Toby Keel
A few miles north of Colchester on the Essex-Suffolk border, Daryl Parr of Jackson-Stops is handling the sale — at a guide price of £1.6m — of Grade II*-listed Rochfords in Fordham Road, Wormingford, which takes its name from its 13th-century owner Roger de Rocheford.
The house itself is not quite that old, but it's not far off, having originally been built in two phases in the 15th and 16th centuries, modified and updated in the 18th century, and then meticulously modernised and redecorated by its latest owners. Or joint owners, actually: the vendors are two families who moved to Rochfords from London five years ago.
The upshot is that the 2025 incarnation of this property is as an exquisite small manor house that offers 5,070 sq ft of characterful living space. There are five reception rooms, two kitchens and six to seven reception rooms, with gated access, ample parking and a four-bay garage with a studio above.
The present timber-frame and plastered house was re-styled, inside and out, in the early 18th century — the parapet was added at that point, and some of the medieval eaves removed, but the house retains many of its essential medieval features.
As a result of all this building across the centuries, the Rochfords' listing page at Historic England is a true marvel of arcane and technical architectural language. 'The bridging-joists have diminished haunches and soffit spurs,' we're told, while 'the service bay was roofed as a crosswing.' Three further parts enjoy the protection of 'a heavily timbered side purlin roof, well windbraced.'
Words as beautiful as they are obscure, and we've made a note to ask John Goodall about all this next time he ventures into the office.
The setting is just as lovely as the h house sits well back from the road in some 2¼ acres of partly-moated, landscaped grounds, less than a mile from the hedgerows and wildflower meadows of the Dedham Vale National Landscape.
Rochfords is for sale via Jackson-Stops at £1.6 million — see more details and pictures.
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