Anyone heading for the Game Fair at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, this week should double-check their satnav before setting out to ensure it doesn’t take them to Haffield House in Herefordshire. Unless, of course, you happen to be in the market for a superbly renovated, classic late-Georgian house, with a cottage, stabling and outbuildings set in 120 acres of pasture, parkland and woodland, in which case Worcester-based agent Andrew Grant may be able to offer you the country estate of your dreams.
Haffield House, listed Grade II and on the market at a guide price of £5.5m through Andrew Grant Country Homes, comes with impeccable credentials. In the early 18th century, the estate was owned by Jacob Tonson, publisher of Alexander Pope and a keen gardener, whose friend Lord Peter-borough introduced the first tulip tree to England in 1688. It may even have been Tonson who planted the fine tulip tree that still graces the garden at Haffield House.
The present Haffield estate was created in 1813 by John Biddulph and the main house, designed by eminent architect Sir Robert Smirke as an ‘unpretentious Greek Revival house’, was built in 1819.
In 2016, the 18,600sq ft house, by then in need of considerable repair, was bought from the Cadbury family by interior designer Rebecca Coady and her husband, who were looking for a Georgian country house to renovate as their ‘forever’ family home.
Three years later, following a root-and-branch restoration, Haffield House has been transformed into a splendid, easily managed country house that literally exudes new life, its roof having been removed and fitted with a breathable membrane, together with fresh slates, battens and chimneys.
The exterior render was replaced with a natural hydraulic lime coating. A biomass system was installed for heating and new, historically faithful radiators fitted through-out. All 180 windows were repaired, with their handmade glass retained, and 28 original craftsman-made fireplaces were preserved.
Outside, all the outbuildings have been restored and the grounds revived, with driveways and paths transformed with Cotswold stone. Inside, the 14 bedrooms have been converted to seven suites with luxury bathrooms, plus two further bedrooms and a cinema room. The lighting has been ingeniously planned, with three chandeliers making a brilliant centrepiece in the main reception rooms.
What would have been a small, unassuming kitchen now has bespoke oak furniture and marble tops, a separate ‘prep kitchen’, a light-filled breakfast room and a freezer room.
Sadly, the best-laid plans of mice and men can sometimes go horribly wrong and, after Mrs Coady’s husband’s return to work in Dubai, their country idyll remains a dream.
Credit: Knight Frank
The best country houses for sale this week
Catch up on the best houses that have come up for sale via Country Life in the last few weeks.
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'The whole house shook. Everything was white. For four months, it felt as if we were on Mars': The story behind one of Hampshire's most breathtaking gardensWhen Kim Wilkie sculpted a tiered grass amphitheatre behind this 17th-century house, the garden finally settled into place, as Non Morris discovers.
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'I have lost a treasure, such a sister, such a friend as never can have been surpassed': Inside Jane Austen's Winchester home, the house where she penned her final words and drew her final breathJane Austen spent the last days of her life in rented lodgings in Winchester, Hampshire. Adam Rattray describes the remarkable recent discoveries made about the house in which she died.
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An utterly charming island home in Scotland with gardens so beautiful they made the cover of Country LifeAn Cala on the Isle of Seil has a fascinating history that is only enhanced by its amazing setting.
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Soft tones and a sense of place: A Mayfair duplex that breaks the modern mouldA new designer-led residence at 60 Curzon in Mayfair reminds us that everything new doesn't necessarily have to look it.
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'The very best North Yorkshire has to offer': The £25 million Kirkham EstateWith 1,103 acres and on the market for the first time in a century, we've got a new frontrunner for the sale of the year.
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The reality of 20 years of house price rises in Britain, from the places that have had a charmed life to the spots where it's a struggle to move back homeAt first glance the ups and downs of the property market seem to even out over time — but dig in to the numbers and you'll see wild regional variations which paint a very difference picture. Annabel Dixon analyses new research which tells the story.
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A historic Yorkshire hall, meticulously restored to its former 18th-century magnificenceWomersley Park is a masterpiece and one of Yorkshire's great historic houses. And it could be yours.
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Rowing past dreams: An idyllic riverside home with a boathouse, croquet pitch and Olympic pedigreeThe Manor in Long Wittenham is a perfect Thames-side getaway. Comes with a free boat.
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A bucolic Sussex home that's 'like stepping into a fairytale', yet just 30 minutes from central LondonFelmere House is a playground for nature and only 30 minutes from London.
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Magnificent mansions across the Home Counties, from £3 million to £14 million, as seen in Country LifeA waterside dream home and a house and estate with over 1,100 years of history make our round-up this week.
