CHESHIRE is smart but also populous. Although just six miles from Crewe, however, Poole Hall is set in 168 acres, without a building in sight, and offers a rare degree of seclusion.

Originally known as White Poole, the estate is mentioned in the Domesday Book. It passed to the Elcockes in the 16th century and two centuries later Elizabeth Elcocke married the Rev William Massey, of Norfolk. Their son William rebuilt the house to the designs (it is said) of Lewis Wyatt. It was completed just in time for William’s marriage to Mary Goodman, of Tynewydd in Wales.

The Regency house and outbuildings form a delightful private hamlet, with the house set in spreading lawns and the stables, coach house, barns and cottages looking on to attractive paved yards. There is even a substantial stretch of moat, though this looks more like a baroque canal surviving from a formal garden.

There is also the distinction of grounds that were laid out by a landscape gardener of note, the accomplished John Webb, who lived near Lichfield. By 1805 his practice was reported to be “all over England” and in Cheshire he laid out the grounds of such major ancestral seats as Cholmondeley Hall and Tatton Park.

But the fun of this house will be the constant look of surprise on the face of your guests – the restrained exterior gives little hint of the Regency splendours that lie within.

The drawing room is Cheshire’s answer to one of the most beautiful of all London’s rooms – Robert Adam’s Library at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath, which has a similar shallow arched ceiling and screen of columns at the end. Here there are exquisitely delicate gilt palmettes in the frieze and acanthus scrolls on the vault that are pristine in their detail.

Tony Hill, who trained as a lawyer and worked as a commercial property developer, has a marvellous eye for theatrical furnishings. Any new owner should definitely buy the 15ft-long original Gillow sidetable made for the large niche at the end of the dining room.

Part of the fun of the house is that it preserves its character on both sides of the green baize door. There is an enormous old kitchen with built-in dressers and twin hearths containing vintage oven ranges and room for a billiard table at the end. Another intriguing feature is the “foothole” ladder that ascends to the attic.

“I bought the hall in 20 acres and have been able to build up the estate,” says Hill. His latest improvement has been a new drive planted as a lime avenue aligned on the front door.

“I was told if you buy a house, live in it a year before you touch it,” says Hill. The big question is whether the next owner will feel the same.

Poole Hall is being sold through Savills, 020-7016 3718; offers over £4.5 million

For more reviews of the finest country homes in Britain, go to timesonline.co.uk/marcusbinney

FACTFILE

WHAT YOU GET: Grade II house with 9 bedrooms, 168 acres, 4 cottages/flats – and a heated swimming pool.

WHERE IT IS: Nantwich, 3 miles. Crewe station, 6 miles (2 hours to Euston). Manchester Airport, 31 miles.

WHERE TO EAT: Rookery Hall Hotel, Worleston, Nantwich (0845 0727533).

WOULD SUIT: Latterday Regency buck.

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