As spectator sports go, you might consider ‘marathons’ to not be particularly high on the list. You would be wrong. Every year the London Marathon trots past my street, and there are few better things to do on a summer’s day than have a few drinks and enjoy a constant stream of inflatable dinosaurs, Big Bens, phoneboxes and god-knows-what-else jogging past you.
Bermondsey is a good spot to do it, but a better spot would be on Blackheath itself, where everyone is still excited and happy to be running, rather than a few miles down the road where they’ve realised what a mistake they have made. A good house would be this one, on Vanbrugh Terrace, which is for sale with Savills for £5.95 million.
Marathon or no marathon, there are few better spots in London than Vanbrugh Terrace. Blackheath and Greenwich Park are, literally, on your doorstep. Greenwich Village is an easy and leafy walk away. Nipping out to Kent for the weekend would be a breeze. I am already a bit jealous of whoever is going to buy this place.
What they will get is a 6,800sq ft home that offers six bedrooms and five reception rooms, as well as a delightfully private garden that is some 130ft long. It is Victorian, it is elegant, it is everything you could ever want.
Set over four floors, and occupying a ‘coveted corner position’, this truly is a family home in London that balances access to the city with verdant green surroundings. People might say Hampstead is the best of both worlds, but I am not so sure.
Inside, the home is presented to a ridiculously high standard, and is playfully decorated, combining fun with respect to its Victorian heritage. Bespoke stained-glass by Edgar Philips, Mark Wilkinson cabinets, and the whole project was overseen by designer Charles Leon. It even comes with a hot yoga and pilates studio.
And to top it all off, once every year, you get to watch a bunch of people dressed as anything and everything run 26 miles past your front door. Heaven.
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