An Arts-and-Crafts home that sits in prime position in the most exclusive (and priciest) road in Hampshire

The beautiful Beaulieu River and the prestigious 7,000-acre estate that takes its name are two of the jewels in Hampshire’s crown. A series of secluded properties built on the waterfront in Dock Lane, Beaulieu, from the early 20th century onwards are among the most sought-after in the county and one of the earliest examples, The Rookery, is now on the market. George Clarendon of Knight Frank in Winchester is handling the sale, at a guide price of £5.25 million.

The Rookery is one of the original six houses were sanctioned by John, 2nd Baron Montagu (1866–1929), the grandfather of the present owner and a motoring pioneer, between 1909 and 1914. They’ve been much sought after ever since — as have other properties along the river, where from the 1920s wealthy industrialists, businessmen and architects built holiday homes with private moorings overlooking the water and surrounded by the woods of the estate.

Today, meandering Dock Lane is lined by no fewer than 54 houses and is listed by property website Zoopla as the most expensive street in Hampshire, where the average cost of a home was reckoned at £3,670,466 in February 2021; one of them, the 1930s Tudor-style Spearbed Copse, — owned by the Showering family of Babycham fame — came to the market in 2016 with a guide price of £8m, and which puts into perspective the asking price for The Rookery. It might have less than two acres of land, but this is a coveted location that commands a premium.

Approached via a long gravel driveway, The Rookery was constructed in 1909 in the Arts-and-Crafts style. Beautifully maintained by its current owners during their 25-year tenure, the main house offers 3,419sq ft of light and cheerful living space, including an entrance hall, dining room, sitting room, billiard room, study and a newly built kitchen on the ground floor.

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Above, there are five bedrooms, three shower rooms and a family bathroom on the first floor.

Period features, including Crittall windows and open fireplaces, abound throughout. Further accommodation is provided in a large, three-room outbuilding, once used as a cottage. There is also a double garage.

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Outside, the garden is laid mainly to lawn, with a south-facing terrace leading off the main reception rooms. A sheltered pool and pool house are perfect for summer days. A flight of stone steps leads down to the garden and through a secure gate to a further lawned area and the jetty that offers direct access to the Beaulieu River.

All this beauty sits at the heart of one of England’s great landed estates. Beaulieu can trace its origins to 1204, when King John gave the land to monks of the Cistercian order. The Abbey they founded grew in size and status until the Dissolution in 1538, when the Beaulieu estate was surrendered to the Crown and sold that same year to Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, a direct ancestor of the Montagu family that still owns it.

The estate is situated on the southern fringe of the New Forest National Park and occupies a glorious elevated setting overlooking the picturesque Beaulieu River, which rises near Lyndhurst in the heart of the New Forest. It then flows south across heathland to the village of Beaulieu, where it becomes tidal and passes the hamlet of Buckler’s Hard before entering the Solent at Needs Ore.

The river has been key to the development of the Beaulieu estate by successive owners, among them John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, who founded the ship-building village of Buckler’s Hard in the 1720s — now the setting for the prestigious Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour and marina.

The Rookery is on the market via Knight Frank in Winchester at £5.25 million — see more details.