The Pickhurst Estate has gone on the market this week in Country Life at a guide price of £28m, for which the buyer will take ownership of an immaculate, ultra-high-spec mansion and a picturesque, 130-acre shooting and fishing estate.
The latest incarnation of this spectacular country property is aimed squarely at ‘an international clientele that tends to live globally, moving at a moment’s notice among their various houses or yachts around the world’, according to Trevor Kearney of Savills, the agent handling the sale.
Mr Kearney describes it as ‘Soho Farmhouse in the Surrey Hills’, an analogy drawn to illustrate the level of sophistication grafted onto an already impressive country house.
The house and estate – a Grade II*-listed Pickhurst at Chiddingfold, between Godalming and Haslemere, in a refurbishment of a refurbishment of a Victorian mansion built for himself in the style of Norman Shaw in 1885–89 by the Scottish-born architect John McKean Brydon.
The original, late-Victorian house was much reduced in size in the 1950s, when its original service wing and internal courtyard were demolished after a fire.
Following a massive, six-year restoration – brilliantly executed by country-house specialist Ian Adam-Smith – the house was reconfigured and extended, its cottages and outbuildings restored and its gardens redesigned and replanted by Arabella Lennox-Boyd and Fiona Lawrenson.
Relaunched onto the market by Knight Frank at a guide price of £15m in May 2013, the estate was bought by its current owner, a successful player at this rarefied stratum of the residential market, who went on to spend a further £6 million or more to revamp the interior to what Mr Kearney describes as ‘London standards’ of interior design and finish.
The main house now presents some 20,000sq ft of luxurious family living and entertaining space. Ancillary accommodation comprises a three-bedroom coach house with a gymnasium, sauna and relaxation suite, a Grade II-listed entrance lodge and two further three-bedroom cottages.
Country-house pursuits are equally well catered for within the grounds, which include eight stables, three walled gardens, a swimming pool, a tennis court, pasture, woodland and the low-key family shoot.
See more details and pictures of this house, on the market with Savills at £28 million.
Credit: The Gate House
A pocket-sized castle in Salisbury that is both adorable and affordable
Salisbury is one of the finest cities in the south of England – and if you're looking to move there,
The Country Life Top 100 architects, interior designers, craftsmen, builders and garden designers in Britain
It's now six years since the original Country Life Top 100 was published, but the aim hasn't changed: we name
Spectacular Scottish castles and estates for sale
A look at the finest castles, country houses and estates for sale in Scotland today.
-
An idyllic countryside home that's light, spacious and comes with a Grade II-listed follyHagg House is a gorgeous family home that just happens to have a miniature castle in the gardens. Annabel Dixon explains more.
-
A historic villa for sale on the Via Nomentana worthy of Rome's rich historyThree floors, lots of balconies, and a private garden in one of Rome's loveliest neighbourhoods.
-
Eight bedrooms of unlisted Edwardian elegance with sweeping views of SomersetAshton House sits near the market town of Chard and comes with a wealth of amenities both inside and out.
-
A waterside cottage in Devon with a private quay, idyllic views and the prettiest summerhouse we've seen in yearsRight beside the picturesque Yealm Estuary, No 1 Noss Mayo is an idyllic home that feels like an escape from the world. Annabel Dixon takes a look.
-
This elegant Greek villa offers would-be buyers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the shadow of the AcropolisAthenian Legacy consists of two houses in walking —and almost touching — distance of one of the world’s most famous and precious landmarks.
-
Six charming homes up for sale, including one dubbed 'one of the most picturesque in Dorset', as seen in Country LifeOur look at the finest houses to come up for sale through Country Life in the past week is full of delights, from a new-Georgian mansion to a perfectly-sized Hertfordshire estate.
-
A Buckinghamshire mansion built for the speech therapist who set Churchill on his path to greatnessPenny Churchill takes a look at Rignalls, a classic Arts-and-Crafts home that looks like it's stepped out of the pages of an EM Forster novel.
-
A gorgeous home that offers a slice of country life in the heart of HampsteadThis idyllic Hampstead mansion has seen its price rise nine times faster than inflation — and it's not hard to see why.
