Immaculate Georgian country houses for sale
In Life in the English Country House (1978), architectural historian Dr Mark Girouard observed that, by 1900, ‘to be a captain of industry and the owner of a country house had become an entirely acceptable combination', adding ‘basically, the country-house world was saved by the merger'. The role of big business in ensuring the survival of England's country-house heritage is highlighted by the sale of two classic, late-Georgian examples, Tilstone Lodge in Cheshire and Bledisloe House in Gloucestershire, both of which have grown old gracefully, thanks to substantial injections of City money at crucial points in their existence.
Built by Chester architect Thomas Harrison for Admiral Tollemache between 1821 and 1826, elegant Tilstone Lodge at Tarporley, south Cheshire, has enjoyed a stress-free passage thanks to a series of rich owners from the ranks of industry, among them the Dewhurst family, Lord Leverhulme, the Bibby shipping family and, most recently, Bobby McAlpine, legendary racehorse owner, bon viveur and former chairman of Alfred McAlpine PLC.
According to Tollemache family records, the Admiral had the house designed as ‘an occasional Residence to receive tenants and for shooting and hunting', not as a grand family home. That came later, in the mid 1800s, when his son John, later 1st Lord Tollemache, commissioned Anthony Salvin to design the Gothic Peckforton Castle nearby, at which point Tilstone Lodge was handed over to his eldest son.
The moral of the story is that Peckforton Lodge is now a luxury hotel, whereas the smaller and much simpler Tilstone Lodge has survived intact as a neat country seat, set within its 115 acres of wooded grounds and surrounded by cottages, a stable yard, a former squash court, offices, a walled kitchen garden and farm buildings. All of the main reception rooms-they include a drawing room, sitting room, billiard room, study, dining room and morning room-overlook the gardens, and the splendid drawing room on the south front also has a view of the impressive 10-acre lake. With shades of yesteryear, the formal lawns lead down to the lake and incorporate a croquet lawn and a former grass tennis court with a wooden summer pavilion.
With five main bedrooms, six secondary bedrooms and six bathrooms in all, Tilstone Lodge is perfect for country entertaining in the grand manner, with famous vaulted cellars currently used to store, among other fruits of the vine, a collection of fine premiers crus on behalf of the Tarporley Hunt Club, of which Mr McAlpine is a leading light.
As you might expect, Tilstone Lodge was in pristine condition when Mr McAlpine bought the house from the late Sir Harold Bibby in 1984/85. A keen racing man, and rated one of the ‘100 best shots of all time' by The Field in 2008, Mr McAlpine now plans to concentrate his energies on running his famous shoot at Llanarmon, Denbighshire, and his business interests will be largely restricted to his role as chairman of wine merchants Haynes Hanson & Clark. Meanwhile, Tilstone Lodge is on the market at a guide price of £10 million through the Chester office of Jackson-Stops & Staff (01244 328361).
The history of Bledisloe House at Coates, Gloucestershire, for sale through Savills (01285 627550) at a guide price of ‘offers over £8m', is much less straightforward. Previously known as Coates Manor, the present house dates from 1798 when its owner, William Tombs, sold the original manor house next to the village church and rebuilt the present one around an old farmhouse on another part of his estate.
In 1858, a descendant, William Tombs Dewe, extended the house, adding two substantial two-storey bays at either end of the main façade. Like Tilstone Lodge, the house was used mainly as a hunting box, being let to a succession of tenants from the 1870s until 1907, when W. T. Tombs' heir, Col W. H. Dewe, sold Coates Manor with 513 acres to Lord Grantley, a substantial landowner in Yorkshire, Westmoreland and Surrey.
Enter the industrialist. In 1914, the Grantleys sold the Coates Manor estate to shipping magnate Oswald Harrison, who was also a keen hunting man, but, unlike the Grantleys, appears to have bought the manor as a permanent family home. Immediately after the war, Harrison transformed Coates Manor, rebuilding the property as a dignified Georgian country house almost three times the size of the original, with the addition of a formal two-storey entrance front, a number of grand reception rooms and a large service wing to the north-east.
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Only the gracious south-east façade of the old house was retained. The work was overseen by the Arts-and-Crafts architect Ernest Barnsley, using materials taken from the Adderley family's grand, 1760s Palladian mansion, Hams Hall in Warwickshire, which had been demolished.
Sadly, Harrison had little chance to enjoy his new home, as he died just three years later. It was advertised for sale in Country Life on May 24, 1924, when it was described as an ‘imposing stone-built replica of a Georgian residence... with sixteen bed and dressing rooms, four bathrooms, a large hall' and ‘every convenience... including modern sanitation'.
In 1925, the manor was bought by Sheffield industrialist Bernard Firth, who also died soon afterwards, in 1927. His widow lived on at Coates Manor until her own death in 1949, when the Royal Agricultural College bought the house as a student hostel, and renamed it Bledisloe Lodge after the former chairman of governors, Lord Bledisloe.
Thirty-three years later, a change of use to offices was granted by Cotswold District Council, and Bledisloe Lodge was sold with five acres of land as a management training centre. In 1988, the house was finally returned to residential use and renamed Bledisloe House. It was then sold twice more before being bought in 2003 by its present owner, whose blue-chip City credentials are reflected in the inspirational renovation of Bledisloe House, which recaptures the spirit of its 1920s incarnation in a way that the enterprising Harrison would have been proud of.
Restored to its former glory as a Georgian country house in a parkland setting, following the purchase of some 30 acres of the original park from the Bathurst estate, Bledisloe House, listed Grade II, combines the dignity and elegance of the age of Enlightenment with the style, comfort and practicality of the 21st century.
Like Tilstone Lodge, it has the large-scale rooms associated with the last great age of country-house building, including a drawing room, snooker room, morning room and dining room, all with high ceilings, delicate cornicing and period fireplaces. Well suited to grand entertaining, Bledisloe House has a splendid Smallbone kitchen, the usual domestic offices, plus an extensive wine cellar and an intimate cellar dining room. The bedrooms are enchanting, and include a palatial master suite, three guest bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, eight further bedrooms and six further bathrooms.
Beautifully landscaped gardens and grounds provide a splendid backdrop to the main house and its outbuildings, which include a new coach house built in 2005, ample stabling and a three-bedroom staff cottage.
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