Winding for 40 miles through beautiful Hampshire countryside, from the hamlet of Ashe, near Basingstoke, to Southampton Water, the River Test is known across the world for the quality of its chalk-stream fishing. Now you can have a mile of that fishing all to yourself – provided you have £9m, that is.

The stretch of river, with its weirs, glides and riffles, runs through the 173 acres of manicured lawns and lush parkland of Longparish House, one of the most expensive properties in the county, on sale for the first time in 15 years.

The whitewashed house, which dates from the 17th century and is Grade II* listed, sits in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, five miles from Andover. With 11,000 sq ft of living space over three floors and small turrets reminiscent of a French chateau at each side, the house has nine bedrooms and four grand reception rooms, all of them southeast-facing. There are also all the usual country-house trappings: a billiards room, cavernous underground wine cellars, a swimming pool, a tennis court, two guest cottages, stabling for six horses and a fishing hut out in the fields.

What makes Longparish special, though, is the quality of the fishing. The estate has 173yd of single-bank and 464yd of double-bank fishing on the main stream, reached either from the lawn or well-tended paths and bridges. Also included in the price is another 1,066yd of double- and 112yd of single-bank fishing on lesser tributaries in the water meadows, which could be bought separately at a price not yet disclosed – as could the two cottages and 17 acres of woodland.

The majority of the fish are wild, although there has been some limited stocking in recent years. After the trout season, there is good grayling fishing from October until the middle of March. The owners have also let out days commercially, providing considerable extra income for the estate.

“It is one of the most desirable properties in the Test Valley – a once-in-a-decade opportunity,” says Alex Lawson, director of the country department of the agent Savills, which is selling Longparish House. “It is a significant and important enough house to attract an international buyer, but its rural location and typical English fishing will appeal to a successful City type with his family.”

The estate has a good sporting pedigree. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Longparish House was owned by the Hawker family. Its most famous son, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Hawker, gained renown as a soldier in the Peninsular war fighting at Waterloo, and as the author of a two-volume set of rather raffish diaries.

It was Hawker’s collection of thoughts on the rural sporting life that really made his name, however. First published in 1814, Instructions to Young Sportsmen in All that Relates to Guns and Shooting swiftly became a classic for aspiring hun-tin’, shootin’ and fishin’ types. Even today, it is still considered one of the best introductions for young people taking up the sport. Hawker’s own punt gun, an early type of large wildfowling arm that peppered the air with pellets rather than single shots, is to be included in the sale.

“It is an idyllic place,” says Rupert Kelton, 26, who, along with his family, is selling up following the death of his father, Robin, last year. He recalls lazy days with his brother, Oliver, 28, and friends messing about on the river. “We had lots of fun and were brought up on the river. We were fishing mad. We would keep a ‘duffer’s pool’ at the end of the garden, which we could fill up with fat trout.” This meant that on corporate days, when the family charged for fishing, nobody would go home empty-handed: anyone who failed to land a fish from the river would be shown to the pool, where they could easily hook a trout.

Kelton says the record catch in his lifetime was made by a sporting legend greater in his day than Hawker was in his. “The biggest fish I can remember anyone catching there was landed by Nick Faldo,” he recalls. “He was going through a bad golfing patch, but caught a 6lb trout in the backwater.”

Longparish House is for sale as a whole for £9m, or in lots (not yet individually priced) through Savills; 020 7409 8882, www.savills.co.uk

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