An elegant Georgian mansion in Cornwall set in 14 acres of blissful woodland

Down in Cornwall, Ian Lillicrap of Cornish agents Lillicrap Chilcott is celebrating his best trading year in more than two decades and berates the doom-mongers who had prophesied the collapse of the UK residential property market. ‘Of all our sales in 2020, we sold 40 homes priced between £1m and £5m,’ he says, ‘including one superlative water’s-edge icon, which sold, sight unseen, for between £4m and £5m after the first national lockdown.'

Mr Lillicrap is bullish about things continuing in a similar vein: 'As we power into 2021, we expect strong demand for Cornwall’s finest houses in the £3m to £5m price bracket, due to a shortage of supply and the high level of demand from UK and overseas buyers.’ And currently on his books, at a guide price of £1.65m, is the impressive, Grade II-listed Sconner House at Polbathic, near Torpoint, which dates from about 1820 with later alterations.

Originally built as a dower house for Harriet, Lady St Germans, the house was a private home until the late 1990s, when it became a hotel.

Having acquired it as such, the present owners converted it back to a private residence, which they renovated and refurbished with much loving care over the years.

Approached down a long private drive amid some 14 acres of garden and woodland, Sconner House offers 9,150sq ft of well-proportioned living space.

There is a grand entrance hall, four main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, conservatory, seven bedrooms (five en suite) and two family bathrooms.

It comes with a two-storey coach house in need of repair — to put it mildly — but with potential for conversion to residential use.

Sconner House is for sale at £1.65m via Lillicrap Chilcott — see more pictures and details.