A truly idyllic home that was once the hunting lodge for the Earl of Grosvenor, now transformed into an elegant period home

(Image credit: Cheffins)

published 10 May 2022

It’s hard to tell what’s best about Grade II-listed Abington Lodge, in Great Abington —whether the idyllic setting in a little more than 19 acres of parkland and paddocks coursed by the River Granta, the 8,600sq ft interior with magnificent spiral staircase and floor-to-ceiling sash windows or the intriguing history: the house was once a hunting lodge for Richard, Earl of Grosvenor, whose wife scandalised Georgian Britain for her relationship with the Duke of Cumberland.

Abington Lodge, which is currently on the market via Cheffins with a guide price of £3.5 million, has eight bedrooms in the main building, and also comes with a two-bedroom coach house, two self-contained apartments, a striking indoor pool and a stable block.

Abingdon Lodge is currently on the market via Cheffins with a guide price of £3.5 million — see more pictures or enquire with the agent for further details.

Great Abingdon: What you need to know

Location: Eight miles south of Cambridge, 10 miles north of Saffron Walden. Access into London is relatively quick from Whittlesford Parkway, which makes commuting several times a week very do-able.

Atmosphere: Great Abington is an award-winning, thriving village which forms part of the 'Abingtons' — an area in South Cambridgeshire formed of Little Abington and Great Abington, which lie either side of the Granta Valley. With a cricket field, primary school, several pubs and restaurants, it is a highly sought-after area with excellent transport links.

Things to do: Visit the Chilford Hall Vineyard, which is one of England's oldest established vineyards; or take little ones to Linton Zoo. Cambridge is just over eight miles to the north for a dose of culture, history and punting. The market town of Saffron Walden is approximately 10 miles to the south with an excellent weekend farmers market, shops and restaurants.

Schools: Holme Court School is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted and Great Abingdon Primary School rated 'good.' The Leys, The Perse School and Dame Bradbury's are also well-regarded.

See more property for sale in the area.

Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.

Country houses for sale

Great Abingdon: What you need to know

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