Foxcote Manor is the perfect country house – large without being unmanageable, with plenty of grounds and good transport links to the word beyond its walls.
A Grade II-listed, 17th-century manor house with delightful gardens, the late Mark Vestey’s charming Foxcote Manor at Foxcote, in the heart of the Cotswolds is 6½ miles from Cheltenham and 13½ miles from Stow-on-the-Wold.
The agents, Knight Frank, quote a guide price of £8m for the compact, 59-acre estate, with its outstanding equestrian facilities, which include a main 13-box American-barn yard, plus additional stabling, barns, an outdoor school, paddocks and an immaculate, full-size polo ground.
Foxcote Manor and its grounds occupy the south side of a low valley formed by a tributary stream of the River Coln. In the medieval period, the manor was part of the Bishop of Worcester’s Withington estate and, by 1507, had been acquired by the college of Westbury-on-Trym.
After the Dissolution, the Crown sold Foxcote with the college’s other lands to Sir Ralph Sadler, after which it passed through several families until, in 1919, Foxcote Manor farm was acquired by Emma Abell.
In 1973, the Abells, who had added glebe land bought from the rector in 1921 and the former glebe Thorndale Farm in 1932, sold the Foxcote estate to the Hon Mark Vestey, brother of Lord Vestey of Stowell Park. Mr Vestey further enlarged Foxcote with the acquisition of two local farms and parts of Withington Manor farm and, by 1998, owned some 1,000 acres in the parish.
He also extended the manor house, adding a flanking gable wing on the south side of the house to match that on the north side, which had been added by the Abells in about 1920. Other additions included a north bay window, a south loggia and a Classical porch in 1997–98.
Sometime after 1980, when farming operations were centred on Thorndale Farm, Foxcote’s splendid 18th-century barn was cleverly converted into a billiard room, squash court and famous party barn, using windows from a demolished service wing at Stowell Park.
In all, Foxcote Manor offers more than 10,650sq ft of family-friendly living space on three floors and includes three main reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, a garden hall, master and guest suites, five further bedrooms, three further bathrooms and an adjoining two-bedroom annexe.
Foxcote Manor is for sale via Knight Frank at £8m — see more details and pics.
Things to do: Glow in the gardens and a 300-year-old set of dinner plates up for sale
Keep your diary up-to-date with our selection of unmissable events and things to do in the next few weeks.
Best country houses for sale this week
Catch up on the best country houses for sale this week that have come to the market via Country Life.
50 best places to live near London
The indispensable guide for getting into the country without ending up out of touch with the town.
