It is the week to be thinking about gardens and the homes that are contained within them. As RHS Chelsea rages, property coverage on the website this week will have a focus on homes with fine gardens.
First up, Mark Smith of Strutt & Parker’s Banbury office is handling the sale — at a guide price of £2.25m — of the delightful, Grade II-listed Friars Well at Aynho, which stands in 17¼ acres of Capability Brown-designed parkland, once part of the Cartwright family’s Aynhoe Park estate.
Built by the Cartwrights in 1763 of stone under a Stonesfield-slate roof, the substantial nine-bedroom house, originally known as Aynhoe Park Cottage, has been extensively remodelled over the years and, in the 1950s, was renamed Friars Well after the natural spring in the grounds.
At about the same time, the Classical architect Raymond Erith, who did notable work in the popular Northamptonshire village dominated by Grade I-listed Aynhoe Park, was commissioned by the Cartwrights to remodel Friars Well. This he did by enhancing its Georgian proportions, re-ordering the interior and installing a fine curved staircase, one of his signature designs. He also raised the roof level and introduced a series of attics.
In the 1960s, Lady Ward moved from Aynhoe Park to Friars Well, where she retained John Fowler of Colefax & Fowler to advise on further alterations to the house, including ground- and first-floor extensions to the rear.
She also enlisted landscape architect Lanning Roper to design a series of garden ‘rooms’, which were imaginatively planted to counter the prevailing wind by creating private sheltered areas around the house.
Beautifully maintained by its current owners during their 11-year tenure, Friars Well offers 5,735sq ft of elegant accommodation, including five reception rooms, nine bedrooms and five bathrooms.
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