Wiltshire country house

For the past 20 years, this was the home of the late Lord Parmoor, who died in August in his eightieth year. 

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It is a house of unusual character and quality, reflecting its remarkable owner. A banker turned antiquarian bookseller (for nearly 30 years the owner of Bernard Quaritch), Lord Parmoor had a wide range of interests, from Romanesque churches to pâte-de-verre glass.

‘Milo was a man of passionate interests and he did nothing by halfmeasures,’ recalls Richard Linenthal, an old friend. ‘He loved food and cooking, so the kitchen at Dairy was large; he was a man of extraordinary intellect and range of pursuits, hence the library now destined for his old school at Ampleforth; he was a generous host and the sunny courtyard was the perfect focus for significant birthdays; but above all in recent years it was all about the newts. Milo was immensely proud of his great crested newts, and he lamented in The Times over the vanishing farmland pond, their natural habitat.

'He ensured that the beautiful gardens at Dairy wanted for nothing, and I am sure that the splendid wood bridge over the pond that he commissioned from Matthew Burt was more for them than for any human visitors.’

5 bedrooms, 3 reception rooms, double garage, paddock. 2.84 acres. £1.2m.

Savills (01722 426820)

* Country houses for sale in Wiltshire