Set in the rolling hills of Dorset and with two-and-a-half miles of World
Heritage coast to itself, the Encombe estate, in the “golden bowl” of
Dorset, is one of the finest and most beautiful in England. Now, for only
the fifth time in its 1,100-year history, it is going on sale - for £25m,
which makes it the most expensive country house to come to the open market
so far this year.
The sale of the property by Charles McVeigh III - an American merchant banker
who bought it for £11m in 2002 - is being seen as a test of how well prime
rural property is withstanding the collapse of the mainstream housing
market. “This is the most important house to come up for sale this year,”
says Alex Lawson, the director of farms and estates at Savills, one of the
joint agents. “The scale, the spectacular setting and the grandeur of the
house mean this is a rare prospect. It is proper rural countryside – it is
unspoilt. There is no intrusive road noise, no orange glow, and few planes
fly overhead. It is a dream house.”
Trophy homes and sporting estates such as Encombe, which lies just south of
Corfe Castle in the Isle of Purbeck, have so far appeared largely immune to
the woes afflicting more modest dwellings. Rival agents Knight Frank - who
are not involved with the deal – say the prices of such prime properties are
19% higher than a year ago, after rising by 1% in July and then 2.9% in
August on a month-on-month basis.
So far this year, Savills estimates four such estates have sold or are under
offer for more than £20m, and another 12 for £10m-20m. Nobody can be quite
certain, though - many of these sales are conducted privately, and those
involved in negotiations are often obliged to sign confidentiality clauses.
The largest off-market deal of the year so far involved the 5,200-acre
Ranton estate in Stafford-shire, which belonged to the late Lord Lichfield,
a first cousin once removed of the Queen. It was sold for £34.5m in January
to Grainger PLC, Britain’s largest quoted residential property owner. The
most recent was the 2,499-acre Tetworth Hall estate in Cambridge-shire,
which has just changed hands privately for £20m.
So can Encombe 0 which, by contrast, comes to the open market in the next two
weeks - reach its guide price? At the time of going to press, no brochure
had been produced, and only a handful of select individuals had been invited
to tour the house. Yet those who have been allowed in have been bowled over
by the sheer splendour of the 2,017-acre estate, approached via a winding
drive more than a mile long and surrounded by rolling hills in a wooded
valley that runs down to the sea.
“Turning into the drive at Encombe and catching a first glimpse of the house
nestling in the bowl of land way below you makes the hairs on the back of
your neck stand on end,” says Mark McAndrew, head of the farm and estate
department at Strutt & Parker, which is also instructed to sell the
property. “Those who come to Encombe will understand what I mean. It is an
exceptional and entrancing place.”
Other visitors have been equally impressed. “It almost takes your breath
away,” says one. “You feel quite starry-eyed when you go down the drive. You
get a glimpse of the sea and then a wonderful view of the house. As settings
go, it doesn’t get much better than this.”
A second source, who had a tour of the property recently, told The Sunday
Times: “In many ways, it is a house for the super-rich to entertain in. It’s
just perfect for a sporting weekend.”
The main house, a pale grey Grade II*-listed Georgian pile, built by its MP
owner, John Pitt, in the late 18th century, is surrounded by 60 acres of
formal gardens and parkland, and has a swimming pool, three lakes and a
Grecian-style temple.
Internally, it is arranged around a core of principal rooms that include four
receptions, including a double-height dining room, a galleried hall and a
restored Victorian library, all of which have carved marble fireplaces. On
the first floor are eight bedroom suites – the bathrooms are as big as the
bedrooms, with restored French and English porcelain baths – and there is a
further attic floor, once used as servants’ quarters. There is also a
separate guest wing with a further five bedrooms, accessed only from the
ground floor.
In its grounds, the estate also has 10 cottages, a palladian-style stable
block with 17 loose boxes, a new equestrian centre and pheasant and
partridge shooting. Much of the agricultural land is let on farm tenancies.
McVeigh, 66, a chairman of Citi-group’s Corporate and Investment Banking
Global Wealth Management Partnership, and his wife, Jenny, are believed to
have spent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of pounds restoring the
house, which incorporates the shell of an Elizabethan mansion. They have
installed new wiring and central heating throughout and replaced almost all
the windows with Georgian-style panes. The kitchen has been moved to the
centre of the house, to make it more suitable for entertaining; from it
there are views through a colonnade, with floor-to-ceiling glass, over a
lake.
The couple’s efforts were recognised by the Georgian Group in 2006, which gave
McVeigh the award for best restoration of a Georgian country house. “The
McVeighs have sensitively restored the interior, but, almost more
importantly, have addressed the external deficiencies,” the judges said in
their citation. “Encombe was marred by its projecting porch and its missing
glazing bars.”
After protracted arguments with heritage authorities, these defects were put
right, along with other work including restoring paned windows to “create
focus and a sense of arrival”.
Significantly, trees have been felled to let in light to the north side of the
property; by creating a courtyard, land-scaping the drive and adding lime
trees, the result is one of the most impressive entrances in the country.
Yet the estate is not always easy to reach and not easily commutable, as
surrounding lanes can be clogged up with tourist traffic; and helicopter
access - likely to be an important consideration for potential buyers - can
be limited by sea mists.
When Encombe last went on the market, in 2002, Kylie Minogue was among those
who reportedly viewed it - to the delight of the neighbouring community.
Even the local rector believed that she was the buyer, until it emerged that
it had been acquired by McVeigh, then co-chairman of Schroder Salomon Smith
Barney.
One of the main attractions of Encombe is the privacy afforded by its sheer
size. Large parts of the estate are protected, and it includes a designated
World Heritage site and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Its stretch of
coast-line includes St Aldhelm’s Head - on which sits a chapel, believed to
date back to the 12th century, and a coast-guard’s lookout - and Chapman’s
Pool, a former smugglers’ cove.
McVeigh says some of his fondest memories are of riding along the cliff tops
and of picnic suppers with friends on Houns Tout, Swyre Head or other of he
estate’s beauty spots watching the sunset. These, along with another 1,000
acres of the estate, can be accessed by day trippers and ramblers in search
of the Enid Blyton perfection of some of Britain’s most spectacular coast.
Yet for all the house’s splendour, there are no sea views from any of its
beautifully and expensively restored windows. “It is tantalisingly close,
but you can’t quite get at it,” says one top-end agent, who has found
Encombe to be “a cosy, comfortable house”.
The main property was erected on the site of a retreat built more than 500
years earlier by the Abbess of Shaftes-bury. It then became the seat of the
Culliford family before passing into the hands of the Pitts. The original
house was substantially remodelled and extended by John Pitt, an amateur
architect, after he inherited it on the death of his father in 1735.
Disappointed by the lack of sea view, he laid out a large lake, which winds
out of view, to the south of the house. He even kept a small yacht on it, as
if he could sail straight out to sea.
The estate has long inspired affection from the great and the good. Pitt’s
cousin William Pitt the Younger, who became Britain’s youngest prime
minister in 1783, aged 24, often wrote expressing his sorrow at not being
able to visit “dear, unknown, delightful, picturesque Encombe” and sent his
“benedictions to the hills, rocks, pines, shores, seas” of the estate.
In 1807 the Pitts sold Encombe to the 1st Earl of Eldon, the longest-serving
of all England’s lord chancellors, for the princely sum of £56,000 –
a far cry from today’s asking price. So will anyone be ready to pay the £25m?
“Since word has got out, we have been contacted by a number of the right sort
of people,” says Lawson. “Already this year we have sold more estates than
in the whole of last year. The way the market has been going, it looks to be
the strongest yet.”
The price Encombe eventually fetches could serve as a benchmark for other
sales of top-end country houses this year - among them the 2,417-acre Easton
estate in Norfolk, which is due to come to the market later this month for
more than £20m.
Easton, near Norwich, is a proper agricultural estate with a significant
income. It, too, has a restored Georgian principal house, with five
reception rooms and 12 bedrooms, and is surrounded by formal gardens and
grounds with swimming pool, tennis court, walled garden, river, lake and
park. Further properties include a coach house, three farmhouses, 25
cottages and one staff flat.
“Encombe is a good gauge of how the autumn market will perform,”says Clive
Hopkins, head of farms and estates at Knight Frank.
McVeigh, who sets off from Encombe for his desk at Citibank early every
morning, has already bought a second, smaller country house in Wiltshire, in
a private deal, for just under £10m earlier this summer. Apparently, the
property, also thought to be architecturally important and in need of
restoration, was one that he and his wife have “lusted after” for years.
They also own a town house in Chelsea.
In a statement to the press, the McVeighs said: “It has been a huge privilege
to have lived at Encombe over the last six years and to have been its
custodians over that time.
“The challenge of restoring an important heritage property inspired us to
acquire Encombe, and we have had enormous enjoyment in making all the
improvements we have to both the house and the estate.”
So what will they miss the most? “The sea views and Encombe’s very special
landscape,” says McVeigh. “Also the darkness at night –
which is becoming more of a rarity, even in the countryside.”
They may also miss the lifestyle that a large house in the country can
provide: days spent sea-fishing from the rocks and horse riding along the
clifftops, before long evenings spent tucked up in the restored library in
front of a blazing fire.
“The house swells up for Christmas, Easter and for shooting parties, then
shrinks right back again on a Sunday evening,” McVeigh said last week. Both
he - and the estate agents - will be hoping that the same won’t happen to
the price.
Savills, 020 7409 8882, www.savills. co.uk; Strutt & Parker, 020 7629
7282, www.struttandparker.co.uk
Pile them high: other rich pickings for sale around the country
Morval estate, Cornwall £10m Just outside Looe, this shooting
estate runs to 1,130 acres. There is no principal house, but planning
consent could be sought to build a trophy retreat. There are three tenanted
farms and a few dozen cottages that bring in £148,000 annually. Savills;
01872 243222, www.savills.com
Sawley Hall, North Yorkshire £10m Recently restored, the
10-bedroom early-Georgian house sits at the centre of a 950-acre estate,
near Harrogate. It has sporting rights over 1,390 acres. Savills; 020 7409
8882, www.savills.co.uk
Lurgashall, West Sussex £9m A mini estate near Haslemere within
commuting distance of London, Grade II*-listed Lurgashall house has 10
bedrooms and four receptions with spectacular views of its 136 acres. Knight
Frank; 020 7861 1064, www.knightfrank.co.uk
and Strutt & Parker; 020 7629 7282, www.struttandparker.co.uk
Somerton Randle, Somerset £7m Grade II-listed Somerton Randle is
a Georgian country estate with a 10-bedroom main house, a six-bedroom coach
house and three further cottages. Set in 89 acres of landscaped gardens and
farmland, with a lake, stabling and a swimming pool, the property has been
completely refurbished. Strutt & Parker; 01722 344010, www.struttandparker.com
Irby estate, Lincolnshire £9.1m A 1,284-acre agricultural estate
with a partridge shoot, it is the most substantial sale in the county for
some time. The main five-bed house is set in 12 acres of gardens, grounds
and paddocks, and there is a Grade II-listed dovecote. Humberts; 01522
546444, www.humberts.co.uk .
Updown Court, Surrey £70m Updown Court, a brash new-build mansion
near Windlesham in Surrey, with acres of marble and five swimming pools, has
been on the market since 2005 and is yet to find a buyer. www.updowncourt.com
