Now pay attention, 007: Q's country house in Sussex is up for sale
The actor Desmond Llewelyn — the man who played Q in 17 different James Bond films — lived in this beautiful country home... and it's a place entirely free of high-tech trickery.
You'd think — hope, really — that the home of the world's most celebrated gadget inventor would be stuffed full of clever gizmos: smart lights, automated curtains, walls of screens, and perhaps a few gun turrets hidden in the hedges. But not so: the real-life home of Q, fictional creator of James Bond's outrageous arsenal of deadly gadgets, is about as low-tech as you could ever imagine.
Whitelands is a gorgeous Georgian house — currently for sale via Knight Frank — that was the family home of the late Desmond Llewelyn, the actor who played Q in 17 Bond films.
Desmond Llewelyn and his family lived at Whitelands for 30 years.
Llewelyn lived here for 30 years with his family until his death in 1999, and while it might not have suited his most famous character, it was absolutely perfect for Llewelyn himself.
'I am hopeless with gadgets,' he once said. 'I can't even get a ticket to work in one of those confounded machines on the London Underground. And I can hardly put on a kettle, let alone set a video.'
The very phrase 'set a video' will provoke almost as much nostalgia as the sight of Llewelyn himself, who first played Q in 1963, making his debut in From Russia with Love, and carrying on in the role until 1999's The World is Not Enough. He made more appearances in the series than any other actor, and unless current Q actor Ben Whishaw clocks up 14 more credits in the role between now and 2048, it's a record that doesn't look set to be beaten.
What a life it must have been for Llewelyn, travelling the world while filming and promoting the franchise as its second-best-loved recurring character, playing with Aston Martin ejector seats, magnetic cigarette lighters and bagpipes that double up as flamethrowers. And then, after all that, to come back to this idyllic country home in a rural setting just outside Battle, the Sussex village where the Battle of Hastings took place.
Charming throughout, it's a home set over four floors, with five bedrooms in the main house.
A fine entrance hall leads off to a dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, and a drawing room which heads on in to a sitting room. All the spaces link in to each other, giving a lovely free-flowing feel to the floorplan.
There's a wine cellar, boot room and utility room in the cellar. The first floor has three bedrooms, one of which has an en-suite and a walk-in wardrobe, while two bedrooms (both en-suite) are above on the second floor.
There's also a separate outbuilding set up with a further bedroom plus gym, office (which could also serve as a bedroom) and a games room. A pool house with sauna, a garage and stables complete the picture within the 1.5 acres.
The best news of all, at least for gadget fans? The house is unlisted, so there's nothing — apart from imagination, budget and a few health and safety concerns — to stop you from installing all the 21st century tech you could ever dream of. Q would be proud.
For sale via Knight Frank at £2 million — see more details.
