There must be quite a lot of pressure if you are to own and live in the former home of a famous person. If you were to purchase the house where Stanley Kubrick lived, there would be an expectation to at least watch good films while you were there. At Robert Plant’s Welsh retreat, only the best music and singing in the shower. If you were to take on Graham Norton’s old gaff in East London, an urge to present a radio show perhaps.
In Cambridgeshire, the current owners of The Manor House must surely be good gardeners. After all, the Manor House is the former home of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, arguably one of the greatest horticulturists of all time. The property is for sale with Savills for £1.5 million.
Situated in the elegant village of Fenstanton, north-west of Cambridge, the Manor House is a grade II*-listed home of four bedrooms set over three floors. It is everything you would expect a former village home of Capability Brown to be, with lots of nice modern touches to make life a little easier.
Period character and contemporary charm combine behind the black-and-white façade and pitched roof to create an elegant family home throughout. Come for the double-plank front door, the fleur-de-lys hinges, the exposed beams and fireplaces; stay for the Plain English kitchen and the astonishing contemporary orangery.
But that’s not all, the property also comes with a converted barn within its grounds, which is currently in use as a home office, but is easily large enough to be used as ancillary accommodation or as an art studio. Or anything else really.
And, of course, there is the garden. How does the present day Manor House live up to its historic past? Very well indeed. The gardens extend to just under half an acre, but are pristine, with well-stocked shrubs, trees, lawns and hedges you could set your watch to. There are two mature apple trees, which it is believed were planted by Capability Brown himself. Looking around, I feel that great scion of garden design would certainly be pleased.
'Owning the Manor House has been a privilege and a complete joy,' says current owner Nigel Ferrier. 'There are very few opportunities in life to own a home with such character and provenance. We have enjoyed the restoration of all the original features which now add to the relaxed feel of the property. The gardens have given us immense pleasure, and we never tire of sitting in the shade of one of the apple trees that Brown planted.'
Neither would we Nigel, neither would we.
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