A sumptuous Victorian home with a main hallway perfect for hosting a Bridgerton-style ball
Hillfield House was once home to Gloucester's Trading Standards officers — not that you'd know it to see the place today. Toby Keel takes a look.

How do you balance out your competing desires for grandeur and cosiness?
It's a question that has occupied most property buyers at some stage. High ceilings and stone floors offer plenty of wow factor, but smaller rooms with lower ceilings, carpets and real fires flickering in a corner are far cosier. Some of us will prefer the former, others will lead towards the latter. And somewhere between the extremes, we each try to find a place which satisfies our own sensibilities.
For those who lean more towards grandeur, a house is currently on the market in Gloucester which is just about as grand as they come, certainly at this price bracket. Hillfield House is for sale with Charles Lear & Co via OnTheMarket at £1.6 million, an incredibly impressive Victorian building where the main hall alone will convince the right buyer to pull out the cheque book.
This Grade II-listed building, in the Wotton area just north of Gloucester's centre, was built in the 1860s and is filled with period touches, from the fireplaces and ornate cornicing to stone pillars and the extraordinary stained glass windows.
The reception hall, more than 30ft long and 20ft across, has a chessboard stone floor, and as you can see from the pictures here is big enough to swallow a grand piano — and make it look small as it does so.
Just as grand is the first floor, accessed by a stone staircase, lit from a skylight above and ringed by an ironwork balustrade that looks out onto the space below. All your fantasies of hosting a Bridgerton-style ball can finally be fulfilled.
For all this grandeur, the living rooms themselves do offer cosier, more intimate nooks. Off the main hallway and the corridor beyond are a drawing room, sitting room, study, kitchen-breakfast room and seemingly-endless series of reception rooms.
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Hillfield House was once used as an office for the local Trading Standards; rooms that were once full of desks and filing cabinets are now full of soft furnishings and bookshelves.
Above are nine bedrooms — eight on the first floor, and one in the tower above, the latter just off a winding staircase which leads up to a tower room that has views across the city.
The master bedroom has a dressing room and an en-suite with a free-standing bath, while elsewhere on the first floor is a games room big enough to take a pool table. That's if you can resist the urge to put a full-size snooker table in that astonishing main hall, of course...
Add in the string of cellars below and there's over 12,500 sq ft of space on offer in a building that also has lovely gardens, yet is still within easy reach of the city centre and the railway station.
As big a home as this is, there's even scope to make it bigger: the agents note that more accommodation could be built in the grounds, subject to permission from the authorities.
Hillfield House is for sale with Charles Lear via OnTheMarket at £1.6 million — see more details and pictures here or enquire with the agent.
My favourite painting: The Bishop of Gloucester
'The simplicity and mystery resonates with my faith'
Credit: Alamy
13 things which make Gloucestershire so gorgeous, from ice cream to cathedrals
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
Toby Keel is Country Life's Digital Director, and has been running the website and social media channels since 2016. A former sports journalist, he writes about property, cars, lifestyle, travel, nature.
-
'I found myself in a magical world of a sun-dappled forest, speckled with wild flowers of kaleidoscopic colours and brilliant mosses': Solo walking in the Pyrenees
The Pyrenees reserves its best treasures for walkers prepared to venture off the well-beaten trail, says Teresa Levonian Cole, on a solo holiday in Ribes de Freser.
By Teresa Levonian Cole Published
-
Rainforests, exotic pets and Winston Churchill's peerage: Country Life Quiz of the Day, July 16, 2025
Plus Isaac Newton, the Monopoly board and more in Wednesday's quiz.
By Country Life Published
-
A one-of-a-kind waterfront estate with two private beaches is for sale on the same storied American island that Jackie Kennedy, the Obamas and Princess Diana have all visited
Beach Farm on Martha’s Vineyard — a favourite summertime holiday destination with prominent American families — is a perfect melding of New England and Scandinavian design styles.
By Rosie Paterson Published
-
The architect who created the MI6 building only designed a tiny handful of houses — and one of them is now up for sale in one of London's most bucolic spots
Sir Terry Farrell designed the beautiful, light-filled, T-shaped Drum House in Petersham, with gardens laid out by John Sallis Chandler, who has won multiple RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals.
By Toby Keel Last updated
-
'True waterfront homes are finite... miss one and it could be years before you see another like it again': Why the best waterfront property always hits the spot
There’s no denying the appeal of waterfront property, which now sells for some 51% more than its inland equivalent, finds Knight Frank. Annabel Dixon explores the shore.
By Annabel Dixon Published
-
19 charming homes for sale, from picture-perfect cottages to beachside retreats, as seen in Country Life
This week's selection of some of the best homes to come to the market via Country Life this week.
By Toby Keel Published
-
Tim Burton is selling the house he shared with Helena Bonham-Carter, a sublime home on the Thames that comes with three private islands
Mill House in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, might just be the perfect English country home.
By Rosie Paterson Last updated
-
A spectacular tower for sale that's a blend of Victorian folly, architectural marvel and 21st century family home
Hadlow Tower has space, and a back story of love, jealousy and intrigue.
By Toby Keel Published
-
A spectacular, light-filled home on the Isle of Wight where you can see the water from practically every window
Penny Churchill takes a look at the grand and impressive Fishbourne Quay House.
By Penny Churchill Last updated
-
The former stables — and recording studio for the Pet Shop Boys — transformed with a magical blend of city and country aesthetic, now seeking a new owner
In the heart of Clerkenwell, what was once a Victorian industrial unit is now a beautiful home.
By Toby Keel Last updated