THEOLD
THE beauty of English country houses grows from their glorious gardens. Heaven
preserve them from the latest developer craze of engulfing them with
wannabee mini-manor houses that belong in suburbia. Sturford Mead, in
Wiltshire, is one such sylvan retreat that has reached a blessed, mature
harmony with its surroundings.
Evelyn Waugh, Lord Beaverbrook and Rex Whistler were all frequent guests in
the 1930s when the Marquess of Bath (then Lord Weymouth) entertained here in
style before he moved to Longleat and introduced the lions.
With his first wife, Daphne, he commissioned Russell Page, the accomplished
American landscape gardener, to create a ravishing white garden enclosed by
yew hedges with a statue set in a recess at the end. Page edged his borders
with smart stone copings following bold Baroque curves. His masterstroke is
the cross vista through narrow gaps in the yew hedges that frames a
tantalising glimpse of an Italian pool guarded by tall cypresses.
The pool is prettily edged by low clipped box forming a zigzag. Joan Bradshaw,
the present owner with her husband, Robert, has restored Page’s work and
says that there used to be two knot gardens on either side: “You can see the
outline when it snows.” Page next lures you along a gently curving walk
flanked by beech hedges.
The main south-facing lawn has a ravishing view through a cleft in the low
hills to a glorious green vale stretching to the horizon. In the foreground
rises a grass knoll, picturesquely grazed by sheep. On the far side of the lawn
an alley of neatly pleached limes leads diagonally from the house to a
column prettily topped by an urn. That was planted, says Mrs Bradshaw, by
the diplomat Lees Mayall, who bought the house after the Second World War.
The walk continues through a sheltered walled garden, where a traditional long
narrow potting shed survives behind the wall. Beyond is a remarkable water
garden where a series of fast-flowing serpentine rills feed a small lake.
Sturford Mead is attributed to the Bath architect John Pinch. The delight of
the interior is its architectural sophistication. The entrance hall is paved
in large diamond stone flags lit by windows on either side of the double
front door, which retains a fine polished brass lock case. A broad doorway
leads on to the stair hall surmounted by a large and graceful fanlight.
Rounded slots in the frame suggest there were originally swing doors.
The stone staircase is cantilevered from the wall with a perfectly smooth
underside formed by cutting away the treads. The iron railings are
alternately straight and cleverly kinked to form a Greek key-pattern motif.
Mr and Mrs Bradshaw found the original “stoneblocking” (murals imitating
masonry) beneath the wallpaper. Seven doors open on to the staircase hall,
all with handsome pilastered door surrounds.
The library has been enchantingly fitted out in Strawberry Hill Gothick style
for the Bradshaws by the yacht designer John Bannenberg, with overdoors like
bishops’ mitres and bookcases with colonettes. Next door the drawing room
retains a sumptuous double flock paper that has faded to beautiful ochre.
Sturford Mead has an unusually complete “downstairs” realm where sash windows
look out over a dry walk that circles the Regency house ensuring that damp
does not penetrate. Here Robert Bradshaw has a workshop, where he invented a
chemical sniffer no bigger than an early mobile telephone for use by British
troops in detecting chemical weapons.
Servants’ bell boards list ten bedrooms. Near by is the untouched servants’
bathroom with three washbasins in a row and a bath on the other side of the
room. The knife-sharpening room was where Lady Bath’s hunting gear was
washed and dried ready for use the next morning. In the pantry the copper
sink remains — copper, being softer, resulted in fewer breakages.
The Bradshaws have made a spacious kitchen lit by a splendidly long run of
windows. Cupboards were commissioned from Smallbone, at nearby Devizes, with
a large pair of Belfast sinks set in a 16ft-long draining board made from a
single plank of wood.
Sturford Mead was built in 1817-21 for Henry Austin Fussell, whose family were
toolmakers, with six ironworks around Mells. The house was bought in 1853 by
the Marquess of Bath of the day to protect his great estate but was sold
after the last war to help to pay death duties. All around, woods and fields
still belong to Longleat, ensuring with luck that the views will long remain
inviolate.
THENEW
GRAND country houses are all well and good but there simply aren’t enough of
them to go round. Small wonder then that developers are responding to a gap
in the market by whacking up a few new ones. And even if architectural
historians are a bit sniffy about them, who cares if the place is commutable
and there’s underfloor heating and double-pointed bricks to keep out
draughts? The mini-manors at Ide Hill are a case in point, where the new
homes (and a few old ones too) sit in 37 acres of rolling Kent countryside
with views of the North Downs. They’re not all complete yet, but the new
properties at Ide Hill Park, near Sevenoaks, promise to be very impressive
indeed.
It should be pointed out that not every property here is brand new. When the
project is complete there will be an estate of 22 homes — seven apartments
in the Ide Hill Park mansion, which dates back almost 200 years, eight mews
homes in the converted stable block, and another seven mini-manor houses in
the grounds.
The mansion itself is very handsome, an unusual Grade II listed sandwich of a
house, white stuccoed Georgian at the front, grey stone and distinctly
Italianate at the back, with a splendid bell tower (but no bell to disturb
the rural idyll). It was built in 1834 as a summer retreat for the
celebrated artist Joshua Wilson-Faulkner, a distant relative of the Duchess
of Cornwall, and named “The Philippines” after his foreign travels.
The north-facing Georgian section is now the main entrance and isdominated by
fine bow-fronted windows. Ide Hill Park is very tucked away, up a steep hill
through protected woodland and surrounded by National Trust land.
Until recently it was used as a care home, but fortunately many original
details remain — a grand carved staircase, marble columns, intricate
panelling and an extraordinary mural of the huntress Diana, painted by the
renowned Arts and Crafts architect George Walton.
The space allowed for each house in the grounds is remarkably generous at a
time when planning directives call for high-density development but the
trade-off has hinged on restoration of the mansion. That is being carried
out by the heritage specialists J. P. Livesey but Millgate will be
responsible for the new homes.
Livesey has an excellent pedigree. It restored Wyfold Court in
Henley-on-Thames and Hill Hall in Essex, once an open prison. “It’s a
beautiful house and we’re very excited about it,” says Paul Richardson, of
Livesey, with an enthusiasm you might think unusual for someone who has done
this so many times before.
The mini-manors are mini only by comparison with the main house. They will be
Georgian in style and large — between 4,600 sq ft and 7,000 sq ft, and
standing in plots of up to an acre. They will have large family rooms, home
cinemas, wine cellars and oak kitchens by Mark Wilkinson. Four will have
indoor swimming pools and they will cost about £3.5 million each, although
final prices have yet to be decided.
There will also be a jogging trail, a walled garden for the main house and a
children’s playground — away from most of the homes. Residents will get
gated security, CCTV and concierge services, and the Chelsea medal winner
Nick Barnes has been hired to landscape the private grounds, where Henry
VIII used to hunt and which include a huge and glorious Wellingtonia tree.
There is even a wildlife hide if you fancy watching badgers, foxes and deer.
Two of the mini-manors have been sold already, and there has been lots of
interest from families and thirtysomethings in the City. Cottages in the
stable block will cost from £500,000 and flats in the mansion between
£725,000 and £2 million, although the penthouse, with two roof terraces
reinforced to hold hot tubs, will be more. Best of all for commuters, the
M25 is visible down the hill, but you can’t hear it.
