After 27 years in their idyllic 16th-century home in Bramley, Surrey, Tony and Wendy Schlaeppi are finally selling up. Now retired, Tony, 73, and Wendy, 60, want to spend their time playing golf, travelling and enjoying their new Porsche rather than wrestling with the wistaria. They want a home that is easier to maintain and cheaper to run.

However, in common with many of their generation who have climbed the property ladder, they have no desire to climb down again: they have a house full of period oak furniture and do not intend to compromise on space. Downsizing therefore means swapping a Grade II listed five-bedroom country house for an equally large property.

The difference is that the house they want is still being built and costs about £455,000 less than the one they are selling. The difference means that they will have more cash for their retirement. Spending or giving away the money will reduce the size of their estate and save on the eventual inheritance tax bill. “We are downsizing from a 400-year-old house with a big garden and large lily pond to a completely new house, which we hope will be easier to maintain,” said Mr Schlaeppi, a former advertising executive. “I've just been cutting back the wistaria but I may not want to do that in five years' time. This house is pre-Cromwell and dripping with character, so we thought we would go for the other extreme rather than compromise in the middle.”

Their current home, Hill Cottage, dates to 1590 and has been classified as a place of “special interest” by Surrey County Council - with a plaque over the front door to prove it. The sitting room is dominated by an inglenook fireplace with a wood-burning stove. A wine cellar runs under the entire length of the dining room. The house is three miles from Guildford but you could almost be in Devon, such are its uninterrupted views of fields and farms. The garden is just under half an acre and the result of decades of labour and love.

The hoped-for new home is only 20 minutes' drive away in the village of Ifold. It is in West Sussex rather than Surrey but still close to old friends and the golf club. The five-bedroom house is on a small development with four similar homes and should be finished in September. With wonderful views of the countryside, enough space for their furniture, plenty of room for guests and a double garage, it seems like a real find after three years of house-hunting. “There aren't many new houses that fit what we want,” said Mr Schlaeppi, who believes that they will have no trouble filling the space: “One of the rooms I will use for my photography, and I suspect my wife will use another as the dressing room. Often we have friends over, and children come back.” The couple have a 28-year-old daughter, Lucy, and Tony has three children from a previous marriage - Martin, Alison and Linda.

Had the Schlaeppis made their move a year ago, it might have been seamless. But the downturn in the property market threatens their plans. The fall in prices wiped 2.5 per cent off the value of the average home over the first half of the year, according to Hometrack, the property data company. As a result, the Schlaeppis have dropped their asking price from £1.35 million to £1.25 million. The house has been on the market since the end of May but they have had no offers. Peter Motcham, who is conducting the sale at Strutt & Parker, said: “This house would have sold so easily last year and would probably have fetched £1.5 million. I've had a lot of people interested but they can't move because they can't sell their house. One lady burst into tears when she saw it. It is exactly what she wants but she is not in a position to move.”

Without a buyer, the Schlaeppis risk losing the new house which took so long to find. But should an offer appear in time, they will be well-placed to negotiate a reduction in the new property's £795,000 asking price - compensating for the hit they are likely to take on their own sale.

Edward Norman, of Roger N.Coupe, the agent selling the new house, says: “Individual period properties are more resilient in a market downturn than new-builds. In this development there are four similar properties, so buyers have more of a choice. Developers are commercially minded. They don't want to have five units sitting there empty.”

Agents: Strutt & Parker 01483 306565; Roger N. Coupe 01483 268555

FAST FACTS:

Downsizing sellers account for about 28 per cent of the prime country market.

Most of those sellers have owned their property for 13.5 years; about a quarter have owned their home for more than 20 years.

There are more downsizers at the top of the market. A quarter of downsizers are selling homes worth £500,000 to £1million; a third are selling properties worth more than £1million.

Most downshifters are planning to release about a quarter to a third of the value of their house in the process.

Source: Savills

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