NOTHING impresses like a very long driveway. On the way to The Pavilion at Hampton Court we clocked up just over three quarters of a mile, which must be close to a record for London. True, you don’t own the drive, but then you don’t have to pay for its upkeep either.

The point is that it leads to only one building – The Pavilion. For its whole length it runs beside the grass-verged towpath along the Thames. On the left you pass the vast Tudor entrance court of Hampton Court Palace, snake round William III’s Banqueting House, then the gilded Baroque gates and railings enclosing the Privy Garden, cruising beside the long park wall till you arrive at The Pavilion’s electric gates.

At £6.5 million for just over two acres and 4,000 sq ft (plus staff quarters of 1,000 sq ft), the price compares with Kensington and Chelsea, but this is royal property with crowns on the rainwater heads to prove it.

The gravel forecourt has its own private iron gate into Home Park, and you are free to enter and stroll as far as the palace garden more than half a mile away. Just outside the park gate an impressive double lime avenue is now well established and in a few years will blot out the ugly blocks that intrude on the splendid view.

There is a choice of entrances to The Pavilion. Either you ascend the steps to the main floor and into a pine-panelled lobby feeling like a cigar box. Or you can enter via the sunken garden into a boot room and on into the large kitchen. The sunken garden, with grass paths, box-edged beds and paved pool, is the natural place for informal entertaining – the bay window has doors opening on to the gravel with a garden table and seats in one corner. The half basement contains a comfortable sitting room/ snuggery that is definitely the place to watch television and read the papers. There is also a handsome brick-vaulted wine cellar with smart diamond-shaped wine bins, allowing you to stack your bottles in stylish inverse pyramids. The main floor has a grand 30ft-long west-fac-ing drawing room with windows on three sides and a panelled dining room that could seat ten at a dinner party. The entrance hall, described as a library, has a typical 1700-type corner fireplace. The pine-panelled stair is tight and yacht-like, leading to two spacious double bedrooms, both with bay windows – one overlooking the river, the other the park. A third single room looks out over the garden. In the attic is a fourth bedroom beneath theeaves –delightful, but low and best for children.

Beside the house are trim, box-edged beds planted with dark tulips. Around the large expanse of lawn is a perimeter walk with regular lookout points over the park and the river.

In all, this is a fantastic private world. Initially four identical pavilions stood around an oval bowling green. The original drawing – by Nicholas Hawksmoor, no less – shows square pavilions with domes. Residents included Princess Amelia, second daughter of George II, and Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III, who lent the property to Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, later King of the French. By degrees the pavilions fell into disrepair and were demolished; the surviving one was snapped up in 1895 by Ernest Law, historian of Hampton Court Palace. This is the perfect place to enjoy the countryside – just 13 miles from Hyde Park Corner.

FACTBOX

WHAT YOU GET: Grade II* listed Pavilion on 150-year Crown lease; in 2¼ acres; 4,457 sq ft, plus 1,057 sq ft garage flat.

WHERE IT IS: Central London 13 miles, Heathrow 8 miles, Hampton Court railway station 1 mile away.

WHERE TO EAT: King’s Arms, Hampton Court; Brasserie Chez Gérard, Teddington; Frère Jacques, Kingston.

SCHOOLS: Hampton Court House School, Tiffin boys’ and girls’ schools, Lady Eleanor Holles School, Newland House.

AGENT: Knight Frank, 020-8939 7717.

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Cool In Your Code

• Specials

Times recommends

• Fall in house sales hits builders, estate agents and mortgage brokers
• Why the property credit crunch favours cash buyers
• The blood-curdling history of Quarrelwood House