In the afternoon of Good Friday, April 5, 1907, a devastating fire gutted the interior of one of the Herefordshire’s prettiest late-Georgian properties: Vennwood, near Sutton St Nicholas, some seven miles north of Hereford.
At the time, the house, built in the 1830s by the Jenner family of Weston Park, Bath, was leased to Hugh Courage of the brewing family, who, with his wife, was visiting friends on the other side of town, when the fire, which broke out in one of the mansion’s 11 bedrooms, ravaged the house, leaving only the Georgian façade.
Damage was estimated at some £3,000, but both landlord and tenant were insured and the house was soon rebuilt, but on a smaller scale, with the addition of a portico surmounted by a pediment.
The stepfather and mother of Charles Comyn, the current owner, bought Vennwood off-market from the Rev Jenner’s trustees in 1969, so it has never been sold on the open market. The picturesque 214-acre estate – with its 9,474sq ft , five-bedroom, Georgian-style house set in beautiful parkland and surrounded by gardens, a lake, rich farmland and cider orchards – is now for sale through Balfours (01743 353511) and Savills (01865 269179) at a guide price of £3.5million for the whole, or in three lots.
Mr Comyn is privately hoping that the potential of the house and its traditional farmyard – both in need of renovation—will inspire a young couple to buy the delightful mixed farming and sporting estate as a whole, and return it to its former glory.
Credit: Savills
An Oxfordshire home with a medieval vaulted hall that's perfect for a 21st century party
Longthorpe Tower's 700-year-old insight into the medieval mind
This surviving cycle of 14th-century paintings still has the power to intrigue, amuse and inform. It also offers a remarkable
Historic former rectory with a sixteenth century mural of Henry VIII inside
The Renaissance wall art has been highly valued by Christie's.
-
What links myself, David Beckkam and The King? We all have an affinity for the Aston Martin DB6, a car that has been unfairly punished for not being in a James Bond filmThe Aston Martin DB6 is better than the DB5, and I am tired of pretending that it isn't.
-
Great Danes: These gentle giants need space, strength and industrial-strength sofasGreat Danes were originally bred to hunt big game, but they’re more into cuddles than killing.
-
Five glorious properties for sale from the 11th to the 21st centuryA tithe barn, a Grade I-listed Norman keep, and a Georgian masterpiece all graced the pages of Country Life this week
-
You can now rent King William IV’s former home in London’s Mayfair — for a princely sumThe London property — with royal lineage — is on the market with the estate agency Wetherell for £25,000 a week.
-
Dream of revolution inside the 18th-century villa once occupied by Napoleon's French troopsAn apartment inside historic Villa Gnecchi Ruscone is on the market and it comes with a grand ballroom rumoured to have been frequented by Napoleon.
-
May the force be with you if you move into this London apartment block that Obi-Wan Kenobi (and Cher) once lived inOliver’s Wharf was once the residence of megastar Cher and the actor Sir Alec Guinness — as well as Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits.
-
125 glorious acres of Elizabethan elegance for sale in Cheshire that comes with a moatIs this real life? Is it just fantasy? No, it's Holford Hall.
-
Look around this James Bond-themed house for sale in Nottinghamshire and release your inner MI6 agentNow, come, come dear reader, you get as much fulfilment out of Skyfall as I do, so why don't you admit it?
-
The eclectic New York townhouse that Lily Allen sings about in her new, headline-making album is for sale381, Union Street is on the market just days after the singer’s latest album details the alleged infidelity in her marriage.
-
This Suffolk home is a perfect escape from the world and it comes with its own stretch of river and 20 acresThis idyllic home in Suffolk is the perfect village home.
