Alan Titchmarsh is selling his Hampshire home (and the garden that comes with it): Exclusive pictures and interview

In 2002, Alan Titchmarsh — gardener, gardening writer, radio/television presenter, novelist, bellringer, poet, polymath and all-round national treasure — and his wife, Alison, bought their much-loved Hampshire home, Grade II-listed Manor Farm House at Holybourne, near Alton, ‘not only because we wanted a Georgian house, but also because I felt that I had one more garden in me’. Since then, he has renovated the former manor house, restored and extended the outbuildings and created a wonderful four-acre garden, described in Country Life’s October 30, 2024 issue as ‘a place of endless delights and charm’.

Now that his work there is done, he and his wife plan to downsize to another Hampshire village house with a couple of acres, not only to be closer to their daughters and grandchildren, but because he feels that he still has another garden in him. Consequently, Manor Farm House has been launched onto the market through Savills in Farnham at a guide price of £3.95 million.

Designated a conservation area in 1977, the ancient village of Holybourne dates from Saxon times and is thought to derive its name from the Celtic practice of worship and burial of the dead beside streams, which were believed to have sacred powers.

According to the conservation statement, a number of waterways rise by the pond in quiet Church Lane, which feeds the small Holybourne tributary of the River Wey. Manor Farm House stands at the top of the lane, next to Holybourne’s Grade II*-listed Church of the Holy Rood with its 12th-century Norman nave and tower, 13th-century chancel and distinctive 19th-century, oak-shingled broach spire.

The late-17th-century Manor Farm House is described as ‘an imposing building in the street scene. It is built in a rich red brick and is of five bays. It has a substantial clay-peg tile-hipped roof with handsome mullioned and transomed windows. The farmyard to the north and east of the Manor Farm House is characterised by a long low range of stables and cattle byres with flint walling… The views from the public footpath into the farmyard from the north are restricted by this long range of buildings and the broach spire of the church in the background’.

Historically, Manor Farm was the demesne of the manor of Holybourne Eastbrook, the origins of which can be traced back to Domesday. Research compiled by Mr Titchmarsh reveals that the older, right-hand side of the present house (seen from the ‘dolls’-house’ front) dates from 1690 and was altered and extended in the 18th century. The double-gabled section at the back was added in 1777, presumably by the Eggar family, prominent local landowners who owned the house from 1761 to 1831.

Sitting beneath the dining room is a vaulted 16th-century wine cellar. Behind the house is a detached stone-and-brick outbuilding incorporating a 42ft party barn/theatre and a large library area with a first-floor office, Mr Titchmarsh’s writing room beneath the eaves.

The main house offers 4,768sq ft of light and airy living-space including, on the ground floor, a formal entrance hall, grand drawing room and sitting room, and a bright and cheerful kitchen/breakfast room with an Aga and bespoke painted units.

Five first-floor bedrooms include the principal bedroom suite overlooking the garden, four further bedrooms and two bath/shower rooms. Attic storage rooms on the second floor could be reconfigured to provide additional accommodation, subject to the usual consents.

‘Shabby chic’ was probably the kindest way to describe Manor Farm House when the Titchmarshes took possession 23 years ago. ‘We found woodworm and death-watch beetle and took out 48 skips of rubbish, but we respected the integrity of the house and made no structural changes,’ Mr Titchmarsh explains.

‘We then put it all back together again, replacing chipboard with floorboards, installing underfloor heating on the ground floor and in the bathrooms and decorating throughout, using bright pastel colours here and there to highlight the elegant Georgian proportions of the interior.’

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Working out from the house, Mr Titchmarsh has created the all-organic gardens that are, justifiably, his pride and joy. Based on more than 60 years’ experience of gardening, ranging from his 20-odd ‘How to Garden’ books to the light-hearted Ground Force television series and more serious studies of Britain’s great gardens — as in his recent Chatsworth: The Gardens and the People Who Made Them (2023) — the gardens are a masterpiece of planning, expert planting and knowing when enough is enough.

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The focal point of the ‘gardened garden’, with its more formal beds and borders, is the wide Yorkstone terrace that wraps around the house. Here, a towering terracotta figure of Humphry Repton by Jim Keeling of Whichford Pottery in Warwickshire, which overlooks the terrace garden and will remain at Manor Farm House when the Titchmarshes have gone, hints at the owner’s easy grasp of gardening history.

Steps lead down to the more formal areas, which feature a wealth of mature trees, well-stocked borders, striking topiary and spectacular water features and fountains. Neatly manicured lawns are punctuated by tree-lined paths and enticing seats and a pretty octagonal summerhouse provides useful shade.

Having acquired the house with its original two acres of overgrown garden and grounds, Mr Titchmarsh later bought (at vast expense) two adjoining acres of prime arable farmland where he created the wildflower meadow, broadcasting the seed himself by hand from a bucket. Now, thanks to the recent rains, the meadow is a glorious, joyful mass of autumn colour.

Holybourne House is for sale via Savills in Farnham.

This feature appears in the September 10, 2025, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.