A timeless Georgian home for sale in the South Downs graced by the Spirit of Ecstasy
West Stoke House has had many lives, including as a makeshift design studio for Rolls-Royce Motorcars.
Country Life, much like the countryside itself, is a mycorrhizal network, where everything is connected. We might write about houses, and then gardens, and then interiors, and then cars, but it would be foolish to think that those things operate in isolation and independently of each other. What use would a house be without a setting? What purpose a sitting room without a roof? Why drive if there was nowhere to go and was nothing to look at?
Those fine threads reach back in time as well. Down in Chichester, you will find Grade II-listed West Stoke House, a Georgian country home that could make a case for being the birthplace of the Rolls-Royce Ghost. It is for sale with Jackson-Stops for £4.95 million.
The Rolls-Royce Ghost.
Back in 2006, West Stoke House was a small boutique hotel near Rolls-Royce’s new home at Goodwood. Following the successful relaunch of the brand and the Phantom, it was time to make something else. And so, designers from several locations converged at West Stoke for a number of weeks, where the dining room was used as a makeshift design studio. From those design sessions came the 200EX concept car, which became the Ghost and made its debut to the world at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.
West Stoke House itself is also closely linked to the Goodwood Estate, as it was purchased in 1764 by the 2nd Duke of Richmond, Charles Lennox, and became one of several estate farms and houses supporting the wider Goodwood holdings.
These days, West Stoke is a nine-bedroom home that stands in almost 11 acres of the South Downs National Park. It also comes with a separate annexe and mature formal gardens dominated by a Lebanese cedar that is believed to be 300 years old. Of particular interest, especially to those who appreciate the fine engineering that Rolls-Royce is known for, would be the swimming pool extension to the rear of the home, which is almost entirely made of glass. Further amenities include a tennis court and a biomass boiler housed in a detached timber garage.
Much like the Rolls-Royce Ghost itself, West Stoke is a house filled with history, elegance and modern comfort.
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