A slice of British history has come on the market at Trent Park, in Enfield, north-east London. Developers Berkeley are converting the historic Trent Park House into a collection of 14 luxury apartments, which start from £1.245 million.
The result of a painstaking restoration that’s bringing the building back to its former glory, the apartments will be beautifully designed to complement the house’s architectural grandeur, with buyers able to choose between a traditional and a modern decorative scheme.
Many period details will be preserved, including the original windows, and enhanced with feature lighting — which makes perfect sense, because the appeal of the development rests as much on the sense of history you can breathe in the building as on the exquisite architectural details and opulent specifications.
The Grade II-listed country house originally dates from the 14th century, when it was part of Henry IV’s hunting grounds. Many centuries later, in 1777, George III leased it to Sir Richard Jebb, the doctor that has saved the life of his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, when the latter had become seriously ill in the Italian city of Trento. It’s to commemorate the event that the property’s name was changed to Trent House.
Later bought by the Earl of Cholmondeley for £14,700 (roughly £1.16 million in today’s money), the estate eventually passed to Sir Philip Sassoon, cousing of the poet Siegfried Sassoon. He is the man responsible for the current look of Trent House, which saw the Victorian extensions replaced with new wings, giving the building a Georgian-style look. Indeed, in a Country Life piece from 1931, Christopher Hussey praised the property for having ‘that indefinable and elusive quality, the spirit of a country house... an essence of cool, flowery, chintzy, elegant, unobtrusive rooms’.
But perhaps more importantly, Sir Philip, who had a reputation as one of society’s most exquisite hosts, turned his home into an extraordinary gathering place of Britain’s great and good, from Sir Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin and a young Princess Elizabeth.
With the Second World War, the estate found new use, becoming one of the bases for the War Office’s intelligence programmes. It’s here that German prisoners were recorded with hidden microphones, helping the British gain vital information on everything from Germany’s rocket-development plans to the extent of anti-Nazi resistance efforts.
After a spell as a college, the house, with its 412 acres of parkland, woods, lakes and the Daffodil Lawn, is now ripe to make a comeback as the fashionable address it was in the Sassoon days.
The apartments at Trent Park House are for sale through Berkeley — see more pictures or enquire with the developer for further details.
Enfield: What you need to know
- Location: A Middlesex market town of Roman origins, Enfield was absorbed into London in 1965, becoming its northernmost borough.
- Atmosphere: As a former Royal hunting ground, it had a long and distinguished history—it was here that Edward VI was told of the death of his father, Henry VIII, and here that Elizabeth I spent much of her youth. Today, it’s a vibrant neighbourhood with many shopping centres and markets.
- Things to do: Trent Park deserves exploring, but beyond that, Enfield also has the gardens at Capel Manor and Myddleton House, Broomfield Park and the quirky Whitewebbs Museum of Transport. there's also golf at Enfield Golf Club.
- Schools: Enfield has an excellent range of schools, including Enfield Grammar and, in Edmonton, The Latymer School.Find more properties in the area.
Credit: Jackson-Stops
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