It's easy to live in rural Britain without ever really feeling immersed in the countryside. A small town or large village might can be in the middle of a National Park or National Landscape, yet a road full of houses is still a road full of houses.

And then there are other places, where the entire home feels like it's been lifted from a Constable painting, or the pages of Cider with Rosie, or an episode of The Darling Buds of May... You get the idea — not least because you've already seen the picture at the top of this page. Haventree Cottage is the sort of place that you dream of when you think of moving to the country.

Located within the Malvern Hills National Landscape in Worcestershie, Haventree Cottage — which is for sale at £1.35 million with Morgan Aps — is framed by a wildlife. The trees, the gardens and the pond — regularly frequented by ducks and other visiting wildlife — creates a picturesque backdrop point that you'll enjoy not just as you approach the house, but also from the windows of every principal room of this traditional timber-frame property on the edge of the village of Suckley.

The windows in question are a mix of original timber framed in the oldest parts of hte house — which as you'll see from the architecture, has evolved and been expanded several times over the centuries.

The newest part is the kitchen, with floor-to-ceiling windows and bifold doors and a vaulted roof, leading out to a terrace area with view not just of the property’s two acres, but across the entire Teme valley unfolding in the distance. Such an expanse of open countryside can mean only one thing: mile after mile of walks on the doorstep.

Inside, as the agent states, Haventree Cottage is ‘absolutely perfect for a busy family… [with] plenty of spaces for relaxing, entertaining and working.'

Open fires and ancient timber beams are found throughout a home that is bursting with character and period charm.

It's cosy, comfortable, beautiful and fun — not least for the sixth bedroom, on the second floor, which seems to be used pretty much as a dedicated Lego room at the moment. The countryside literally on the doorstep, and a Lego room for rainy days: what could be finer?

Haventree is for sale through Morgan Aps — see more details.

The idyllic part of Northamptonshire dubbed the Notswolds is a place of contradictions. It's a quiet land of pretty villages, rolling hills and huge skies; yet it's also the home of the Silverstone F1 circuit, and several of its top teams. When the cars are in action — is about as peaceful as the deck of aircraft carrier.

As soon as you venture out of earshot, however, the tranquility returns — and villages such as Fotheringhoe, which is safely located four miles from Brackley on the non-F1 side of the town, have all the charm you could wish for. And in the fields a mile or so from the village, Grade II-listed Manor House is up for sale.

Harry Sheppard of Knight Frank quotes a guide price of £2.3 million for this charming house, set in almost eight acres of landscaped gardens, with a paddock and outbuildings.

Built in 1884–85 on the site of an older building by the prolific country-house architect George Devey, the secluded former manor house, now a farmhouse, overlooks the site of the deserted medieval village of Steane, a scheduled ancient monument.

Carefully maintained since 1989 by the current owners, Manor House offers some 4,246sq ft of bright and cheerful accommodation on two floors, including four good reception rooms, a sociable kitchen/breakfast room, a spacious principal bedroom suite, four further double bedrooms and two additional bathrooms.

Outside, the gardens, which have been lovingly maintained and beautifully stocked, are enhanced by colourful herbaceous borders and are framed by picturesque views over the adjacent paddock and beyond.

An impressive range of outbuildings includes a home office, stores, a workshop, garage and stabling.

Farthinghoe village itself, a mile to the west, is a small village, though big enough to have a primary school and a pub , and is on the main road up to Banbury — and from there, to Oxford, the Cotswolds, Stratford-upon-Avon and more. And if you head in the other direction on the first weekend of July, you'll be able to enjoy all the the thrills of the F1 circus's annual pilgrimage to Silverstone.

For sale via Knight Frank — see more details.

There are sales and then there are sales. Edgcote is the latter.

This sublime, 1,700-acre estate sits in the Northamptonshire parish of Chipping Warden and Edgcote, bounded by the River Cherwell, some five miles or so from Banbury. It's the jewel in Northamptonshire's crown, with a rich, often turbulent history going back almost 1,000 years — and it has just come to the market. Crispin Holborow of Savills Private Office is overseeing matters for this most historic and refined of country estates, either as a whole at a guide price of ‘excess £45 million’, or in two lots.

Lot 1, on offer at a guide price of ‘excess £20m’, comprises the Grade I-listed, Georgian Edgcote House and Park, set in 288 acres of gardens, grounds, parkland, pasture and woodland, together with 13 houses, which include the Old Rectory, Mill House, various cottages and flats, plus a traditional stable courtyard and a secondary stable yard with traditional and modern farm buildings at Home Farm.

A guide price of ‘excess £25m’ is quoted for Lot 2, Edgcote Farms, a diverse portfolio of agricultural, equestrian, residential and commercial property, including the well-equipped Lodge Farm, two equestrian yards, gallops, a racecourse, three traditional stone barn ranges with development potential, 20 houses, annexes and cottages, plus extensive arable land, pasture and woodland.

Following the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror granted Edgcote to his principal adviser, the ruthless Geoffrey de Mowbray, Bishop of Coutances. By about 1240, it was owned by Isabel de Bruce, grandmother of Robert the Bruce, who was crowned King of Scotland in 1306, whereupon his English lands were seized by the English Crown.

By 1410, Edgcote was held by Henry, Prince of Wales, who, on acceding to the throne as Henry V, sold the lands to a courtier, Richard Buckland, a wealthy merchant and ship-owner. Later, in 1469, the estate was the setting for the Battle of Edgcote during the Wars of the Roses.

Writing in Country Life (January 10, 1920), the magazine’s Architectural Editor, Henry Avray Tipping, traces the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, who made his fortune as wingman to Cardinal Wolsey and bought Edgcote in 1535. Following Wolsey’s disgrace in 1529, Cromwell earned Henry VIII’s favour by his handling of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but lost it again when he chose the German princess Anne of Cleves as the King’s new wife ‘for her Protestantism and political connections and not for her personal appearance’.

Cromwell’s fall was swift and brutal, as Tipping relates: ‘It is in January, 1540, that he brings about the Anne of Cleves marriage. In April he is created Earl of Essex, in June Norfolk accuses him of treason, in July his head falls on Tower Hill… and so Edgcote, after five years of Cromwell ownership, became one of the many manors granted to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement.’ She had no interest in living there and, in 1546, the estate was sold to the Chauncy family, prominent Northamptonshire landowners in whose hands it remained for the next 270 years.

By 1742, the estate had passed to Richard Chauncy, a London merchant, who rebuilt the original Tudor house between 1748 and 1754 to the designs of the architect William Jones. The ambitious redevelopment included the construction of the stables courtyard and ancillary offices, designed by William Smith of Warwick, between 1745 and 1748. William Henry Chauncy, who inherited on his father’s death in 1760, was the last of the Chauncy male line and, following his death in 1788, the 3,000-acre estate eventually passed by marriage to the Cartwrights of Aynho in 1847.

Although badly hit by the long drawn out agricultural depression of the late 1800s, the Cartwrights hung on at Edgcote until 1924, when the estate came to the market for the first time since the 1540s. Two years later, the house and estate were acquired by Raymond Courage of the Courage brewing family who, together with his son, Edward, developed Edgcote as a successful National Hunt racing enterprise which saw Edward establish himself as a leading owner-trainer in the 1950s and 1960s.

The estate is now home to two successful racing yards, both let to established trainers — Ben Case at Wardington Gate Farm and Alex Hales at Trafford Bridge Farm.

The Courage family remained at Edgcote until 2005, when the 1,800-acre estate was acquired in a private sale by businessman David Allen, another keen racing man, who continued the careful conservation and management of the estate until his death in October 2015. His widow, Ann, remained at Edgcote House until her death in November 2024.

Although currently unoccupied, Edgcote House has been impeccably maintained and retains much of its original splendour, with elegant accommodation extending to some 25,908sq ft over four floors, including six beautifully proportioned reception rooms, eight bedrooms and five bathrooms on the first floor, additional accommodation on the second floor and further space for offices, cellars, or alternative uses on the lower ground floor.

With admirable foresight, an isoenergy, lake-sourced heating system provides a substantial saving of about 70% in fuel costs compared with the original oil-fired fossil-fuel boiler.

Outside, extensive formal gardens, an established treescape and sweeping lawns lead down to an 8½-acre lake fed by the River Cherwell — famously featured in the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice — and a kitchen garden, tennis court and traditional stable yard, the whole surrounded by Edgcote’s historic parkland.

The estate is interspersed with small blocks of mainly broadleaved woodland, most of which dates back to the mid 1800s. Some new woodland has also been planted in recent years as part of a parkland restoration plan cleverly designed to distract from the construction and use of HS2, which will pass through a tunnel to the north of the Edgcote estate.

Edgcote is for sale via Savills — see more details.

Cleatham Hall — on the market through Carter Jonas for £1,400,000 — has some of the most unusual claims to fame we've seen in some time.

Originally built in the 17th century, it spent over a century in the Darwin family, before Charles Darwin's great-uncle William sold it in 1760. In 1855 it was almost entirely rebuilt in the Palladian style, and thereafter became the family home of Wing Commander Roger Maw, who played a key role in one of the most audacious prisoner-of-war escapes in the Second World War. Maw was the man who — inspired by the Wooden Horse of Ancient Greece, built the famous 'vaulting horse' in the exercise yard at Stalag Luft III, hiding a tunnel through which three men escaped, a scheme immortalised in a 1950 film. The account in Maw's obituary is utterly fascinating.

More recently, Cleatham Hall has been set up as a boutique hotel and wedding venue where — and I can't believe that all these worlds are colliding — the son of Chuckle Brothers star Paul Chuckle reportedly among those who have tied the knot there. Not so much 'to me, to you' as 'I do, I do'.

And there's something even more unusual, according to the agents: an 'A' rating on the EPC energy-efficiency certificate, something pretty much unheard of in a house of this age, and something which Carter Jonas call ‘an exceptional achievement that sets Cleatham Hall apart from many historic estates’. In these days of spiralling energy costs, such things aren't to be taken lightly.

Cleatham Hall's Palladian elements aren't hard to spot: the symmetrical façade, sash windows and ornate cornices you'd expect are all here, as is a cantilevered stone staircase with cast iron balusters. And while there's no dome on this Grade II-listed house, there is a round skylight immediately above the stairs, flooding the hallways with light from above.

The house is in beautiful condition thanks to a sensitive renovation by current owners Jim and Kate Anderson, who bought Cleatham Hall in 2010. They have kept its original features, including marble fireplaces, shutters, and even curtain poles.

Jim explains: ‘What people love when they come here is how we've retained the original features but modernised it so it doesn't feel olde worlde. It feels like a country home.’

Kate adds: ‘The master suite has a bathroom that was the old dressing room and it’s got a huge copper bath in it. I designed it so that you could look out of the beautiful windows in that room and you can see for miles. It's very, very special. There are not many places like this.’

Obviously the new owner could carry on running the house as an events venue, but shouldn’t feel wedded (ho-ho) to the hospitality set-up. Carter Jonas says Cleatham Hall ‘offers a unique opportunity to continue as a hospitality venue or be converted back into a grand family home, subject to planning permission’.

Although run as a hotel the floorplan retains much of the feel of a family home, albeit with some elements of its hospitality set-up. A large hall leads to spacious reception rooms, arranged as a sitting room, drawing room, and bar, with a cellar beyond.

Meanwhile, one of the kitchens — there are currently two — and an enormous orangery are set towards the back of the property.

Upstairs, there is a master bedroom and a further five bedrooms, all with ensuite bathrooms.

In addition, the ‘North Wing’ comprises three more ensuite bedrooms and a reception room, ideal for guests, family, or staff, suggests the selling agent.

Cleatham Hall is surrounded by landscaped gardens and mature trees, with six acres of paddock beyond to keep equestrian enthusiasts happy.

‘It's in a very beautiful setting,’ says Kate. ‘It's no wonder David Hockney came back up to East Yorkshire [nearby] because you've got big skies and so everything is spectacular. The house itself is quiet and beautiful. We've got deer, owls and hares. All those special things that people don't see — it's part of life here.’

Jim adds: ‘It is one of those places where you go up the drive and think, “Wow!”. You're in the middle of farmland but within easy reach of three or four major towns, including Lincoln, Scunthorpe, and Grimsby. There's lots of different places around.

‘When people actually come and discover the area, they're quite surprised by how much there is to do and how interesting it is.’

Cleatham Hall is for sale via Carter Jonas — see more details.

It’s exactly eight years since Ribbesford House sent a ripple of excitement through the property market. This 500-year-old castle in Worcestershire came up for auction with 20,000 sq ft of space, eight acres of land and enough towers and turrets to make it look like a miniature Tower of London.

Just as eye-catching as the list of features, bedrooms (20 of them) and touches of character was the cost: the auctioneers put a guide of just £500,000 on this house, the sort of money which — as we noted at the time — would stretch to a three-bedroom bungalow in Cheshire or a tiny flat in Islington.

Interest was huge, and the Grade II*-listed Ribbesford ended up selling to a pair of property-developers for just over £800,000. The brothers, Samuel and Russell Leeds, told Country Life a few months into the project that they’d estimated £1 million for the work that needed doing, and that they were determined to do this wonderful old building justice. ‘'We are highly conscious of its history and the importance of preserving the building,' Russell said. ‘It has immense character and we intend to return it to its heyday. I love old buildings and love them to stay.’

As the pictures here show, the work that needed doing proved far more extensive than they’d originally estimated. An experienced chartered surveyor, Adrian Walsh, was brought in, and it took an entire year just to get a handle on what had happened. ‘'It’s taken 12 months just to fully assess it. Every imaginable problem an old building could have is present – the full A-Z of issues,’ said Walsh at the time.

'The scale of what is involved is unbelievable. I’ve seen properties in a poor state of repair, but absolutely nothing to this extent.’ To give but one example, Ribbesford had previously been converted into 12 flats, but ‘we couldn’t even find flat six and flat seven had literally fallen down in a gale.’

Eight years on and — according to the brothers’ calculations — with £3 million spent on the place, it’s just sold at auction once more… this time, for just £450,000.

It’s an eye-opening cautionary tale, and one which the main characters have shared with the world: in the intervening years Samuel and Russell have bought, developed and sold plenty of other property, but have also moved into online coaching and social media — provoking a fair bit of controversy along the way.

Why sell up after so much work?It seems that Ribbesford has proven so much bigger a project, and taken so much time from the other parts of his life, that the Leeds brothers have decided to cut their losses and move on.

On his Instagram page, Samuel has shared a series of posts and videos about it, one of which goes in to detail. ‘I just sold my castle. On paper I lost about £3.5 million. But here is the part most people will not understand. It is also a tax write-off,’ he says.

‘The castle sold for £450,000. I originally bought it for £810,000 and then spent around £3 million restoring it. So yes, financially it was a big loss.

‘But when I bought the castle I knew it was a high risk project. Historic buildings are unpredictable. Costs spiral, timelines change and sometimes the market simply does not value the work the way you hoped it would.’

There are many cautionary tales in the world of property, then, and this is one of them. But

‘When I first bought it the building was in a terrible state. It was completely dilapidated. My focus was to stabilise it and save it.

‘We made the structure airtight, put a proper roof on it and carried out major restoration work to bring it back from the brink. I am genuinely proud of what we achieved.’

Though the project has ended prematurely, that pride: after buying Ribbesford, Samuel and Russell were visited by a Free French soldier who trained at the house during the Second World War. It was an important base for the Free French, so much so that even Charles de Gaulle came to visit. The soldier — the only one still alive in 2018 — came to visit the Russells and and talk to them about the building.

Ribbesford was set to be sold at auction via Savills, but was bought before it went under the hammer.

‘For me it was not about squeezing out the very last pound,’ Samuel adds.

‘What mattered more was that it went to the right person who would continue looking after it properly.

Over the years I have done many profitable projects. Some have done very well and some have massively exceeded expectations.But you cannot win them all. Anyone who tells you every deal they do is a success is either lying or they have not been in the game very long.’

Samuel is clearly not going to struggle to pay his bills — as well as Ribbesford, his Instagram page features fancy houses, fast cars, private jets and investing tips — but walking away from the project clearly stings a bit.

‘It still hurts. Losing money always does,’ the post finishes. ‘But experienced investors understand that one deal does not define you.You take calculated risks.You win some and you lose some. Then you move on to the next opportunity.’

Ribbesford House was up for auction via Savills.

Devon — £4,000,000

A sprawling mansion in an superb location, looking out across Dartmoor.

For sale via Strutt & Parker — see more details and pictures.

Kent — £3,950,000

Absolutely exquisite, Grade II*-listed house in Biddenden that dates back to 1419.

For sale via Savills — see more details and pictures.

Kent — £700,000

Set back from the road, this beautifully refurbished, detached family home is perfect for modern family life and entertaining.

For sale via Sandersons — see more details and pictures.

Somerset — £1,100,000

A period six-bedroom farmhouse with an array of traditional stone outbuildings, gardens and grounds of almost four acres.

For sale via Stags — see more details and pictures.

Derbyshire — £,1250,000

A fabulous four-bedroom country home set in more than eight acres, with excellent equestrian amenities and surrounded by open Staffordshire countryside.

For sale via John German — see more details and pictures.

Staffordshire — £395,000

A charming three-bedroom detached stone cottage, beautifully set close to the picturesque Peak District

For sale via Bennett Samway — see more details and pictures.

Leicestershire — £1,250,000

A magnificent, Edwardian-built ‘Arts and Crafts’ house, with six bedrooms and many original period features.

For sale via Bentons — see more details and pictures.

Yorkshire — £1,000,000

Handsome period house of nearly 2000 sq ft with garage and garden, perfectly positioned in a village on the edge of York

For sale via Blenkin & Co — see more details and pictures.

Shropshire — £625,000

A charming four-bedroom house with a multi-purpose barn and attractive gardens, set in a prime village location.

For sale via Balfours — see more details and pictures.

Cornwall — £750,000

A charming home with generous accommodation, set in over an acre with several outbuildings with planning permission.

For sale via Fine & Country — see more details and pictures.

Fife — £695,000

A substantial farmhouse with river views. Enjoys three reception rooms and five bedrooms plus outbuilding for extra space.

For sale via Galbraith — see more details and pictures.

Somerset — £1,200,000

A fantastic opportunity to acquire a substantial period home and converted barn set in over 17 acres of land and gardens.

For sale via Gibbins Richards — see more details and pictures.

Gloucestershire — £525,000

A link-detached modern house on the edge of a popular development, a short walk from the town centre and train station.

For sale via Hayman Joyce — see more details and pictures.

Kent — £1,200,000

Striking property with detached cottage. Beautiful gardens and courtyard situated in a wonderful sought-after location.

For sale via Hobbs Parker — see more details and pictures.

Oxfordshire — £995,000

A five-bedroom period family home, in a secluded situation on a private lane in West Oxford, and no onward chain.

For sale via Humberts — see more details and pictures.

Cornwall — £550,000

Lovely detached home with annex and gorgeous garden on Bodmin’s fringe, offering multigenerational living in a 1930s residence.

For sale via Webbers — see more details and pictures.

Leicestershire — £650,000

A fantastic, spacious and versatile, four-bedroom detached family home with gardens, located in the village of Lubenham.

For sale via James Sellick — see more details and pictures.

Surrey — £595,000

A charming semi-detached bungalow with a pretty, South-West facing garden in a desirable location within Virginia Water.

For sale via Barton Wyatt — see more details and pictures.

'It’s the heart of the kitchen. I love the warmth and the wonderful welcome. If I had to live without one, I’d loathe it.' Not our words, but those of Mary Berry — sorry, Dame Mary Berry — who is a devotee of the Aga, the quintessential ingredient that every English country kitchen needs.

Yes, yes, other stoves are available. Everhot make wonderful ones, and The Boss swears by his. (N.B. By 'The Boss' we're referring to Country Life's editor-in-chief Mark Hedges, rather than Bruce Springsteen, but we're pretty sure New Jersey's rock laureate would probably also like them if he gave them a try.) On top of that their original purpose as a source of heat for an entire abode has been lost in the days of central heating and radiators.

(Quite why the invention of a Swedish lighthouse architect came to be so associated with countryside homes on these shores is a whole other matter — one which Martin Fone explained a couple of years ago.)

Yet despite all those caveats, there's still something absolutely irresistible about seeing a proper old Aga in the kitchen of a farmhouse with ancient beams and stone floors — and the Aga at Perry Mill Farm, in the Worcestershire village of Peopleton, is as irresistible as it gets. The Aga is for sale at £795,000, and for that they'll even throw in the rest of the property at no extra charge.

Joking aside, the rest of Perry Mill Farm is just as beautiful as its kitchen. This Grade II-listed Tudor farmhouse — which once doubled as the village Post Office in Peopleton, near Pershore — is a beautifully restored, four-bedroom house at a price which would barely stretch to a suburban semi if you lived up the M5 in Birmingham.

Period features are everywhere in this house, including in the dining room, which has exposed timbers and a large inglenook fireplace that will definitely keep those chills at bay on frosty winter evenings.

It's spacious too, with a 19ft triple-aspect sitting room that's big enough to swallow a grand piano.

And for all its period charm, this is a place that is set up for the 21st century living. The gardens are landscaped a gravelled driveway provides plenty of space for car parking, there's super-fast broadband, good road and rail links nearby, excellent schools, and even a decent pub a short stroll away.

Perry Mill Farm is for sale via Morgan Aps and Finest Properties — see more details.

You wait all year for a vineyard to come up for sale, and a pair of them appear in the space of a couple of weeks. On the heels of Bantham Vineyard in Devon coming on to the market earlier this month, at a very tempting £650,000, another opportunity to make your own wine emerges: Astley Vineyard, in Worcestershire.

It's rather more expensive at £2.1 million — but unlike the Devon contender, this vineyard comes with its own very lovely country house, complete with gloriously wacky name: The Crundles.

The Crundles (we'll never get tired of saying that) is a five-bedroom house set amid eight and a half acres of rolling countryside in one of the prettiest parts of England. It's built with traditional materials and blends in to the landscape, yet is a decidedly modern house with bespoke cabinets, parquet flooring and huge picture windows that bathe the living areas in light.

The winery is very much a going concern. The first vines were planted here half a century ago, and produce around 7,000 bottles a year, making mostly white wines, but also red (a Pinot Noir), some sparkling and vermouth. The production facilities are on site and included in the sale.

Yield does vary given the Worcestershire weather — at the time it was planted in 1971, it was reckoned to be among the most northerly vineyards in Europe, if not the world — but the wines have a good reputation, and have won many awards.

The house itself is lovely, with a partially upside-down layout that gives you a living space with huge balcony and wonderful views over the secluded, wooded area.

There is also a separate Stables house, with three bedrooms and a similar modern look.

And the size of the place — with its eight bedrooms — has a very important other aspect. At harvest time there's plenty of accommodation for friends and family, so you can call in all-hands to help bring in the grapes and create the newest vintage.

Astley Vineyard, in Worcestershire is for sale via Strutt & Parker — see more details.

By the later years of the 19th century, the Gothic Revival had largely had its day — but the Tudor Revival was in full swing, and a beautiful example of the craft is for sale in the form of Fulford Hall, a striking house of almost 16,000sq ft designed in this picturesque style. It's a Grade II-listed home in the Midlands which has moved with the eras: today, it's a home which combines the grandeur of its late-19th-century origins with more recent additions that include a conservatory, an indoor leisure suite and even a putting green.

This classic Victorian country house was built between 1887 and 1890 for Maj-Gen Sir James Johnstone, who inherited the Fulford Hall estate at Tidbury Green, near Solihull, in 1881. Stuart Flint of Fisher German is handling the sale, and quotes a guide price of £3.75m.

Sir James was a distinguished colonial administrator who embodied the Victorian ideals of enterprise and imperial service. Born in Birmingham in 1841, he qualified for one of the last East India Company cadetships and spent more than two decades serving on India’s challenging north-eastern frontier, including nine years as political agent of Manipur, one of the most prestigious postings in British India.

Severely wounded during the Burma campaign of 1885–86, he returned to England, where his service was recognised with a knighthood and the award of the coveted Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI). He spent his final years at Fulford Hall, writing about his frontier adventures in Manipur and the Naga Hills. He died as a result of a riding accident in 1895, aged just 54.

Impeccably renovated by its current owners, who have lived there for more than 30 years, Fulford Hall is laid out for both entertaining and everyday family use.

A dramatic first impression is created by the vast reception hall with its minstrel’s gallery and ornate carved fireplace. The drawing room, timber-panelled study and large dining room are impressive formal spaces, whereas the dual kitchen layout, with scullery and breakfast room, is designed for large family gatherings.

Upstairs are nine bedrooms and five bathrooms, with the top floor offering flexible space for staff or guests. Independent one-bedroom accommodation is provided in a converted coach-house cottage. An indoor swimming pool sits alongside garaging, stabling and extensive storage.

A drive lined with horse chestnut trees leads to formal lawns, terraces and an ornamental pool. A walled kitchen garden, rose pergola and summer house add charm. Sporting amenities include a tennis court and practice golf green, with woodland around the 12¼-acre estate ensuring both privacy and a natural home for wildlife.

Despite its seclusion, Fulford Hall is well connected, with Solihull only six miles away, Birmingham 11 miles to the north, and junction 3 of the M42 a few minutes from the gates. Birmingham International Airport and the NEC are less than 12 miles away.

Fulford Hall is for sale at £3.75 million — see more pictures and details.

You are told not to use the word unique relatively early on in your journalistic career. Unique is like a lot of words, in that it is often used incorrectly, and has a very specific meaning, much like decimated, that crusty old sub editors will take great pleasure in explaining to you.

Estate agents are guilty of its over-use, but then it is an evocative word and their job is to sell houses. The truth is that many unique houses are anything but. There are plenty of thatched cottages, and barn conversions, and stately homes and Modernist delights. People have been building homes for some time, and they do enjoy copying each other's homework.

But that does not mean that there are none. There is a house in Retford, Nottinghamshire, that is absolutely unique, in that it has no copies, no facsimiles, no equals. It is Skyfall, which is a James Bond-themed fever dream of some six bedrooms and 11,000sq ft of living space. For sale, with Fine & Country, for offers in excess of £2.95 million. You will, I am sure, not have seen anything like it.

It’s important to remember when looking around a house for sale that a lot of the furniture involved will likely be leaving with the vendors. So, for example, when you look at a house in which pretty much every wall is decorated with Things Related To James Bond, you can take some comfort that it might not be there when you move in. What might be more tricky to remove, however, is a full-sized mural of Daniel Craig and Judi Dench gazing over Glencoe that occupies the top floor of the galleried games room. In for a Moneypenny, in for a pound.

More on interior design choices later. The property offers six bedrooms, 11,000sq ft of space, and is superbly appointed throughout, with amenities including a tennis court (with another giant mural, this time of Wimbledon), the aforementioned galleried games room with a bar, a home gym, landscaped gardens and grounds and a triple garage in which to keep one’s Aston Martins. Inside, the principal bedroom suite features a vast dressing room, and an orangery, conservatory, garden room, and dining room are some of the many, many reception rooms on offer.

All of this comes after a complete and total renovation by the current owners. Included in the listing photographs are plenty of pictures of mould, if you’re interested in looking at that kind of thing. According to the agents, it is one of the area's 'most exclusive and well-recognised homes', which is hardly a surprise as I am not sure how many James Bond-themed houses there are in Retford, but surely there can't be more than one.

There is no doubt that this is a house of contrasts. Take, for example, the twin interests in James Bond and Wimbledon. My highlight however, is the juxtaposition of the downstairs loo, which might be the most beautiful bathroom I have ever seen, with a sensational vintage cistern, Victorian radiator, stained glass window and floral wallpaper, with the sitting room, which looks like every AirBnB you’ve ever stayed in. It’s like half of this house was designed by someone on an acid trip, while the other was designed by someone on Love Island. All we know for sure is that this person, or these people, absolutely, categorically, undeniably, indisputably love James Bond (and also Wimbledon, to a lesser but equally undeniable extent).

But let's move all that to one side, because perhaps what is most important is that this is a house of great character. One of the great (and, in my opinion valid) criticisms of the wealthy is that despite having lots of money, they spend it badly. Not so here. Here is a home of joy, of luxury, of vivid colour and excitement and many many strange wallpapers and things on the wall. It is that rarest thing, which is that it is wonderfully, gloriously, unique.

Skyfall is for sale with Fine & Country for offers in excess of £2.95 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Churches in towns and villages across England became hives of building activity during the 19th century, as eminent Victorian architects, among them Augustus Pugin, William Butterfield and George Gilbert Scott, dedicated much effort to designing, constructing and renovating these ecclesiastical edifices. These architects, together with others, also ensured that the clergy, keen to meet the needs of their local parishioners, weren’t left out in the cold, with hordes of vicarages and rectories also springing up during this period. These impressive buildings were designed to last and many were later acquired, extended and transformed by wealthy Victorians into high-status private houses, one of which has recently come to the market.

For sale through Hamptons Private Office at a guide price of £4.5 million, Monks Bridge is a restored and renovated former vicarage set in 14 acres of formal gardens, parkland and woodland. It is situated in the charming south Warwickshire village of Butlers Marston on the banks of the River Dene, a mile from Kineton in prime Warwickshire Hunt country and 10 miles south-east of Stratford-upon-Avon.

For many of today’s London buyers, Butlers Marston is seen as the perfect rural location, being a 35-minute drive from Worcestershire’s Cots-wold gem, Broadway, and a similar journey from both Daylesford and Soho Farmhouse.

Originally built in 1837 — the year of Queen Cictoria's ascension to the throne — it was created as the vicarage to the neighbouring Grade II*-listed village church of Saints Peter and Paul. Somehow Monks Bridge is unlisted, and it was extended with the addition of two wings in the 1890s.

Previously owned by Eleanor Wharton, the last surviving granddaughter of chocolate manufacturer George Cadbury, who bought Monks Bridge for £9,000 in 1952 and lived there until her death, aged 94, in 2013, the property was acquired in 2014 by the current vendors.

According to selling agent Paul Houghton-Brown, the new owners, who moved there from the Cotswolds, were specifically looking for a historic property that could be altered and updated without the constraints of listed-building restrictions. Monks Bridge fitted the bill perfectly and they immediately embarked upon a meticulous restoration of the main house, which involved stripping the interior to the bare bones before carefully rebuilding it, although preserving and enhancing its many original features. The work included re-wiring, re-plumbing, the fitting of new windows, the installation of under-floor heating and the refurbishment of the roof.

The process also uncovered many hidden historic elements, including the original Victorian quarry tiles in the grand reception hall, with its lantern roof and cantilevered staircase, and an antique bell system that has been re-wired and reinstated throughout the house.

The kitchen is a totally modern addition. Completed in 2016, it incorporates elegant white-painted cabinetry with premium Miele appliances and a large breakfast bar set in a vast, light-filled living-space that includes an adjoining dining room, breakfast room, two pantries and two laundry rooms.

Further informal spaces include a morning room, craft room and a sizeable boot room — which is ideal for dogs, the agents suggest. The cellar below includes a wine store, wine room and boiler room. Upstairs are six double bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms. The principal bedroom suite boasts its own private balcony and dressing room. In addition to the main house, which offers 6,317sq ft of accommodation, including six reception rooms, six bedrooms and six bathrooms, a brick-built former coach house has been converted to a separate two-bedroom annexe.

The beautifully landscaped grounds provide a wonderful backdrop to the main house and its secondary buildings, which include a well-equipped gym and an enclosed hard tennis court. The delightful formal gardens comprise box hedges laid out ‘parterre style’, paved walkways, manicured lawns, water features and flower gardens for moments of private contemplation. Keen gardeners will appreciate the orchard and the fruitful kitchen garden.

Monks Bridge is for sale at £4.5 million via Hamptons Private Office — see more details.

In 1851, an entry in the Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire recorded the hamlet of Little Onn, comprising 870 acres of land, 1½ miles south of Church Eaton and eight miles south-west of Stafford, as being ‘the sole property of Charles Ashton Esq, who has a pleasant seat here called Rye Hill House’. Now, after more than a century and a half of restoration, the present main house there, set in 28 acres, is for sale through the Midlands office of Fisher German and Peter James Property in Wolverhampton, at a guide price of £3.5 million.

Ashton inherited the estate when still a minor, following the death in 1844 of his father, whose family had made their fortune in the cotton mills of the North-West. His grandfather, James Ashton, had bought the Little Onn estate with its late-18th-century house from the Crockett family in 1830, the year that Charles was born.

Ashton was clearly unimpressed by Rye Hill House; no sooner had he come of age than he set about replacing it with the much grander Little Onn Hall, built in the style of an Elizabethan manor house with tall chimneystacks and crow-stepped gables.

A medieval moated site to the north-east of the hall, which includes the remains of a building thought to be part of the original 15th-/16th-century manor house, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, although the hall itself is unlisted.

After his death in 1891, and that of his wife two years later, Little Onn Hall passed to their teenage daughters, Eveline and Amy, who embarked on ambitious plans for improving the house and grounds, as a result of which the building almost doubled in size.

In the 1890s, the sisters commissioned Thomas Mawson, one of the leading garden designers of his day, to produce a detailed plan for landscaping the gardens.

However, his proposals were never fully implemented, as his clients ran out of money, although they still managed to execute enough of Mawson’s designs to make the gardens at Little Onn Hall among the best surviving examples of his work.

The Ashton sisters both married in the early 1900s and, in 1907, Little Onn Hall was sold to Tyrell William Cavendish, who died in the RMS Titanic disaster in 1912. The property was sold twice more in the 20th century before being acquired in 2006 by its current owner, a successful Midlands businessman, with whom Little Onn Hall has undergone what Stuart Flint of Fisher German describes as ‘the perfect restoration’.

The house now offers more than 10,500sq ft of pristine living space on three main floors, including five principal reception rooms, a garden room, study, cinema, office, kitchen/breakfast room and domestic offices on the ground floor, with cellars below.

Upstairs, the sumptuous principal bedroom suite boasts a striking stone fireplace, two beautifully fitted dressing rooms and luxurious his-and-her shower rooms; there are nine further bedrooms and four further bath/shower rooms.

Highlights of the interior include the central oak-panelled library, off which radiate the principal reception rooms, and the kitchen/breakfast room, previously a grand billiards room, with its dramatic arched ceilings rising to a vast glazed roof lantern.

The same meticulous attention to detail is evident throughout the gardens and grounds, notably the pleasure gardens laid out by Mawson and completed in about 1898. His design includes terraces, a tennis court, a rose garden and woodland, with much additional planting carried out by the current owners.

Little Onn is for sale through Fisher German and Peter James Property at a guide price of £3.5 million.

Despite sounding like an unsavoury Goop candle, Papplewick is not a creation of Gwyneth Paltrow. No, it is far nicer and more reasonably priced; a rather gorgeous eight-bedroom, Grade-I listed Georgian home on the market with Strutt & Parker.

Located east of the River Leen in the Nottinghamshire countryside, with a guide price of £3 million, this magnificent estate looks like something out of a Jane Austen novel. With a sweeping driveway, magnificent teal living room with ornate carved friezes, panels and cornice and a cantilevered spiral staircase with iron balustrade, it is a property that catches attention. Its Mansfield stone front gives it a grand, stately appearance, which is enhanced by pleasing sash windows.

Set in more than 10 acres and complete with a tennis court, four cottages and paddocks, it is on the edge of the village and was once part of Newstead Abbey, which was an Augustine Monastery until it wasn’t. It was purchased for £810 by Sir John Byron in 1540 and later acquired by Frederick Montagu in the 18th century after he had been Lord Treasurer of England. He had Papplewick Hall built in 1787 and the estate was later purchased by Alderman Albert Ball for the sum of £136,410 (£8 million today).

Papplewick Hall has three bedrooms on its first floor, each complete with a bathroom, and five bedrooms on the second floor with two further bathrooms. An extensive cellar in the basement provides the ultimate storage space for tipples for the house’s guests, which is useful, because there is lots of space for lots of guests.

South of Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood-fame, the grounds contain a woodland walk to the local church that is overshadowed by oaks, ashes and sycamores. They also contain four cottages: Bell Cottage (one bedroom), Corner cottage (three bedrooms), Hall Mews (one bedroom) and Stableyeard House (six bedrooms) — plenty of room for many merry men (and women).

For more information on Papplewick Estate visit the Strutt & Parker website.

It’s not every day that you get to stand on your patio and see safari animals grazing and hear the whistle of steam locomotives.

But then Winterdyne is not your typical home. The stunning Grade II* listed Georgian country house was built in the late 18th century by Sir Edward Winnington Bart and is thought to have been designed by the Adam brothers. It is perched on a wooded ridge and offers ‘incredible and unrivalled’ views across the Severn Valley, according to the agents.

Winterdyne has provided the backdrop to some important moments in time. According to local historian Kenneth Hobson, it was used as a base during the Second World War II to allow generals to liaise with Free French officers who were posted at Ribbesford. Kenneth goes on to note that ‘General de Gaulle was there for some time and it is rumoured Winston Churchill met General de Gaulle at Winterdyne when he was visiting his son’.

But there have been some lighter episodes too. Kenneth relays the tale of Bewdley Fire Brigade receiving as many as a dozen calls out to Winterdyne, when it was used as a care home. All of the calls turned out to be false alarms. The culprit? A resident who claimed that seeing the young firemen brightened up her day.

The house sits at the heart of a near-30 acre estate near the historic market town of Bewdley in Worcestershire. It’s on the market for £3.75 million with Chartwell Noble.

Winterdyne is not short on period features: Robert Adam-style plasterwork here, enormous sash windows there. Not to mention some impressive fireplaces.

The entrance hall and reception rooms boast grand proportions. The oval-shaped drawing room, an elegant affair, certainly sets the bar high.

While Winterdyne is rich in architectural details, it’s got the modern touches you’d expect of a home — and more. There’s a spacious and homely-looking kitchen (with a balcony), an enormous billiard room, cinema room, gym, study, and an office. Plus, a ‘back kitchen’, which sounds handy to me.

On the first and second floors, there’s seven bedrooms. Imagine the negotiations to claim as your own one of the bedrooms marked up in the floorplan as ‘one’ and ‘five’? Both bedrooms boast dressing rooms, dramatic curved walls and en-suite bathrooms.

Beyond the main house, there’s a striking curved building — a former stable block — which houses a swimming pool. There’s also a garage, courtyard and archway.

Another perk of Winterdyne is the Coach House, which has been transformed into two self-contained, two-bedroom homes. These have family, friends or staff written all over them.

We mentioned de Gaulle earlier. Winterdyne has another French twist to it. The grounds include formal landscaped gardens, which have a mini-Versailles vibe going on.

The wider estate includes two fields and woodland, creating what Chartwell Noble describe as a ‘secure, ring-fenced sanctuary that offers both privacy and potential’.

George Pickard, co-founder of Chartwell Noble, says: ‘Its elegant architecture, elevated position and rich historic character encapsulate the timeless appeal of the English country house — a legacy we are honoured to help preserve and present to discerning buyers.’

Winterdyne is for sale at £3,750,000 — see more pictures and details.

Whoever snaps up idyllic-looking Old Hall near the shores of Rutland Water has big shoes to fill.

This beautiful Grade II-listed house was built by a co-founder of the Bank of England, Sir Gilbert Heathcote of Normanton Hall. No surprise to hear that he was one of the wealthiest commoners at the time.

Further down the line, an aristocrat, socialite and racehorse breeder called Caroline Beresford, the Duchess of Montrose, took up the reins of this Georgian and Jacobean gemt. Rumour has it, she used the pseudonym of Mr Manton in Newmarket records to circumvent rules. 

And in the post-war years, the author Cyril Heber Percy called the Old Hall ‘home’.

Now, the 10-bedroom house in the pretty village of Manton, Rutland, is set to change hands once again. It’s on the market with Fine & Country for £2,500,000.

The Old Hall is certainly sprawling. There’s the main three-storey property with an attractive 18th century façade, plus various adjoining outbuildings.

Inside, it is dressed to the nines, with designer wallpapers, bespoke curtains, blinds and swags, plus top-notch fittings, all from Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour.

It has all the lofty reception rooms you’d expect of a fine country house: hallway, drawing room and dining room — both with panelling — as well as a library and orangery. 

And hard-working rooms too, including the kitchen, study, office suite, cellar, and a large utility room that leads into a games room. 

Two staircases lead to the first and second floors, where you'll find five double bedrooms, two with en-suites, and a family bathroom on the first floor.

And there’s a number of rooms used for storage on the second floor. Now here is where you could take it to the next level. According to Fine & Country, there’s scope to create five — yes, five — double bedrooms and a bathroom out of this space. There’s a further large room at the top of the back stairs too.

The Old Hall is nestled in nearly an acre of landscaped gardens and grounds. These include a heated outdoor pool, large lawn with mature trees, vegetable garden, and a pergola-covered walkway. A recently built garage near the pool area also houses a shower, WC, and sauna.

The Old Hall sits at the heart of what sounds like a very jolly village. Towards the back of the brochure, we’re told there are regular social events in Manton, including safari suppers. That’s the kind of intel all buyers are itching for.

The house ticks the boxes for commuters and young families. It is close to the A1 and train links to London and there’s several independent schools on the doorstep, including Oakham School, Uppingham School, Stamford School, Oundle School, and Witham Hall.

Ildi Toth, the selling agent at Fine & Country Rutland, Stamford and South Lincolnshire, describes the Old Hall as ‘a harmonious blend of historical grandeur and modern luxury’.

She explains: ‘Its Georgian and Jacobean architecture, dating back to 1688, offers a timeless elegance, while the meticulously landscaped gardens and heated outdoor pool provide contemporary comfort.

‘Nestled in the charming village of Manton, close to the serene Rutland Water, this property is not just a home — it's a sanctuary that celebrates both heritage and refined living.’

The Old Hall is for sale with Fine & Country for £2,500,000. For more information and pictures, click here.

Some would say that to fight for a landscape is to show how much you care for it. So it was in 1932, when the Kinder Scout Trespass took place, with some 400 workers from nearby Manchester descending on Derbyshire to protest being ‘locked out’ of Derbyshire’s highest peak by the Duke of Devonshire.

It is a landscape worth fighting for and one that is steeped in history. Houses in the area are often sought after and many wealthy landowners built great homes to take advantage of the spectacular scenery. One such example is Upper House, for sale with Fine and Country for £3.25 million.

Upper House can trace its lineage back to the 14th century and comes with fun room names such as the medieval great hall and ‘The Gun Room’. One of its most prominent owners was Sir James Watts, who was the mayor of Manchester and the father in law of Agatha Christie.

A variety of distinguished guests have passed through its halls, including politicians, royalty and local nobility. The property was also home to the Kinder family for 400 years before Sir James took it on.

Despite these ancient origins, the property in its current state is achingly modern. With 12 bedrooms, and five bespoke kitchens, its current life is one of an events venue, hosting weddings, corporate retreats and anything in between.

Which means, of course, that it's a house with its own bar.

That said, it easily could — and should, in my opinion — be returned to use as a grand family home.

As the pictures will no doubt tell you, the property is in magnificent condition, with no expense spared on interiors that are a treasure to look at. Perhaps the only thing better than the interiors are the grounds and gardens.

Extending to 30 acres, the property comes with private woodland, lawns and paddocks. A landscape very much worth fighting for.

Upper House is for sale with Fine & Country for £3.25 million. For more information and pictures, click here.

Progress always has a price. In the early 1970s, the county of Rutland and surrounding areas was in desperate need of a new reservoir to supply the farms, villages and towns nearby — and the cost of creating what is now the largest reservoir in Britain was the destruction of two of the villages which once sat in the middle of the water: Nether Hambleton and Middle Hambleton.

Sad as it is for entire villages to be lost beneath the water, the appalling drought in 1976 — just a year after the project was finished — showed that the planners had been right to think ahead. And while most of the houses in the two aforementioned villages disappeared, a handful of homes in Middle Hambleton survived — including Orchard House, a beautiful place that's come up for sale via Savills in Stamford with a guide price of £3.5m. And as you'd expect, it's a charming place with wonderful views across the water.

The house, built on two storeys of coursed rubble under a stone-tiled roof, dates from the 17th century and, according to Historic England, comprises ‘several cottages laid out in a long range of two different builds, with a wing of a different build and probably of later date’.

Largely hidden from view behind a tall hedge, Orchard House stands in 7¼ acres of landscaped gardens and grounds that run down to the shore and include an adjoining paddock. All of this enjoys — as you'd expect — spectacular views over Rutland Water, as do many of the houses nearby: what remains of Middle Hampton was merged with Upper Hambleton to become, simply, Hambleton, a village that is set on a long peninsula that comes out in to the middle of the lake, and has become a much sought-after place to live.

A central, stone flagged reception hall leads to formal dining and drawing rooms and a warm and cheerful living room. A large open-plan kitchen/breakfast room forms the heart of the house, with views over the gardens to Rutland Water in the distance.

An oak staircase leads to three first-floor bedrooms and three bath/shower rooms, with a fourth bedroom on the second floor.

And the gardens? I think it's fair to say that they speak for themselves.

As for the reservoir itself? Rutland Water, which is filled by pumping water from the rivers Nene and Welland might originally have been designed to provide water for the East Midlands, but it's become so much more than that. The reservoir is now also a major sporting centre, where visitors can enjoy sailing, fishing, walking and cycling along a 25-mile perimeter track.

Large areas of wetland at its western end form a nature reserve, a haven for a resident population of rare birds, including ospreys, which were introduced in 1996.

Orchard House is for sale via Savills in Stamford with a guide price of £3.5m — see more pictures and details.

From the outside, there is perhaps not too much about Glebe Farm that catches the eye. It is a large red-brick building in a lovely part of the Nottinghamshire countryside. It is surrounded by lawns and mature trees. There is a ha-ha. All pretty straightforward so far.

But we know better than to make assumptions, don’t we. Because unassuming things often have the ability to surprise us, don’t they. And Glebe Farm is indeed very surprising, because it has undergone quite the transformation from a former farmhouse into a deliciously luxurious modern home with all the trimmings. For sale with Fine & Country for £2.5 million.

The best things come in hidden packages. That’s why we like Christmas so much. And birthdays. And Glebe Farm. Situated in the south Nottinghamshire village of Stanton on the Wolds, the property offers five bedrooms and some extremely stylish interiors set in a U-shape plan over two floors.

The bones of the house are very old, but the interiors are very new. Restored by the current owner, the property now features more than 4,200sq ft of living space, highlights of which include a double-height open plan living room and dining area.

Three bedrooms occupy the ground floor, while another guest bedroom and the principal bedroom are on the first floor.

On the first floor you will also find the study, which boasts a large internal window from which you can keep an eye on the rest of the house while you work, like some kind of villain. I’m a big fan of internal windows.

Outside, the property boasts extensive gardens of about two acres, which are mostly set to lawn on all sides. In said gardens you will find extensive planting areas for growing your own fruit or vegetables. You will also find a timber-framed gazebo, which is ideal for al-fresco dining and entertaining.

Another real highlight of Glebe Farm is its leisure facilities. A timber barn has been transformed into a home gym, while the gardens also feature a freestanding barrel sauna and a natural swimming pond with a deck.

Everything is here, but wrapped up in an unassuming package. Classy.

Glebe Farm is for sale with Fine & Country for £2.5 million. For more information and pictures, click here

If your idea of rural bliss a Georgian gem in a village of honey-coloured stone surrounded by unspoilt countryside? We’re not talking about the Cotswolds, rather the East Midlands secret that is Rutland. This area of gentle rolling hills, where, as Bach may have said, ‘sheep may safely graze’, is England’s smallest county. You could drive past on the A1 and barely know you had done so, which perhaps explains why it is so bafflingly overlooked. Yet it deserves attention.

Rutland (and some of the bordering ‘Notswolds’ counties of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire) have the same mellow, creamy limestone as the Cotswolds and boast beguiling market towns and villages that are every bit as attractive, but without the tourists or hefty prices. If you wish to buy a coveted rectory or converted farmhouse, you will be spoilt for choice. ‘Rutland has never been very trendy, whereas the Cotswolds has, so the area retains excellent value,’ says Tom Wilson, a director at King West.

Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops, agrees. ‘Rutland may be the smallest county in the UK, but it is well located with beautiful countryside, historic market towns, public schools and Rutland Water,’ he says.

‘With good rail links to London and limestone villages, it has all the ambience of the Cotswolds without the price tag.’ The average property price in Rutland is £446,892 (according to Savills, using Experian data). In the Cotswolds, the average is £640,422.

One of the most desirable spots is Rutland Water, one of the largest manmade lakes in Europe, and its surrounds, which draws people for everything from birdwatching (ospreys breed here) to swimming, hiking, sailing and cycling, as well as some of the best hunting. Nearby are the stone and thatch villages of Manton (with the popular Rutland Nursery on its doorstep), Edith Weston and extremely desired Hambleton, which sits in rural bliss on its own peninsula.

There are waterfront walks, a cosy pub and elegant Hambleton Hall Hotel, with an excellent view over the water and an equally excellent restaurant, which has held a Michelin star for more than 40 years. A classic Georgian vicarage here starts from roughly £1 million.

Buyers tend to be well-heeled locals, as well as professional families from London and the Home Counties attracted by the good commuting links. The proportion of Londoners buying in Rutland has increased from 3.6% before the pandemic to 5.5%, according to Savills. Trains to London King’s Cross run from Oakham or Stamford via Peterborough, taking about 1½ hours, or direct from Corby to St Pancras (about 1¼ hours). ‘There is also a really helpful route, on the Midlands CrossCountry line, from Birmingham airport through Oakham to Cambridge and Stansted airport,’ says James Abbott, head of the residential department at Savills based in Stamford.

In particular, Uppingham and Oakham public schools are ‘a big draw,’ he adds, as well as Ofsted ‘outstanding’ state schools, such as Harington School sixth form and Catmose College, both in Oakham. This county town bustles with useful shops, a handsome market square and a train station; Uppingham, which is a little smaller and more quaint, has a slightly arty feel, with antique shops and boutiques.

Charming villages include nearby Exton, close to the Barnsdale Hotel with its popular restaurant, or Barrowden and Lyddington. All three boast mellow stone buildings, a green and that most important of amenities, a gastro pub. Three/four-bedroom cottages in these villages range between £500,000 and £750,000.

Most people are drawn by ‘the quality of life,’ says Mr Abbott, and Rutland manages to be peaceful, as well as offering variety. An Arts and music festival has developed from the regular opera programme held at Nevill Holt Hall (in neighbouring Leicestershire); the inaugural festival was held in June this year, on the estate owned by Carphone Warehouse co-founder David Ross.

Sports enthusiasts can enjoy golf or on-trend padel tennis at Woolfox, a new members club outside Stamford, with its pool, gym, yoga glasses and Tarka kids exercise club, as well as the Scandi-esque Woolfox café. Larch-clad, high-end holiday homes are being built by the golf course. These boast airy rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows through which herds of deer or golfers can be seen; prices start from £1.8 million.

A Georgian three/four-bedroom townhouse in the centre of Stamford (in Lincolnshire, strictly speaking) ranges between £750,000 and £1 million. The former wool town’s stone splendour is matched by the range and quality of shops and restaurants: everything from antique emporiums to excellent local butchers can be found here, as well as imposing Burghley House, home of the Cecil family and the Burghley Horse Trials.

Multum in parvo — or ‘much in a small space’ — is Rutland’s motto. Rarely has a motto been more true.

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Owning an ancient, character house invariably means leaving your mark on it — even if it's simply in the things you're able to restore and replace, and those which you have to leave for the next inhabitant. Yet few medieval homes have been shaped so much by successive owners as Grade II*-listed The Old Hall, a substantial property set in 14¾ acres of old and beautiful gardens on the edge of the picturesque village of Netherseal. It lies in the extreme south of Derbyshire, bounded to the south by the River Mease, which marks the county border with Leicestershire, of which it was once a part.

The former manor house, which is largely hidden and enclosed by boundary walls, yew hedges and lime trees, stands next to the 13th-century church of St Peter at the heart of the Netherseal Conservation Area. Comprehensively renovated and modernised by its current owners, The Old Hall is now for sale through the Nottingham office of Savills at a guide price of £3.5 million.

The Old HalI's history (of which more later) goes back over 800 years, the last 14 of which have been as a wonderful family home for Adam and Lizzy Devey Smith and their four children.

The Devey Smiths have followed in the footsteps of previous custodians by making additions — in their case a vast orangery, an outdoor kitchen, a heated swimming pool and a sunken terrace. The woods teeming with wildlife, the lake, football pitch and swimming pool are all part of ‘an absolute children’s paradise within a tranquil private oasis,’ says Mrs Devey Smith.

Today, The Old Hall provides 10,560sq ft of accommodation on three floors, including, on the ground floor, a formal reception hall, four large reception rooms, a bespoke Mark Wilkinson open-plan dining kitchen, the magnificent orangery and a secondary kitchen and utility room.

The first floor houses the principal bedroom suite, a family bathroom, three double bedrooms and two more bathrooms, with three further bedrooms, a bathroom and store rooms on the second floor.

There is also a well-appointed self-contained flat, which is ideal for dependent relatives or staff.

As for the history of the place? In 1192, the Norman Earl Ferrers granted the manor of Netherseal to William de Ridware. Between then and 1648, when The Old Hall was sold, the manor passed by marriage through the de Ridware, de Stafford, de Pipe, Vernon and Mather families.

Over time, the estate gradually diminished in size and importance and, in 1614, William Mather sold some land and the lordship of the manor to George Gresley, who built a new manor house to the west of the church, thereby relegating the status of The Old Hall to second place.

In 1648, The Old Hall estate was sold to Zachary Johnson and later passed through the Moore and Jervis families before being sold in lots in 1797. The major purchaser was Maj-Gen George Hewett, who also bought The Old Hall itself. The Hewett family owned the property throughout the 19th century, sometimes letting it and sometimes residing there themselves. They made a number of alterations and additions, including the 1908 wing, built of red brick on two storeys, plus attics.

According to a detailed history of Netherseal commissioned by South Derbyshire District Council in 2011, The Old Hall was sold in about 1928 to Ernest J. Manners of the Worthington Brewery in Burton-on-Trent. By then, the Gresley estates were in trouble and, soon afterwards, Manners bought the ‘new’ Hall as well and swiftly demolished it.

In 1931, when the contents of nearby Drakelow Hall, another Gresley family seat, were sold at auction, Manners bought the exceptional linenfold panelling, which he installed in the dining room of The Old Hall. The report’s author comments: ‘Fittingly, therefore, despite the rise and eventual supremacy of the Gresley estate in the 16th and 17th centuries, it is The Old Hall that has stayed the course and which still bears witness to the long history of Netherseal’s manorial descent.’

Manners went on to extend The Old Hall, where he hosted many Society events. He married Alice Meakin, a local girl who had a passion for African plants, which she imported to create a vibrant African garden, the structure of which can still be seen today.

Mrs Manners was heavily involved in the life of the village and the lawns of The Old Hall were the setting for the local school sports day for many years; children evacuated from London lived at the house throughout the Second World War. It was eventually sold out of the Manners family following her death in 1980.

The Old Hall is for sale at £3.5m — see more details and pictures.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

For Christopher Dewe of Knight Frank’s country department, his native county of Herefordshire is a cherished piece of Olde England, although it’s no coincidence that a recent addition to his portfolio, the enchanting Paunton Court, set in 52 acres of gardens, orchards, woodland and paddocks on the banks of the Frome at Bishops Frome, 10 miles from Ledbury and Malvern, is perhaps more evocative of an idyllic corner of la vieille France.

Acquired as ‘a wreck’ by its present owners on their return from that country in 2005, the charming, Grade II-listed, 16th/17th-century former farmhouse with its farm buildings, cottage, outbuildings and productive small vineyard, has been transformed into a picturesque working farmstead reminiscent of a rustic Normandy manoir.

Now for sale through Knight Frank at a guide price of £3.25m, the main house offers more than 9,000sq ft of colourful living space on three floors, including an impressive vaulted drawing room, three further reception rooms, an office, kitchen/breakfast room, principal bedroom suite with a dressing room, bathroom and study, seven further bedrooms, four bathrooms and a playroom.

The cottage in the main courtyard is ideal for staff accommodation or overflow guest space and currently houses a wine-tasting room and shop. Period outbuildings include a large, double-height threshing barn built of 15th-century timbers and a range of storerooms, stables and workshops.

A 2,300sq ft modern agricultural barn houses a biomass boiler, with an adjoining barn currently used as a cider house. Beyond the main courtyard and buildings is a walled kitchen garden, with well-tended vegetable beds, espalier trees and a fruit cage, alongside a home orchard of mature fruit trees, including apples, pears, plums and an almond tree.

This being hop and cider country, the enterprise includes a 6½-acre cider orchard and an established 11½-acre hop yard, let to a neighbour on a five-year agricultural tenancy. A 3½-acre vineyard established in the 1990s by the previous owner has been developed by the present incumbent as a thriving small business producing 6,000–8,000 bottles a year, depending on the harvest.

Vinification is organised with a local contract winemaker in Ledbury and produce is sold through the owner’s website, summer tours and tastings at a number of well-established food and drinks festivals in the region.

Paunton Court is for sale with Knight Frank for £3.25 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Sotheby's International Realty

A tale of two cities: Former home of Charles Dickens on Hanover Terrace comes up for sale

His portrayals of London in his literature may have been bleak, but his summer home in the city was anything

Five magnificent country homes for sale, from a palatial Georgian masterpiece to an equestrian dream home in Hertfordshire

Our look at the finest homes to appear on the market via Country Life this week.

Credit: Chris Curl

A remarkable Edwardian country house in one of Herefordshire's most enviable locations hits the market for the first time

Whitney Court stands in the glorious Wye Valley and has been in the hands of the same family for more

Credit: Killens

A castle folly in Weston-super-Mare from which to relax and enjoy views of the Severn Estuary

The aptly named Castle House is a unique three-bedroom home that's been recently refurbished and comes with all the crenellations

The glorious Wye Valley, which straddles the border between England and Wales, provides a spectacular backdrop to one of Herefordshire’s most remarkable country houses, Whitney Court at Whitney-on-Wye, six miles north of Hay-on-Wye and 17 miles east of Hereford. For sale for the first time since it was built — at a guide price of £3 million through Peter Daborn of Savills in Telford — the grand Edwardian country house stands in 22 acres of gardens and wooded parkland at the heart of the ancient Whitney estate, which was acquired by the Hope family in 1897.

According to a history compiled by the owners, the house was born of a collaboration between various members of the Hope family, the prime mover being Lady Mary Nugent, the widow of the Hon James Hope-Wallace of Featherstone Castle, Northumberland; her daughter-in-law Eliza Coats, youngest daughter of textile magnate Sir Peter Coats, joint founder of the Scottish thread-making firm of J. & P. Coats; Eliza’s favourite brother, another Peter Coats, ‘who found the necessary cash’; and Lady Mary’s second son, James Louis Alexander Hope, who ‘handled the aesthetic side of things, siting the new house brilliantly and choosing both architect and building style’.

The site chosen lay ‘high and dry above the river valley and, not, like its two predecessors (both of which were eventually demolished), down and damp beside the River Wye, where cellars could flood several times a year’.

The third Whitney Court was to be a state-of-the-art structure for its day, with an electric-bell system for the whole house, ducted-air central heating on the ground floor, six bathrooms — at a time when most Herefordshire houses were lucky to have more than one — and one of the first private power plants in Britain. The neo-Jacobean house was built, for the most part regardless of cost, by the prize-winning architect Thomas H. Watson, his designs based on John Thorpe’s Jacobean Somerhill House near Tonbridge, Kent.

Lady Mary laid the foundation stone in 1898 and, at first, all went well. However, two years later, James Louis fell ill (both he and Lady Mary were to die in 1904), whereupon Eliza and her brother, Peter, took immediate charge of the project. Alarmed by the new building’s escalating costs, brother and sister made big changes to Watson’s scheme, drastically reducing the court’s intended size and, among other major alterations, forcing him to make his main south windows a good deal bigger and include generous staff accommodation — even with their own bathroom — on the top floor. Eliza died in 1906 and was survived by her brother Peter, who lived at the court in his spacious first-floor flat, devoting his energies to his herd of pedigree Hereford cattle and the overall running of the estate, until his death seven years later on the eve of the First World War.

The estate was inherited by Coats’s ward, the young Nugent Hope. Whitney Court itself was greatly damaged by army occupation during the Second World War and remained empty until 1950. Nugent’s first wife, Hilda, had died from the after-effects of a hunting accident in 1938, and the remodelling of the house was undertaken by his second wife, Constance, who further reduced both house and garden to a more manageable size.

Nugent died in 1973, but Constance lived on at Whitney Court until her death, aged 95, in 1996. Since then, Nugent’s grandson, Augustine Hope, and his American wife, Maureen, have redecorated its two lower floors and established them as the setting for civil weddings and business and family entertaining.

However, being based in the US, the couple have less and less time to spend at the house, hence the decision to sell. Also for sale, by separate negotiation, are the splendid original stable block and yard, both located opposite the main gates to the court; the stable flat has been recently renovated and has potential for further redevelopment.

Whitney Court, which is unlisted, offers 19,924sq ft of accommodation on three floors, including the grand entrance hall with its spectacular hall ceiling based on a heraldic drawing made to mark Lady Mary’s 80th birthday in 1891. There are four formal reception rooms — drawing room, dining room, library and morning room — most of which enjoy far-reaching views over the surrounding parkland and the Wye valley.

A new kitchen was created by Constance Hope in 1950 out of a former office and a nursery wing, originally designed for the young Nugent and his sister, Violet, was adapted in the 1920s for Nugent’s own children. The first floor houses nine bedrooms, two with en-suite bathrooms, plus three family bathrooms. The second floor offers a vast amount of attic space, including seven large rooms and two bathrooms, with access to the roof and magnificent views towards Hay Bluff.

Outside, a pathway leads to immaculate formal gardens dominated by specimen trees, yew hedging and towering cedars. A raised terrace with rose border lines the front of the house, which boasts planted borders and a stone balustrade. The front of the house is draped in wisteria in spring and summer with magnolia trees in the foreground. Stone steps lead down to a lower terrace and onto the parkland, which is planted with an abundance of the splendid oak trees that are a special feature of Whitney Court.

Whitney Court is for sale with Savills for £3 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Credit: John D Wood

A glorious East Sussex farmhouse in six acres with outstanding period interiors and a big pond

Five bedrooms and plenty of space is the name of the game at this property near Herstmonceux.

A Scottish island with beaches, castle and farmhouse that's for sale at the price of a two-bedroom London flat

There comes a time in a house buyer's life when they need to ask themselves a question: 839 sq ft

Grade I-listed Gayton Manor, described as a ‘beguilingly beautiful’, 16th-century small manor house set in almost 4½ acres of gardens and grounds on the edge of the pretty hilltop village of Gayton, five miles from Northampton town centre. This gem in the East Midlands is for sale through Lindsay Cuthill’s Blue Book Agency and Savills in Banbury, the joint agents quoting a guide price of £2.95m for the house.

In all, Gayton Manor offers 6,139sq ft of elegant living space on three main floors, including four reception rooms, six bedrooms and three bathrooms, with room to install further bedrooms and bathrooms, if required.

Gayton Manor was originally built by Sir Francis Tanfield in about 1540 in the cruciform style similar to that of Lyveden New Bield near Oundle. In 1607, the manor was sold by Tanfield’s grandson to Sir William Samwell, a high-ranking Elizabethan courtier.

In 1755, it was acquired by landowner James Hawley, in whose family it remained until the 1970s. Gayton Manor is built of limestone with ironstone dressings and enjoys both privacy, thanks to its surrounding wall, and views over the surrounding countryside and the nearby Norman church of St Mary.

In 1994, the house was bought by its current owner, motor-racing enthusiast Crispian Besley, as a weekend retreat for himself and his family when he worked in investment banking in London; it later became their full-time family home.

During his tenure, the house has been sensitively modernised throughout, with 21st-century family living and entertaining in mind. In 2012, planning consent was granted to add a large open-plan kitchen/breakfast room and to convert the basement (the original kitchen) into a media and play room.

For sale at £2.95m via Blue Book Agency and Savills in Banbury — see more pictures and details.

Will Matthews of Knight Frank and Crispin Holborow of Savills are joint agents in the sale of the pleasantly secluded, 202-acre Chyknell Hall estate, which comprises a substantial, Grade II-listed Regency house set in open countryside a mile west of Claverley, with five additional houses and cottages, surrounded by immaculate gardens, parkland and arable land. For sale at a guide price of £10.5m for the whole.

The hall stands on high ground with far-reaching views over the surrounding parkland and beautifully landscaped gardens.

It offers more than 16,000sq ft of elegant living space on three floors, including a magnificent reception hall, three particularly splendid reception rooms (drawing room, dining room and library).

There is also a study, sitting room, billiards room, media room, office and kitchen/breakfast/diner overlooking the Bannerman interior courtyard, inspired by that at London’s exclusive 5, Hertford Street.

There are 11 main bedrooms and eight bath/shower rooms, with further accommodation available in the converted coach house, the stable cottage and flat.

Chyknell Hall was designed by the architect John Hiram Haycock, who built many notable public buildings and country houses in Shropshire and Montgomeryshire and worked in partnership with his son, Edward Haycock, from about 1814, the year that Chyknell Hall was built.

In 1915, the hall was greatly enhanced to include extensive works to the impressive gardens, which were later completed by the legendary Russell Page.

In the course of the past seven years, the entire house has been significantly restored and modernised, the interior designed and curated by Guy Goodfellow to provide for tasteful modern living, yet preserving and restoring Haycock’s original ethos. Many of the soft furnishings, including the tapestry in the dining room, are included in the sale.

The land at Chyknell Hall extends to some 182 acres in all, including 41 acres of mature, broadleaf woodland, about 30 acres of grass leys and 110 acres of permanent pasture, most of which is parkland.

Beyond that, however, the estate comes with sporting rights over a further 427 acres, plus 684 acres currently let-in to provide an outstanding pheasant and partridge shoot across 1,312 acres in all.

The Chyknell Estate is for sale via Knight Frank and Savills at £10.5 million — see more pictures and details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

The best country house builders, craftspeople and specialists in Britain

Whether you're embarking on a new-build or painstakingly restoring a listed building, here are the craftsmen with excellent foundations.

Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves, we all got told by our grandmothers. She was right, but what she neglected to add was that if you look after the pounds, the multi-million fortunes will look after themselves.

That, at least, is the lesson demonstrated by the life and career of the late Keith Smith, co-founder of the Poundland chain. Keith and his son Steve set the company up in 1990, eventually building it into a national chain and making their fortunes. By 1997, the success was great enough that Keith and his wife Maureen were able to do exactly what we'd do if enormous wealth came our way: buy a stunning old country house with a intricate rooms, four-poster beds, endless space, Versailles-style gardens and — ideally — a moat.

The home they chose to tick all those boxes is Ludstone Hall, a wonderful 400-year-old house and 178 acre estate. Sadly, Keith died in 2022, and this majestic property is seeking a new owner; the asking price is £7,750,000 via joint agents Stuart Flint of Fisher German in Worcester and Peter James of Peter James Property in Wolverhampton.

The focal point of the estate is the wonderfully symmetrical main house, which towers over its moat and offers more than 8,000sq ft of sumptuous accommodation on three floors.

There are four grand reception rooms, nine bedrooms and seven bath/shower rooms, plus extensive domestic offices and cellarage.

Highlights include the vast, brilliantly lit reception hall; the oak-panelled staircase hall dominated by a wide, 17th-century oak staircase with elaborately carved newel posts.

There is also an oak-panelled sitting room and a similar dining room, both of which have carved stone fireplaces; while the luxurious drawing room has large windows overlooking the garden.

To the rear, a remarkable leisure complex, built in 2000, which features a Roman-style indoor swimming pool with a solid retractable floor that rises to create a dance floor.

Amazing stuff. As Arthur C. Clarke once wrote, any technology that is sufficiently advanced becomes indistinguishable from magic. We think this counts.

For those looking for even more, the family is also selling Manor Fold, a collection of eight let houses on the edge of the estate. It’s on the market separately as a residential investment portfolio with an excellent rental income, at a guide price of £3m.

The setting for this house is the ancient parish of Claverley, near Bridgnorth, covers an area of more than 8,000 acres in rural east Shropshire, its eastern boundary abutting the county boundary with Staffordshire. In medieval times, much of the parish was covered by woodland as part of the royal Forest of Morfe, which extended westward to the Severn and eastwards to the village of Claverley.

After the Dissolution, the monastic lands previously held by the Deanery of Bridgnorth in a number of hamlets around Claverley were sold off by the Crown. Over time, successive generations of the new landed gentry transformed their farms into grand country estates, building fine houses and laying out parks and gardens.

A series of articles by Country Life’s then Architectural Editor, Arthur Oswald (January 11, 18 and 25, 1952), traced the history of Grade I-listed Ludstone Hall, a moated Jacobean house built in about 1607 by the Whitmore family on the site of a medieval manor house annexed to the Deanery of Bridgnorth.

According to Oswald, Ludstone Hall is ‘one of a group of brick-built Shropshire houses where stone is used only for architectural features and windows, and is such a fine and well-preserved example of its time that one would have expected it to be much better known than it is’.

Three reasons are cited for the hall’s remarkable state of preservation: firstly, the fact that, in the early 18th century, it ceased to be the home of its owners and became a farmhouse, thereby avoiding any Georgian changes or redecoration.

Secondly, having been a farmhouse for more than a century, it was acquired in 1870 by Joseph Round Cartwright, who, in the course of a ‘careful and remarkably sympathetic work of restoration… built the stable block, created the lake beyond the road, built the lodge beside the entrance gate, widened the approach, laid out the gardens, and made a forecourt and carriage sweep by bridging over the moat’.

Ludstone Hall is for sale at £7.75 million — see more pictures and details.

Additional writing: Toby Keel

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Suffolk — £4,500,000

Dating back to the 14th century, Thurston House is a spectacular country home with 16 acres, eight bedrooms and a series of magnificent equestrian facilities.

Bury St Edmunds is a charming town as well, featuring Britain's smallest pub — The Nutshell — as well as plenty of independent shops and cafes.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Buckinghamshire — £2,350,000

This might be the first time we've ever seen 'boxing gym' listed as a property feature — and it's not something you'd guess of this brick-built house in a village near Aylesbury.

There are five bedrooms, huge amounts of space, stables and more — including several barns, one of which is now a pub, another of which is the aforementioned workout space.

For sale with Michael Graham. See more pictures and details for this property.

Kent — £3,995,000

This mini-White House — complete with flagpole — is as graceful and beautiful a home as we've seen this year — 'exemplary' is the word used by the agent, and that really does seem about right.

As pretty as it looks outside, the interiors are if anything even more wonderful: it has the grace and grandeur of a BBC period drama, yet somehow still feels homely and liveable. All this, and inside an hour on the train from central London.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Norfolk — £7,500,000

A pair of coastal properties that can be bought separately, but which bundled together could make the idea spot for multi-generational living in this totally unspoilt part of Norfolk.

Larkfields and Lark Cottage bring a touch of Long Island glamour to this part of the world, with pools, tennis courts and homes designed for inside-and-out living.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Shropshire — £7,750,000

Spectacular almost beyond belief, this outstanding hope near Ludstone really has to be seen.

Nine bedrooms, incredible period detail, and wonderful facilities — including pool, squash court and what appears to be a farming museum — plus 177 acres that include a lake.

For sale with Fisher German. See more pictures and details for this property.

Riding a train may not be as joyful as clicking a pair of ruby slippers, but there is a kind of magic to the new one-to-two-hour commute. But the journey itself is just the start of it: with flexible-working broadening our horizons, you may find yourself shopping for a bigger, better house, without actually spending more money. It's as if the countryside just got bigger.

Whatever mandates bosses issue about returning to the London office, one thing that the tumultuous past few years have taught us is that life is for living. We’re been forced to re-evaluate what’s really important and, for most of us, the good life does not involve spending 15 hours a week on a packed commuter train.

Flexible, hybrid, WFH, WFB or W-in-pyjama-bottoms-with-a-Zoom-worthy-shirt-on-top — whatever you want to call it, homeworking is here to stay, which means the property market has broken free from its golden-hour shackles. Where ‘under an hour from London by train’ used to be the mantra for estate agents selling old rectories, cottages and manor houses to families moving to the commutable sticks, your average partial homeworker or TWaT (the acronym for a person who comes into the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) can cheerfully manage a journey of an hour and a half or even two hours.

In this four-part series, we’ll look at the areas of the countryside that have opened up to those commuting into the capital, charming towns and villages where, for a slightly longer trip, you’ll get more house for your money and an extra spring in your step. This week, our focus is the area to the north of London, from Leamington Spa to Northampton, Grantham and even North Yorkshire.

North of the (imaginary) wall

On the Chiltern Railways line from London Marylebone, the Warwickshire town of Royal Leamington Spa, with its wide boulevards and ‘countryside feel’, has been repeatedly ranked the best or happiest place to live (Rightmove, Sunday Times and so on).

Nick Martiny Roberts, who recently moved there to head up Winkworth’s new office (which opened yesterday, May 28), can’t stop singing its praises. ‘I’m obsessed with Warwickshire,' he says.

'It’s affordable, yet well connected — London is about an hour and 10 minutes on the train, the M40 is 10 minutes away, we’re half an hour from Birmingham International Airport, an hour from Oxford and an hour and 20 from Heathrow. And it is such a beautiful place. The Regency splendour of Leamington slowly blends into the ancient Tudor architecture of Warwick, which is almost adjoining. The many schools are wonderful. It has so much going for it.’

It speaks a lot for the area that Winkworth, with its 103 countrywide branches, has chosen to open only two new sites this year — Leamington Spa and Warwick. Mr Martiny Roberts believes these areas are about to capture some well-deserved attention, and he could be right.

‘Compared with Oxfordshire or Gloucestershire, just one county away,’ he says, ‘buyers would probably save 40% or 50% on value. A four-bedroom village house here costs about £450,000/£500,000, moving up to £1.2 million or £1.5 million for an old rectory. And within Leamington Spa, a three or four-bedroom Victorian or Regency townhouse might cost between £550,000 and £1.5 million, with six beds from £900,000 to £2 million on the best roads.’ He reels off the names of picturesque villages, from Kenilworth, with its striking castle, to Barford, with its community-run village shop, Offchurch (where The Stag is one of the best pubs around), Hunningham, Stoneleigh and Charlcote, home to a famous deer park.

A little further east, Ian Denton, director of Jackson-Stops’ Northampton branch (1hr 11min to Euston), has noticed ‘a hive of activity from buyers looking for a lifestyle change. Families moving out of London are drawn to Northamptonshire for the outstanding schools, both state and private’. He cites Maidwell Hall and Spratton Hall preps, plus Oundle, Rugby and Stowe. ‘When you consider the excellent transport links — and the fact that the commercial centres of London, Birmingham, Cambridge and Oxford are all about an hour’s drive, Northamptonshire offers great value for money.’

The most desirable villages are those around the Spencer family’s Althorp estate, he adds, such as the Bringtons (Great and Little), the Harlestones (Harlestone itself, plus Lower and Upper iterations) and the Bramptons (Church and Chapel). ‘Picture postcard’ three-bedroom cottages in local ironstone range from £450,000 to £700,000, with four-bedroom houses between £700,000 and £1 million.

He continues: ‘Now standing as one of the largest towns in the country, Northampton and its surrounds offer a combination of highly coveted period and bespoke new-build properties, adjoining glorious countryside. Wild swimming and paddle boarding on the River Nene and Great Ouse, which run through the county, is increasingly popular and the grounds of Castle Ashby and Althorp are the perfect backdrop for days out.’

When not strolling along the Jurassic Way through the Welland Valley to Rockingham Castle, Strutt & Parker’s Ed Brassey sells houses in the charming villages that surround Leicestershire’s Market Harborough (1hr 20min to St Pancras) and Stamford, Lincolnshire (1hr 11min on the fastest service to King’s Cross or up to two hours), and lives just outside the latter.

Historic Market Harborough, where, currently, a breeding pair of peregrine falcons reside in the spire of St Dionysius — ‘I see them every day,’ he enthuses — was once part of Rockingham Forest, an ancient royal hunting ground, and still holds firm ties to the sport. ‘This is traditional hunting country — rolling and beautiful,’ says Mr Brassey. ‘The hedges tend to be really well looked after.’

Schools are excellent, including Leicester Grammar, Witham Hall prep, Spratton Hall, Stoneygate, Oakham, Oundle and Rugby. And the villages in these parts, which contain an awful lot of Grade II-listed houses, are extremely pretty. Medbourne (home to the much recommended Nevill Arms), Hallaton, Foxton, with its famous Locks watched over by herons, swans, swallows and kingfishers and the Langtons are ‘super popular. Some are more off the beaten path and most have at the very least a village shop’. He adds that, compared with the Cotswolds, cottages in his part of Leicestershire ‘probably cost about 80% less. And for bigger houses, you might even double your value. But the main comparison is that this is real countryside, with a far more rural feel.’

‘It’s all about the train station,’ believes Jonathan Harington, who founded buying agents Haringtons in 2004, lives ‘in proper countryside’ near Oundle, Northamptonshire, and takes the train from Huntingdon (just over an hour to St Pancras and a little more for the City) in Cambridgeshire. He cites Corby, Wellingborough and Kettering, on the East Midlands line from St Pancras, as other useful stops and notes that Stansted, Birmingham, Luton and East Midlands airports are all about a 90-minute journey. ‘I always say that the thing about the country is that you can drive for 25 minutes in any direction and you’ll find both attractive and unattractive villages. You simply need to explore.’

He calls the area west of the Lincolnshire town of Grantham (1hr 17min to King’s Cross), for example, lovely, ‘particularly around the Belvoir estate. East of Grantham less so and if you go too far west of Nottingham you hit the built-up parts outside Sheffield and Manchester. But east of all that is very nice’. He adds that ‘the Cotswold market may be strong, but the trains aren’t great. Around Huntingdon, the market is about 40% cheaper and it’s actually the same distance from London’.

Lastly, those who feel the call of the North proper may opt to live within the untamed beauty of North Yorkshire. The journey from York takes an hour and 37 minutes into King’s Cross and it’s no secret that this compact university city is an excellent place to live, with its 13th-century Minster, medieval walls and picturesque Shambles. Just be mindful if driving into York during rush hour, which typically adds 20 minutes to your journey, recommends Ed Stoyle of Savills.

‘Ever since I moved to Yorkshire 20 years ago, we’ve had conversations about how it’s so possible to commute to London from this part of the world. To be honest, I can’t believe more people haven’t caught on to the fact until now,’ he says. There are a few more rural stations that come into play, too: ‘Howden, Northallerton and Thirsk all connect to the King’s Cross line — a fair chunk of people who live in the Howardian Hills commute via Thirsk.’

With rolling countryside and historic houses aplenty, he can recommend any number of towns and villages — Easingwold, Ampleforth, Coxwold and Oldstead (home to the famous Black Swan pub), to name a few. However, don’t expect too much of a bargain (‘I’d go to West Yorkshire for that’). This is an incredibly beautiful part of the world and people know it.

The good schools are a draw — Cundall Manor, Queen Ethelburga’s, Queen Margaret’s, Ampleforth, Ripon Grammar, St Peter’s and Bootham — and ‘this county has its own wealth, which self generates,’ explains Mr Stoyle. ‘Of the five biggest houses I sold last year, four went to locals and one to a wealthy foreigner. Big estates normally sell off market.’

‘I’ve been here long enough that I’ve started to see the children of the people I sold to years ago buying for themselves — they might move to London for a bit, but many come back to start their own families. It’s the sort of place that you feel safe — a whole relaxing way of life. That’s true of a few places,’ he muses, ‘but they’re not so accessible for a commute. Turns out you can have it all up here.’

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Those looking for an opportunity to breathe new life into an elegant Grade II-listed Georgian house — and its grounds — will be interested to see this beautiful old place in the unspoilt Worcestershire countryside. Alfrick Court, nestled in around nine acres on the border of the picturesque Malvern Hills National Landscape, is on the market with Knight Frank for £2,200,000.

The six-bedroom house comes with a three-bedroom cottage and a two-bedroom stable flat, outbuildings, and equestrian facilities. And there’s scope to transform one of the barns into another home too.

It’s an idyllic set-up, particularly if you’re a horse lover who’s keen to put your own stamp on things.

Charles Probert, Director, Knight Frank Hereford, says: ‘Alfrick Court is a true testament to Georgian grandeur, offering the perfect blend of period charm and modern comfort, set amidst enchanting gardens and grounds.’

So, to the main house first. There are well-proportioned rooms with light flooding in through large sash windows. There’s no shortage of original period features either. They include Adam-style fireplaces, herringbone parquet floors and, if you look up, delicate decorative plasterwork.

It’s hard to think of a nicer place to be on a warm, sunny day than the south-facing veranda with fluted Ionic columns, as these photos so aptly capture.

The interiors look a touch on the dated side but a buyer with a good eye could freshen it up in no time.

Outside, the captivating gardens include a walled garden, orchard and a lake. Aren’t those on every green-fingered buyer’s wish list?

Beyond the main house, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into, particularly around a courtyard which comprises three buildings.

The Coach House and Old Cider Mill have been transformed into a three-bedroom cottage which is currently let.

And the two-storey barn attached to it is ripe for development, with Knight Frank highlighting its ‘obvious potential for conversion to another dwelling’.

There’s also a large Grade II-listed, timber-framed and brick barn dating back to around 1750.

But what of the equestrian facilities? Well, horses are bound to enjoy the good life at Alfrick Court. The Victorian stable block offers stables, a tack room and former garage. (Not forgetting the two-bedroom flat on the first floor above.)

And then there’s around six acres of grazing, a manège, and some stables, which are in need of some TLC.

The village of Alfrick offers all the essentials: a church, post office, shop and village hall. Malvern and Worcester are seven miles away.

Probert continues: ‘With its versatile living spaces, and picturesque surroundings, Alfrick Court presents a rare opportunity to embrace a quintessential country lifestyle within a Georgian masterpiece.’

Alfrick Court is for sale with Knight Frank at £2,200,000 — see more details and pictures.

Georgian, Victorian or Edwardian? The most popular period property styles revealed

Whether it's a manor house in the country or a terraced house in the city, it's Victorian homes that have

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Credit: Strutt & Parker

A true ‘all-rounder’ home, with Grade II-listed farmhouse and annexe, two holiday cottages and equestrian facilities to boot

A dreamy equestrian home in 22 acres of Suffolk countryside has come up for sale. Annabel Dixon takes a look.

One of the great properties in the East Midlands has come up for sale: the prestigious 955-acre Allexton Hall estate, which straddles the border between Rutland and Leicestershire — four miles west of Uppingham and 13 miles north of Market Harborough, from where there is a regular fast train service to London St Pancras (under an hour).

The agents, Savills Farms & Estates, quote a guide price of £17m for the ‘rare and exceptional’ residential and amenity estate.

Allexton’s existence dates from medieval times, when it was part of the Royal Forest and the first manor was a moated fortalice on the banks of the Eye Brook.

This was superseded in the 16th century by the original Allexton Hall, of which little is known apart from the fact that the house was downgraded from a manor to a farmhouse in 1843, and the old house was probably ‘a hall house with four bays of structure’.

It was unoccupied in 1899 when the Wilson family decided that the Allexton Hall estate should be sold and, in July 1900, it was bought by George Pauling, a wealthy engineering contractor and director of a railway company that built a line between Newark and Market Harborough.

In 1902, Pauling had Allexton Hall almost totally rebuilt in the ‘Elizabethan Manorial style’ to designs by the architect William J. Shearburn. Local Ketton stone was used and the work was done largely by local craftsmen.

According to historian Vivian Anthony, ‘all the rooms were on a grand scale, including, on the ground floor, the Hall, Lounge Hall, Billiard Room and 50ft-long Lounge.

On the first floor, there were eight family and guest bedrooms and the private chapel. There were also three maids’ rooms and three manservants’ rooms. Other estate workers lived in the three timbered cottages near the gates to the village’.

Pauling died in London in 1920, after which various attempts were made to sell the hall, manor and land. The estate passed through several hands in the in 1930s, 1950s and 1990s, before being acquired by technology investor Sanjay Mehta in 2008.

During his ownership, both Allexton Hall and its estate have been restored to their imperial glory, with the installation of a biomass boiler to service the estate properties.

The purchase includes the converted former stables and coach house, two stable cottages and the east and west gate lodges, all currently let on Assured Shorthold Tenancies (ASTs).

Allexton Hall and Estate are for sale at £17 million — see more pictures and details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

There’s something to be said for houses being too boxy, don’t you think? Like, after however many hundreds of years of architecture, we seem to have settled on something a bit too familiar shape-wise. Everywhere you look, a square, with some windows in, and a roof on the top. What happened to our sense of adventure?

Thankfully, when Bouncing Bess was spotted in 1970s, the people who decided to renovate it had such a sense of adventure, and were more than happy to eschew the ‘square-house-with-some-windows-and-a-roof-on-top’ style and replace it with, well, lots of small houses, none of them really all that square, all kind of connected. The resulting property is The Mill, which is for sale with Hamptons for £1.95 million.

We like conversions here at Country Life, for reasons that I have bored you with before and I will bore you with again. They create buildings of architectural interest, and they refine and restore our built heritage. Perhaps most importantly, they are sustainable, re-using old materials to create new, interesting, modern dwellings. The Mill is a perfect example of this, combining a piece of machinery that is inherently linked with our industrial past, and turning it into a modern home of elegance and interest. What’s better than exposed brick, wooden beams, original gears and parts, interspersed with modern fixtures and fittings? 

With four bedrooms, three bathrooms and three reception rooms, there is also plenty of room in this odd collection of interlinked buildings, but, despite the unusual nature of its design, the property flows quite naturally. Of particular interest is the principal bedroom suite, which occupies two floors and includes an en-suite bathroom, dressing room and sitting room — the perfect place to hide from annoying children or visitors.

The property is also surrounded by well-tended gardens that make the most of the surrounding Warwickshire countryside, and feature a sun terrace that wraps around the structure. Surrounded by paddock land on all sides, the gardens also feature a detached garage/workshop, and an outdoor bar/seating area. 

The Mill is for sale with Hamptons for £1.95 million. For more information and pictures, click here

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Freddie Mercury's house is on the market, 46 years after he bought it following an advert in Country Life

The seven-bedroom home returns to the market for offers in excess of £30 million, and still carries plenty of Mercury's

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An ivy-clad manor house in one of Oxfordshire's 'most sought-after' postcodes

Manor Farm House, near the hamlet of Cleveley, offers everything you could ever want from a classic Cotswold home, and

Credit: Symonds & Sampson

An utterly gorgeous Victorian house with character, charm and a couple of acres, all for just £650k

Those who dream of swapping a suburban semi for something magnificent should step right up.

After 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.

Few of those houses have stories as fascinating as recently-built masterpiece that is The Mount, however. For a while in the 1980s, the crumbling Edwardian house that once stood on this spot was home to Francis Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech, who was forced to sell his estate and ancestral home, Brogyntyn Hall, in 2000. The house, on the edge of the estate, was acquired by a dynamic local businessman and eventually demolished.

The new owner swiftly assembled a team of building and conservation experts headed 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. They house they created is now on the market at £12.5 million.

For Mr Arrol, it was clearly an exhilarating ride, as he recalls the degree of thought and planning that went into every aspect of the project. Unlike most modern neo-Georgian 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 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, the owner’s decision to downsize prompts the launch in Country Life 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.

The Mount is for sale via Savills, with selling agent Tony Morris-Eyton quoting a guide price of £12.5m — see more details and pictures.

If you’re an ambitious sort looking for a new project to sink your teeth into, then Baston Hall might be right up your street.

This Grade II-listed hall, dating to around 1620, is situated in 138 acres of Worcestershire countryside. Besides the main hall there are all sorts of converted buildings and accommodation, and the present owners are willing to split the sale in to lots. Opt for the whole thing, however, and the guide price is £4,250,000 via Knight Frank.

And while that's a lot of money, there is scope for this place to earn its keep: it has, in recent years, been one of England's most extravagant holiday lets, with guests paying upwards of £2,000 a night for an estate to call their own.

You can see why it's been popular. Baston Hall’s charming original features have been kept intact, with exposed bricks and beams throughout the house.

Set around a central courtyard, the property offers up to 12 bedrooms and north of 8,000 sq ft of living space that can be arranged in a variety of ways, depending on how you want to use it. 

A new estate office and what the selling agent describes as the ‘Cloud room’ (think flexible space for an office, yoga studio, gym or function room) were recently created next to the garage in the adjoining building.

Meanwhile, the Old Stables, in a separate building, have been given a new lease of life as a three-bedroom guest suite.

Baston Hall is surrounded by a mature garden which includes ancient cherry trees, lawn, flower beds, and a lake with connecting cascading ponds. There’s also a tennis court tucked discreetly to one side.

But it’s not just Baston Hall and the Old Stables that have been updated. So too has the wider estate, which is farmed regeneratively, according to Knight Frank.

There’s two large agricultural buildings at the far end of the estate, including an open-fronted modern cattle shed that links directly to a brand new cattle handling system. They have their own access to the public highway so you don't need to worry about large farm vehicles rolling past Baston Hall.

There’s also a one-bedroom cottage, known as Keepers Cottage, at the southern entrance of the estate. It’s currently used as a holiday let. 

There's also potential to build more and potentially add value: planning permission is already in place for a new three-bedroom, 1,800 sq ft house.

The estate could provide a variety of sporting endeavours. It's already got a racing pedigree: the barns were previously used as racing stables and there’s also an old gallop on the site.

The estate is at the top of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village of Alfrick is a mile away and Great Malvern is seven miles to the south. 

Baston Hall is currently on the market via Knight Frank for £4,250,000 — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Living in a converted windmill is something of a dream — blame Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — but all too often it involves a major compromise: the rooms in the tower are striking, pretty and fun, but tend to be limited in space and somewhat impractical.

But this Grade II-listed former windmill calls for no compromises — it's one of the finest conversions we've seen in years, creating a space which looks like a high-end art gallery as much as a home.

Yet as well as the vertiginous tower with far-reaching views of the rural Lincolnshire landscape, it also offers spacious, comfortable and beautiful accommodation.

The Windmill, near Scopwick, is a fine example of reusing and recycling our heritage for the 21st century. And the four-bedroom home is now on sale via Fine & Country for £1,000,000.

Built in 1827, with four sails, the windmill worked for almost 100 years before being dismantled in 1912.

The current owners snapped up the property in 2002, when the tower was completely empty and the buildings on either side no longer existed. 

Since then, they have sensitively restored the former windmill to keep the spirit of its original use, so there is plenty of exposed brick and iron throughout. 

The base of the six-storey tower has been transformed into a dramatic entrance hall. The floor is made of reclaimed timber boards laid in an octagonal pattern, while the curving, steel-framed staircase was created locally.

Meanwhile, the ‘wings’ on either side of the tower house the kitchen, utility room, lounge with inglenook fireplace, and dining area. Three sets of French windows open out onto a terrace that stretches the entire width of the property. 

On the first floor, there are four double bedrooms, two with en-suites, plus a family bathroom. The two wings are linked by a striking galleried walkway across the original brick tower. 

As for the rest of the tower, it boasts a series of round rooms: an office, a bathroom, a snug, and a storage area.

The second floor comes with the added perk of doors opening out onto an encircling balcony, a real conversation-starter. 

‘All the principal rooms are light, airy and spacious with all the bedrooms double and there are superb views from every floor. The vaulted ceilings in the bedrooms enhance the sense of space and the exposed timbers lend character,’ explains the owner. 

‘There are four bedrooms on the first floor but there is a good deal of flexibility in the use of rooms. For instance, a bedroom or two could be created in the tower particularly since there is a bathroom on the fourth floor.’

Outside, there’s a separate garage block. But there’s just one area that is still ripe for a transformation: the two acres of gardens and grounds, which are currently just grass and native hedging. 

The village of Scopwick is around a quarter of a mile away. For a wider range of amenities, Lincoln and Sleaford are around 20 minutes and 15 minutes drive respectively.

The Windmill is currently on the market via Fine & Country for £1,000,000 — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Credit: Knight Frank

The best country houses for sale this week

Catch up on the best houses that have come up for sale via Country Life in the last few weeks.

Maud Foster Windmill is one of Boston's most well-known landmarks, and it has been listed on the market, complete with its Mill House and thriving flour business for £998,800.

The windmill and house, built in 1819 for Isaac and Thomas Reckitt, is for sale with Bruce Mather.

The seven-storey, five sail windmill is located on the banks of the Maud Foster, from which it is named.

The mill is in working order, providing flour which is sold at the onsite shop and café. Today the flour is ground electronically, although the mill's wheel still turns, even in a light wind.

The Grade I listed mill houses the public areas and two workshops downstairs, but at the back of the building a staircase winds up several floors, with bedrooms leading from it.

Ultimately the stairs take you to a loft-style penthouse.

A further five bedrooms can be found in the mill house, where rooms are large with high ceilings, and plenty of exposed beams.

There is a garden with pretty flower beds behind the mill and a large garage which has scope to be converted into a home office, gym or guest house, subject to planning.

At the front of the property is a large parking area, with gated entrance.

Maud Foster Windmill in Willoughby Road, Boston, is on the market for £998,800 with Bruce Mather.

Credit: Savills

'Nothing comes close' as the majestic and beautiful windmill from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang seeks a new owner

Cobstone Mill became famous across the world as the home of Ian Fleming's second-most famous creation, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Credit: Strutt & Parker

An outstanding former mill-turned-family-home in Bedfordshire that you’ll never want to leave

With its bucolic water-side setting, gently undulating fields and utterly charming secondary accommodation in a converted windmill, Edlesborough Mill is

Credit: Savills

A striking former windmill-turned-family home in Cambridgeshire with a unique business opportunity in the garden

Set your sights high and your views far-reaching at The Windmill, found in the village of Swavesey in Cambridgeshire.

Snap up Luddington Manor and you’ll step into illustrious shoes. Once part of the Marquis of Hertford’s Ragley Hall estate, this Grade II-listed property was also the home of the Hathaway family, relatives of William Shakespeare’s wife, Anne. 

This immaculately-presented six-bedroom property near Stratford-upon-Avon is on the market for £2,675,000 via Knight Frank.

Luddington Manor is considered of special architectural interest and sits within a conservation area. 

Luddington Manor’s front façade is Georgian with south-facing Victorian bay windows. The property was extensively refurbished in 2018 but it has retained its fine bones: exposed beams, grand fireplaces and original staircases are just a few of the character touches that have been retained. 

All the rooms are generously-proportioned, including the sitting room, dining room, study, drawing room, kitchen and family room. There’s also a morning room nestled between the sitting and drawing rooms.

On the upper floors of the main house, there’s not one but two dressing rooms and three of the four bedrooms come with ensuite bathrooms. Who could resist that luxurious copper and nickel bath in the principal bedroom’s ensuite?

The property offers flexible accommodation, including a self-contained two-bedroom ‘cottage’. There’s also a striking indoor swimming pool with vaulted ceiling and French doors opening out onto a pretty patio. 

There is also a cellar, a coach house with a garage, and a storage shed, while with gardens and grounds extending to 6.5 acres, there’s plenty of room to entertain outside too.

The front garden is lawned and features mature specimen trees, such as yew, horse chestnut and a cedar of Lebanon, while the rear garden offers a large lawn, wildlife pond, paddock, fruit trees and a further paddock across the village lane.

Luddington Manor is located in the heart of Luddington, where there’s a 19th century church, marina with a 17th century lock, village green and a village hall.

It’s just three miles outside Stratford-upon-Avon, which is renowned for its Shakespearean heritage, superb theatres, charming streets, plethora of shopping and recreational facilities... and, yes, busloads of tourists, naturally. But that's the beauty of a quiet village location away from the main town itself.

Luddington Manor is currently on the market via Knight Frank for £2,675,000 — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Property in Warwickshire

Lifestyle buyers are discovering the benefits of Warwickshire's fine country houses only 75 minutes away from London.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

William Shakespeare: The original Nature boy

William Shakespeare wasn’t only the greatest playwright of our history, he was an avid ornithophile, a green man and a

North Yorkshire — £6,950,000

A 'classic castle on the hill', in the words of the agents, who are understandably excited to be marketing this 700-year-old delight near Thirsk.

If the walled garden alone isn't enough to sway you, Kirby Knowle castles also had seven bedrooms and everything from a gym and steam room to cinema room, as well as a paddock and two-bedroom cottage in the 65-acre grounds.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Worcestershire — £3,750,000

Simply magnificent inside and out, this 15th century prior's hall in the Malvern Hills is like something out of an Early Modern historical novel.

The Great Hall with its vaulted ceiling is the centrepiece, but there is far more besides, incliding walled garden, tennis courts, cottages, and even an altar room at this fabulous home.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Buckinghamshire — £1,850,000

A tower room with 360-degree views of the local countryside is just one of the highlights of this converted grain barn on the Crawley Grange estate.

There are four bedrooms, four reception rooms and 3,420sq ft, with lovely gardens — and a magnificent greenhouse which we imagine the outgoing owners will be sad to leave behind.

For sale with Michael Graham. See more pictures and details for this property.

Cambridge — £3,750,000

Set in Trumpington, on the south edge of the city centre, this is a delightful Victorian home set on four floors.

The interiors are truly superb, offering a lovely blend of comfort and grandeur, while the house has a libray-slash-playroom, wine cellar and a triple garage.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Hertfordshire — £2,500,000

Deceptively huge at almost 6,000sq ft, this six-bedroom house has been extended and refurbished to a lovely standard while keeping its charm and character.

There is a paddock and several outbuildings, and a luxurious master bedroom with dressing room and huge en-suite.

For sale with Hamptons. See more pictures and details for this property.

Somerset — £3,000,000

The sweeping staircase within the hallway offers wow factor even as you walk in to this wonderful country house in a village not far from Taunton.

Built around 1840 and Grade II-listed, it was the former residence of the Slade family, and has been elegantly restored in recent years.

For sale with Jackson-Stops. See more pictures and details for this property.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale

A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.

Set in the heart of unspoilt Shropshire countryside, four miles from Oswestry and 22 miles from Shrewsbury, Grade II-listed Woodhill Park is described by the agents as ‘a glorious Georgian house standing in the privacy of a magnificent park and woodland estate’.

For sale for the first time since 1987 at a guide price of £4.5 million via Savills, the ring-fenced 156-acre estate has remained largely intact since the mellow red-brick house was first built in the early-to-mid 18th century.

The imposing Georgian house is said to be in good decorative order throughout. It offers 11,075sq ft of accommodation, including a spacious reception hall, four main reception rooms, a large kitchen, a study, 12 bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Outside, an Edwardian stable courtyard of two-storey stone stables has lapsed planning consent for conversion to two cottages.

Other estate buildings include a two-bedroom lodge, three cottages, a pair of unrestored semi-detached cottages, and a courtyard of farm buildings, including a clear-span modern building that could easily be converted to an indoor riding school.

Although altered and extended in Victorian times, the house remains true to its origins, having the beautifully balanced, well-lit rooms and fine decorative detail that is the hallmark of the Georgian era. The estate itself comprises mostly wooded parkland with a range of cottages and barns suitable for conversion to a variety of uses. According to Historic England, the park was laid out in 1806–07 and later extended.

Woodhill Park, better known as Woodhill, is said to have been built for Richard Jones, whose daughter and heiress, Elizabeth, married Lazarus Venables, scion of a prominent Welsh landowning family, in 1771. Venables greatly extended the house, moving the entrance front to its present position and altering the course of the road southwards away from the house.

Their son, Lazarus Jones Venables, made further alterations to the house and acquired more land. In doing so, he appears to have overspent and Woodhill was offered for sale in 1852.

The property was then sold to a member of the Lees family, who were baronets of Blackrock, Dublin. In about 1870, they further extended the house, adding a new billiard room and dining room. In the late 1800s, Woodhill was the seat of George Dumville Lees, who was twice master of the Tanatside Harriers and, as ‘Tantara’ George, was a well-known writer on hounds. He was killed in the hunting field in November 1906, when his horse tripped on some concealed barbed wire and landed on top of him.

The 20th century saw the removal of many of Woodhill’s Victorian additions. After the Second World War, the Woodhill estate, by then part of the Ormsby-Gore family’s Brogyntyn estate, was transferred to David Ormsby-Gore, who farmed the estates while also becoming MP for Oswestry and a minister in Harold Macmillian's government.

After John F. Kennedy was elected as US President, Ormsby-Gore was appointed British Ambassador to the US, serving from 1961 to 1965 — years which included the Cuban Missile Crisis. As well as distinguishing himself in incredibly trying times, he also developed a close friendship with the Kennedy family. Indeed, he was 'my father's closest friend,' according to JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy.

Following the President’s assassination in 1963, he maintained close ties with Kennedy’s widow, Jackie, and her brother-in-law, Bobby Kennedy, both of whom stayed with him at Woodhill; he was also a pallbearer at Bobby's funeral after the assassination in 1968. That same year, and by now Lord Harlech, Ormsby-Gore proposed marriage to Jackie. She declined, marrying Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Woodhill was sold with 93 acres in 1971 and, 16 years later, was again back on the market. Having sold Woodhill to its current owners in 1987, Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills is now fronting the campaign for ‘this exceptional small estate, which offers complete privacy in a truly glorious setting’.

Woodhill is for sale via Savills — see more details and pictures.

If you’re searching for a home which offers splendid isolation, the appearance on the market of The Grove at Scamblesby, halfway between Horncastle and Louth, might well set your heart aflutter.

The house is in the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB, 27 miles east of the cathedral city of Lincoln. The joint agents — Lincoln-based Henry King of Savills and Alastair Boulton of Robert Bell & Co— quote a guide price of £1.65m.

That money will buy this pristine, small farming estate, at the heart of which is an unlisted, four-bedroom Georgian farmhouse.

The setting is even more of a draw than the building, though, for this delightfully secluded home is set in some 79 acres of pasture and mature woodland on the western slope of an unspoilt valley within the rolling countryside of the Wolds and protected from the east by Scamblesby Grove plantation, which rises steeply behind the house.

For almost half a century The Grove has been the domain of the legendary Bumble Mitchell, well known to the racing fraternity as the successful owner/breeder/producer of winning Thoroughbred racehorses using carefully chosen mares and stallions, based on a lifetime’s knowledge of the finest breeding lines.

With that in mind it’s no surprise to see that the property provides excellent equestrian facilities, including a large stable block of more than 30 stables, plus an indoor arena, tack room and fodder storage.

This idyllic location could scarcely be more peaceful, and there’s plenty more to enjoy beyond the green and pleasant hills.

For golfers, the courses at Woodhall Spa — one of which is as good as any inland course in Britain — are close by, and the huge, sandy beaches of the Lincolnshire coast can be reached in half an hour or so. And yes, that does mean that afternoons in Skegness are on the cards.

Lincoln, with its city amenities, decent transport links and unmatched cathedral, is 45 minutes.

The Grove is for sale at £1.65m — see more pictures and details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

The Lincolnshire Wolds AONB: The beauty spot where Tennyson found 'calm and deep peace on this high Wold'

Octavia Pollock takes a look at the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB, a landscape where the hands of Man and Nature have

Lincoln Cathedral: The 950-year story of one of Europe's very greatest cathedrals

On the 950th anniversary of the royal transfer of The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin, Lincoln, John Goodall looks at

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The Fens: In celebration of the magic of a landscape that’s fascinated us for centuries

The Fens are unique, man-made oddity where, paradoxically, few people live – yet they exert a strange magic that had

It may shock you to learn that Station House was, indeed, once the home of the local station master.

Built in the late 19th century, the property was next to the railway, which had passenger and freight trains running until 1966, with the line finally closing in 1971.

The unique home is now on the market via Norton-Rickett with a guide price of £1.5 million.

The ethics of the work of Dr Beeching are still being argued over today, but we can at least thank him for this delightful and unusual five-bedroom home on the edge of Nassington, which was fully refurbished in 2010 to create a delightful and secluded family home situated in more than two acres of gardens and grounds.

Although being beautifully fitted out everywhere, the highlight of the interiors has to be the orangery/snug extension, which benefits from triple-aspect views of the gardens and a skylight, and is connected to the farmhouse-style kitchen.

The accommodation is set over three floors with the main living space on the sunken lower ground floor and ground floor. The principal bedroom is also on this level and the four remaining bedrooms set out across the first floor.

Outside, the gardens are mostly set to lawn and contain a detached workshop and a summerhouse, with planning permission granted for a double garage and an office.

Nassington is about six miles from the historic town of Oundle, eight miles from Stamford and 12 miles from Peterborough (where you’ll find rail services to London in under an hour). Within the pretty village is a well-regarded primary school, pub and shop/post office.

The River Nene also flows near to the village meaning there is plenty of pretty countryside and riverside walks to explore.

Station House is currently on the market via Norton-Rickett with a guide price of £1.5 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

The village of Pudleston is the sort of English village you can’t quite believe still exists. It sits quietly, almost serenely, in the heart of the northern Herefordshire, a land of rolling farmland, hedgerows and pretty houses. And in this spot — four miles east of Leominster and 14 miles south of Ludlow — you’ll find the idyllic Pudlestone Court, which is on the market via Savills at £7.5m.

This striking Grade II-listed home is the principal house of the village, set in 49 acres of formal gardens, parkland and woodland with views over the surrounding rich farmland and the Welsh mountains.

If your initial reaction is that a grand home like this would be perfect for a well-heeled owner seeking privacy and seclusion in a splendid bucolic setting, you’re not alone.

Last time the house came up for sale — a decade or so ago — there was speculation that everyone from Prince William to (slightly bizarrely) Alan Sugar was keen to buy the place. These are the stories that mushroom when a limo with tinted windows comes to a rural village — especially a village with its own mini-castle.

Those rumours proved unfounded, but the house had previously had a high-profile owner in the shape of Dutch supermarket entrepreneur Albert Heijn Jr — whose eponymous chain is the Netherlands’ answer to Tesco’s — and who lived at the house from his retirement in 1989 until his death in 2011. If an Englishman's home is a castle, turns out that a Dutchman's can be too.

Pudleston Court’s latest owner has restored it to the highest of standards in recent years. It offers sumptuous accommodation on two main floors, including a reception hall, grand hall, drawing room, library, sitting room, kitchen/breakfast room, dining room, office and nine principal bedroom suites.

There is also a cinema complex, an indoor swimming pool complex, a staff flat and extensive cellars.

It comes with five cottages (two with their own indoor swimming pools), two entrance lodges and two newly built houses. Most currently let on an Airbnb basis and producing a substantial income.

Pudleston Court was acquired by local grandee Elias Chadwick in 1845 following the death of its previous owner, who was rector of Pudleston.

He subsequently rebuilt the house in pink sandstone with a battlemented roofline in the Tudor Gothic style to the designs of Liverpool architect J. T. Brearley.

It was later described as ‘a handsome modern mansion in the castellated style standing on an eminence in a beautifully undulating park of over 200 acres ornamented with shrubberies, plantations and sheets of water’.

Pudleston Court is for sale via Savills at £7.5m — see more details and pictures.

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An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Bounded by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire and Powys to the west, dreamy, landlocked Herefordshire, best known for its fruit, cider and cattle, is one of the smallest, least-populated and most rural counties in England.

Having tested the water at the height of the pandemic, Will Matthews of Knight Frank and Crispin Holborow of Savills are overseeing the relaunch onto the market of the pristine, 266-acre Poston Court estate at Vowchurch, nine miles from Hay-on-Wye and 11 miles from Hereford, at a guide price of £9.55 million.

The focal point of the estate is Grade II*-listed Poston House, which stands on the site of a medieval deer park high in the western hills, looking out over the glorious Golden Valley to the Black Mountains and the Forest of Dean.

The original Georgian house was designed in 1765 by the architect Sir William Chambers, of Kew Gardens fame, as a shooting lodge for Sir Edward Boughton, whose father bought the manor of Poston from the 5th Duke of Beaufort’s trustees in 1749.

In the late 1800s, the house was altered and extended, with the addition of east and west wings. The estate grounds were laid out by Sir Thomas Robinson, who was master gardener to George III, and many of the magnificent trees seen at Poston today were planted at that time.

In the 1960s, the estate was sold to a local farmer, after which the ‘very charming shooting box’ mentioned in Pevsner went into rapid decline. By 1988, when Esmond and Susie Bulmer bought the Poston estate, the house was a virtual ruin, its classic late-18th-century rotunda a nesting place for hens.

A 2005 article by Mary Miers in Country Life (July 7, 2005) traces the transformation of Poston House from a forlorn wreck to an ‘arresting country house on a diminutive scale’, thanks to an inspired collaboration between the Bulmers, the architect Philip Jebb and master-builders Treasure & Son of Ludlow.

The remodelling of Poston House involved the restoration of the 18th-century core, comprising the south-facing round room, the hall, the staircase and the Doric portico, and the replacement of the Victorian wings by two-storey pavilions in keeping with the original Chambers design.

The former gate lodge, used as a farmhouse in Victorian times, was turned into a guest annexe, with buildings in the farm courtyard later converted into an office, a gardener’s cottage and garaging.

During their tenure, the present owners — who bought Poston Court in 2015 — have, according the agents, transformed ‘a timeless classical house into a modern masterpiece’, thanks to an extensive and minutely detailed programme of renovation, repair and/or rebuilding of the entire house, orangery and pool house, lodge, cottages and estate buildings, all carried out by a dedicated team of specialist craftsmen.

The main house offers 4,362sq ft of glamorous and colourful accommodation including an elegant drawing room, a comfortable library, a Chambers circular dining room, a bespoke Martin Moore kitchen and three bedroom suites, with a further three bedroom suites in Poston Lodge, and four further bedrooms in Poston Cottage.

The Poston Court Estate is for sale via Savills and Knight Frank — see more pictures and details. 

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Travelling the Wye Valley: Castles, books and 'a secret place only Herefordians know'

Eulogised by Gilpin, Wordsworth and Coleridge and immortalised on canvas by Turner, the sylvan charm of the River Wye Valley

Deep in Derbyshire’s Peak District, the historic village of Baslow, four miles from Bakewell, stands on the banks of the River Derwent, a mile or so north of Chatsworth. Over End is a residential area on the hillside to the north of the village, near where Baslow Edge was quarried for the gritstone used to build Grade II-listed Baslow Hall in Calver Road, Over End, on land acquired from the Duke of Rutland for the Stockdale family, who were long-time village benefactors.

With its protruding gables, and mullioned and transomed windows, Baslow Hall — which is now for sale at £4.5m — could be taken for a 17th-century Derbyshire manor house, although it was, in fact, built in 1907. In 1913, it was bought by the electrical and radio pioneer Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti and was reputedly one of the earliest houses in the UK to have electricity installed.

Following de Ferranti’s death in 1930, the house was purchased by Mrs McCreagh-Thornhill as a wedding present for her grandson, Humphrey Davie. After the Second World War, it was owned by a succession of car dealers, before being acquired by a retired London stockbroker.

When, in 1988, the current owners, Max and Susan Fischer, bought Baslow Hall, they took on an almost derelict manor house with overgrown grounds, a situation aggravated soon afterwards by a devastating fire that destroyed much of the building.

Twelve months later, following complete renovation, the property finally opened as Fischers at Baslow Hall, an exclusive small country-house hotel with a restaurant.

There are six bedroom suites and a separate flat in the main house, a further six bedroom suites in the garden wing and additional accommodation in the Garden House.

It could, however, easily revert to its original use as a distinguished family home.

Over the years, Mr and Mrs Fischer have painstakingly created Baslow Hall’s five acres of beautiful gardens and lawns, flanked by gravelled walkways, well-stocked borders and areas of bluebell woods and parkland. Alongside the wing of the Garden House, they have also created a sustainable and productive walled vegetable garden.

Now, after 35 happy and successful years, they have decided to retire, and Baslow Hall is on the market through Edward Caudwell of Derbyshire agents Caudwell & Co and Savills in Nottingham.

Baslow Hall is for sale at £4.5m — see more pictures and details.

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An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

We here at Country Life enjoy a conversion—what could be more sustainable and eccentric than taking an old space and turning it into something new?

The Old Hall in Elmley Castle is one such instance, where the owner acquired a 14th-century Grade II-listed village hall and created a spacious three-bedroom, semi-detached home.

The transformed property is now on the market via Hamptons with a guide price of £595,000.

Set on the village’s Main Street, externally, the property looks almost identical to how it may have when it was first built, but, inside, clever architecture has opened up the large spaces to create a home that feels excitingly modern, but looks very much in touch with its storied roots.

The highlight must surely be the open-plan kitchen/dining/sitting room on the ground floor, which combines beautifully with a first-floor mezzanine from which the bedrooms are accessed.

Spanning three floors in total, the property offers two bedrooms, with a potential third bedroom in the mezzanine (as it is currently set up).

Large mullioned windows throughout mean the entire property is flooded with light and the village of Elmley Castle offers a wealth of amenities, including a pub, a parish church, school and, most importantly, cricket club.

Lying at the base of the Bredon Hill, Elmley Castle is ideally situated to reach surrounding towns, including Pershore, Evesham and Worcester, yet still rural enough to enjoy all the pleasures of the surrounding countryside.

The Old Hall is currently on the market via Hamptons with a guide price of £595,000 — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Situated in the pretty Staffordshire Moorlands, the hamlet of Brund sits near the small village of Sheen.

Within said hamlet you will find Brund Mill cottage, next to the historic and recently renovated Brund Mill. This sweet property is currently on the market via Fine & Country for offers over £495,000.

Believed to have originally been the stableman’s residence, the property is set in a well-established garden, with a flagstone pathway and terrace, and offers three bedrooms.

Behind the stone wall and wooden gate, mature trees and well-kept flower beds lead the way to the entrance door, draped in ivy.

The interiors have kept a wealth of period charms, highlights of which are the bare-flagstone wall in the master bedroom, an elegant fireplace and an Aga.

The living room naturally lends itself as the heart of the home with an exposed stone feature wall and space for a log burner (there’s currently an electric fireplace).

French doors lead from here into a sunny conservatory that in turn opens up to the garden.

The property backs onto parish land that attracts a variety of birds and other wildlife, as well as offering lovely views of the surrounding Peak District countryside.

To the side of the property is a garage with an upstairs space that would lend itself to a home office, studio or workshop.

Located in the Peak District National Park, there is plenty of countryside to explore, with walking, cycling and bridle trails; whilst Stoke-on-Trent (23 miles) and Derby (around 25 miles) offer shopping, leisure and recreational facilities.

Brund Mill Cottage is currently on the market via Fine & Country for offers over £495,000 — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Essex — £6.5 million

Westwood Park, near Colchester is a beautiful Tudor manor house set in stunning gardens and grounds.

There are nine bedrooms and over 50 acres, with outbuildings including potting/tool sheds, greenhouses, stables and a summerhouse.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Kent — £2.75 million

The Clock House is an immaculate family home dating back to 1937 with later extensions. The house is a local landmark with a notable feature of the property being the refurbished clocktower, now housing a Bodet clock and the original bell.

The gardens extend across the width of the house and provide an excellent setting for al fresco dining, there is also a covered outdoor kitchen. Beyond the formal gardens is a large paddock. In all the gardens and grounds extend to approximately 3.94 acres.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Kent — £9.2 million

'One of Kent's most magical estates', in the words of the agents, yet it's just over 40 minutes on the train from central London.

The main house is a sprawling 14,000sq ft joy, but there are also other buildings and cottages on this 132-acre estate.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Hampshire — £2.25 million

The Old Malthouse has been beautifully and innovatively restored and renovated to a very high standard. Within this thatched 17th Century period house is a fantastic mixture of both classic and contemporary design.

Every room is well proportioned, each with features of old and new combined. There are exposed lime washed beams, brickwork and arched doorways.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Shropshire — £1 million

English country house elegance meets modern luxury and quirky comfort at this home in the hamlet of Need Savage.

There are stables and a paddock as well as the six-beddroom home in this delightful place near Kidderminster.

For sale with Fine & Country. See more pictures and details for this property.

Buckinghamshire — £8 million

A rare opportunity to purchase an historic Grade II Listed family home on the outskirts of the highly regarded riverside town of Marlow. Delightfully located in the Chiltern Hills, Lord’s Wood was built in 1899 and has been the present family’s home since 1974.

The house retains many of the original features, which include high ceilings, classic cornicing, period fireplaces and elegant windows.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

When you ask young people today what they really want in life, you might be surprised to hear that it’s not ‘avocado on toast’ or ‘Netflix’, but rather a galleried landing in an unlisted 16th-century house.

Amazingly, Willowbrook House — for sale at £1.75m — offers exactly that, as well as five bedrooms, four bathrooms and an acre of gardens on the edge of the village of Creaton.

The home’s lack of a listing means that it has been comprehensively renovated and restored during the owner’s tenure.

There is a wealth of period features (not least the landing) in a property that also offers Chesney fireplaces, modern bathrooms and a vast kitchen/breakfast area — the ideal spot for entertaining.

Outside, the gardens are sharp enough to set your watch to and also offer a swimming pool and annexe/pool house.

Creaton itself is the sort of delightful little place that have people referring to Northamptonshire as 'the new Cotswolds', a thriving community of around 500 people with a village green, 13th century church and a primary school, as well as a pub and a shop with a post office counter. Northampton is about 20 minutes' drive away to the south.

Willowbrook is for sale at £1.75m — see more pictures and details here. 

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale

A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.

Pigeon House is a former vicarage in the heart of the village of Old Bodenham, between Hereford and Leominster. Behind the pink front door, it has eight bedrooms and more than 4,400sq ft of accommodation laid out over three floors.

It’s currently on the market via Savills with a guide price of £1.5 million.

Space and the opportunity to create more accommodation are in abundance at Pigeon House. A large cellar within the main property lends itself perfectly to conversion into another room, be it for a gym, sauna or wine cellar/storage.

In the garden is an attractive coach house that has pre-planning permission for conversion. Currently used as a garage and storage, this could make excellent ancillary accommodation. If you’ve still got pennies in the bank for more, an outhouse located to the east of the property and known as Pound Cottage — now an enclosed outhouse set within a courtyard — also provides wonderful scope for renovation.

Described as a property of ‘great historic interest’ — and adding to the already lucrative development opportunities — is the knowledge that Pigeon House is unlisted.

Within the house, you’ll find all the period touches and elegant details you’d expect from a house of this stature — sash windows, original fireplaces, cornicing and French doors to name a few.

The predominantly south-facing gardens extend to more than 1½ acres, including a walled area and a Grade II-listed dovecote (the only element of the property that is listed). ‘With such wonderful character and natural good looks, Pigeon House is a sheer delight,’ enthuses selling agent Phil Bates.

Within the village of Old Bodenham are two pubs, a medieval church, a primary school, shops and post office, doctors’ surgery, tennis court, tea rooms; nine-hole golf course, a village hall and a nature reserve.

It lies about eight miles from the Cathedral City of Hereford and seven miles from the market town of Leominster. The house is situated close by to Bodenham Lakes Nature Reserve and Gloucester, Worcester and Ross-on-Wye can all be easily accessed via good motorway links.

Local schools include St Michael’s C of E Primary School, Marden Primary Academy and Wellington Primary School and Nursery — all of which are rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. Secondary options can be found in an around Hereford, with Barrs Court School and Hereford Sixth Form College.

Pigeon House is currently on the market via Savills with a guide price of £1.5 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Down in deepest Herefordshire, Matthew Sudlow of Strutt & Parker is overseeing the sale, for the first time in more than 100 years, of the splendidly unspoilt Upleadon Court with its surrounding 201-acre arable and grassland farm, six miles north-west of Ledbury and 13 miles from the cathedral city of Hereford.

He quotes a guide price of £4m for the imposing main house, which stands on high ground overlooking its own land with magnificent views to the Malvern Hills, Cleeve Hill and the Black Mountains. Imposing Georgian Upleadon Court, which dates from the 18th century with 19th-century additions, has been the home of its owner, man and boy, who, with no family member to take it on, has decided to retire from farming.

The impressive main farmhouse, which oozes character but could do with some updating, offers 4,854sq ft of comfortable accommodation on three floors, including three reception rooms and seven/eight bedrooms.

The farm buildings located to the north of the main house are a mix of modern and traditional and include a former hop kiln—a splendid red-brick building housing workshops, stores and a former mill room that could be adapted for alternative uses, subject to planning.

Expertly maintained by successive generations, the land that surrounds the farmhouse and farm buildings comprises 136 acres of mainly Group 2 arable on the more level southern part of the farm, with permanent pasture on the more undulating northern boundary. Split from the farm by Heywood Lane is a further 24 acres of arable land bordered by Stony Brook.

Upleadon Court also boasts three apple orchards, which have been in production for more than 50 years and are harvested under an informal arrangement by a local cider-maker.

Upleadon Court is currently on the market via Strutt & Parker with a guide price of £4 million — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Ledbury: What you need to know

Location: Bordering the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 15 miles east of Hereford and approximately 27 miles northwest of Cheltenham.

Atmosphere: Famed for its timber-framed buildings, Ledbury is also home to a fantastic array of independent shops (particularly homewares), cafes and art galleries.

Things to do: The town is surrounded by beautiful countryside with footpaths that lead up to the Malvern Hills, through Ledbury, past orchards and historic castles. In fact, walking is such a huge part of life here that there is even a festival dedicated to it: The Herefordshire Walking Festival, which takes place over the summer. There are a number of independent wine, gin and cider makers in the surrounding area, with Herefordshire's Cider Circuit proving a particularly popular 'circuit' through the various orchards and production houses. Visit Eastnor Castle, Hellens Manor (one of the oldest dwellings in England) or stroll through the town to really soak up the atmosphere. 

Schools: Eastnor Parochial Primary School is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, whilst Ledbury Primary School and John Masefield High School are rated 'good.'

See more property for sale in the area.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

Hogbrook Farm has the kind of garden you want to spend time in: neither daunting nor overly designed, it’s simply a beautiful place full of climbing roses, mature trees and tranquil areas, where you can sit with a book in hand and soak up the scents and the atmosphere.

The house — currently on the market via Mr & Mrs Clarke for offers over £1.1 million — has much the same feel, with a profusion of details whose only purpose seems to delight.

The kitchen has a vaulted ceiling and an Aga, the snug has a woodburning stove under a massive beam and some of the six bedrooms have fireplaces or exposed timbers.

An orchard and romantic pond can be found outside; whilst the summer house — which could also be used as a home studio, office space or yoga room — with a hot tub is the final touch.

Hogbrook Farm is currently on the market via Mr and Mrs Clarke for offers over £1.1 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details. 

Warwick: What you need to know

Location: About 11 miles south of Coventry. Leamington is just 10 minutes away — where trains link to London in 90 minutes — and Stratford upon Avon 20 minutes. The M40 is also easily reached, and Birmingham International Airport is also roughly 40 minutes away.

Atmosphere: Warwick itself is a lovely town with a tennis club, two great pizza restaurants, popular pubs and an historic castle.

Things to do: The Cotswolds can be easily explored from here, and the surrounding area is home to plenty of lovely little villages with great walks and pubs.

Schools: Warwick is the closest school and one of the leading independent schools in the country. There are also a number of excellent state primary and secondary schools, including Coten End Primary School and Westgate Primary School.

See more property for sale in the area.

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Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for

The High Peak District of Derbyshire hides its secrets well. When, in 1698, the intrepid English horsewoman Celia Fiennes rode from Chatsworth to Bakewell in the picturesque Wye valley, she described the pretty market town as ‘standing on a hill, yet you descend a vast hill to it which you would think impossible to go down… the common people here know not above 2 or 3 miles from their home, but they of the country will climb up and down with their horses those steep precipices’.

From the 17th century onwards, wealthy Derbyshire mine-owners built fine country houses on the steep hillsides of the Peak to make the most of spectacular valley views, using the region’s natural contours to create impressive terraced gardens.

Such a house is imposing, Grade I-listed Holme Hall near Bakewell, which stands in more than four acres of historic gardens on the eastern bank of the River Wye that runs through the town. Meticulously restored by its current owners, who bought the house in 2009, Holme Hall comes to the market at a guide price of £3.75 million through Derbyshire agents Caudwell & Co.

Research assembled by the hall’s owner, John Stansfield, reveals that the main part of the present house, which incorporates an earlier 15th-century building, was built between 1626 and 1628 by Bernard Wells, a successful lead merchant originally from Gloucestershire. The new house was reputedly based on plans for smaller Italianate villas by Elizabethan architect Robert Smythson, the designer of Hardwick Hall near Chesterfield, now owned by the National Trust.

Wells left Holme Hall to his daughter, Anne, and her husband Robert Eyre of nearby Highlow Hall, whose family had long been involved in lead mining. In 1658, they expanded Holme Hall with the addition of the east and west wings. Eyre also oversaw the creation of Holme’s magnificent terraced gardens, which still include the stone-built, Grade II-listed Banqueting House and the romantic Prospect House or belvedere, with its commanding views over Bakewell and down the Wye valley.

Robert and Anne’s eldest son, William, who was Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1691, inherited the Holme and Highlow estates, which then passed to his son, also William, following his death in 1706. This William became a barrister at Gray’s Inn and, having inherited by marriage a further portfolio of estates in Essex and elsewhere, changed his name to Archer and thereafter spent little time in Derbyshire.

In about 1720, William’s widowed mother, Catherine, wrote to complain that ‘ye county report that ye come no more to Holme… I hope you’ll restore it to me, for I think I have a right to it’. She later bemoaned the state of the grounds at Holme Hall, advising him that ‘the Arch at Holme Garden is Ready to fall in: and if Itt be Repaired speedily Itt May save a great deal of money: Else the Battling (battlements) and the Stairs And the face of ye Arch Will be Broken to pieces by the fall… tis said you will be Much Reflected on Having such an Estate if you let such a place as Holme go to Ruine for want of a little Repair’.

In the event, William had his younger brother, John, and his family installed as tenants at Holme Hall for a period of 10 years from 1721 until 1730, when John inherited Hopton Hall near Matlock, and changed his name to Gell (Property market, February 15, 2022). During his tenure, John managed his brother’s Derbyshire estates and carried out numerous repairs to the grounds of Holme Hall, including, in 1724, that of the aforementioned stone arch, which still stands to this day.

William Archer (formerly Eyre) borrowed heavily on his estates, as did his son and heir, John, who was effectively bankrupt at the time of his death in 1800. In 1802, the Archer estates were sold by order of the Court of Chancery; Highlow Hall was bought by the Duke of Devonshire and Holme Hall by Robert Birch.

Birch, too, eventually encountered financial problems and, in 1854, Holme Hall was purchased by the Gisborne family, who owned it until 1912, when it was leased and then sold to Edward Lascelles Hoyle. He had the hall overhauled and restored and lived there until after the Second World War. It was sold again several times before the current owners bought it and embarked on a further renovation of the house and grounds.

During their time at Holme Hall, Mr and Mrs Stansfield have not only updated the main house, which boasts more than 10,000sq ft of well-structured living space on three floors, including four reception rooms, games room and cinema, large kitchen/breakfast room, grand master suite, six/seven further bedrooms, three bath/shower rooms and two further dressing rooms, which could be converted to additional bathrooms.

They are rightly proud to have continued the restoration of the gardens to their original early 1660s layout, facilitated by very detailed sketches, plans and a poem about the estate (possibly by John Eyre), which are held in the Bagshawe Collection of the Derbyshire archives.

Holme Hall in Derbyshire is for sale at £3.75 million — see more details and pictures.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

Best country houses for sale this week

An irresistible West Country cottage and a magnificent Cumbrian country house make our pick of the finest country houses for