Parker (01285 653101) are offering a ‘good small equestrian package' with excellent letting prospects in the shape of Hillside House (pictured) in Beaufort hunt country at Startley, near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, at a guide price of £1.3m. Built in 2003, in text-book Georgian style, the pretty, Cotswold-stone house stands in 13.6 acres of well-fenced gardens, grounds and paddocks surrounded by rolling countryside. The house has three inter-connecting reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, five bedrooms and three bathrooms; the grounds include a lake and a hard tennis court. Down the drive and well away from the house is the timber-clad stable block, comprising five loose boxes with a fenced front yard and, to the rear, a hay barn and an all-weather manège.

The moody magnificence of Dartmoor, with its granite tors, heather-clad moorland and valleys bisected by rushing streams and rivers, makes this part of Devon a horseman's paradise. Picturesque Swallerton Gate near Widecombe-in-the-Moor, at the heart of the Dartmoor National Park, is a tempting first step to equestrian heaven, at a guide price of £850,000 through Jackson-Stops & Staff (01392 214222). The perfect horsey hideaway, the property comprises a Grade II-listed, thatched house with a separate annexe, extensive stabling, modern farm buildings and some 20 acres of fenced pasture paddocks with views to Honey-bag and Chinkwell Tors, and to Hamel Down in the distance.