Grade I listed 40,000 square foot Oxfordshire stately home on the market for just £3.6 million – but inevitably there’s a catch
Cornbury Park at Charlbury, near Chipping Norton is a house that many would dream of living in – and now, for just £3.6 million ($5.2 million or €4.6 million) that is entirely possible. Architecturally more significant than the houses featured in Downton Abbey, Gosford Park and The Remains of the Day without doubt, this 38,364 square foot Cotswold mansion is in part Tudor but dominated by a Classical façade added by Hugh May in the 1660s.
Currently owned by Robin Cayzer, the 3rd Baron Rotherwick and his family and part of an estate that extends to about 5,000 acres in total, Cornbury Park – or Cornbury House as it is alternatively known – is a two-storey, eleven-bay property. Its current internal layout was set out in the 1960s with decoration by John Fowler and currently centres around 4 formal reception rooms. In addition to having 14 bedrooms in the main house, there is also a 3-bedroom cottage, a 1,238 square foot chapel and an outdoor swimming pool. In their 16-page marketing brochure Savills refer to how “the setting of Cornbury can compete with the noblest houses in the Cotswolds” and add that 13.25 acres of formal gardens are included in the price.
Two stories to keep beside you
A catch in Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge flat for sale for just £250,000 (but there’s a catch)
A bargain at Beetham
Restored Grade II* listed Georgian mansion in Cumbria for sale for just £190 per square foot (a one bedroom flat for the same asking price in Mayfair is offered at £2,100 per square foot)
Cornbury Park was last made available in January 2014. At the time, Lady Rotherwick – the “lively” sister-in-law of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney – told the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay: “These big houses are tough to maintain and very expensive to run”. She and her husband, the report stated, live in a “modest cottage” on the estate and also in a rented house in Oxford.
The catch? The £3.6 million sum previously mentioned is simply for a lease of ten years (or if you prefer, it will cost you £7,500 per week).
Pluses: An architectural gem and the quintessential English country home; the perfect setting to entertain in great style.
Minuses: A buyer seeking peace and quiet won’t get it. Instead, they will have to put up with the thousands of visitors that flock to the annual Wilderness Festival (4th to 7th August 2016) and also to the new Field & Country Fair (10th to 12th June 2016). Both are held on the estate.
Subscribe to our free once daily email newsletter here:[contact-form-7 id=”225″ title=”Contact form 1″]
Readers have their say
8 comments
Another oversized dump in need of the wrecking ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The upkeep alone would bankrupt a small nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How rude! Do you know the house? No. Well I do. It’s a truly beautiful house and Estate. So less of your chippy remarks please…!!
Rod: You are totally wrong (nothing new there) about this beautiful home. It would suit someone (with admittedly deep pockets) with a passion for entertaining and fine architecture just perfectly. The disturbance from events on the estate would not be too bad and only for a few days a year. The likely buyer will have other homes around the globe so it need not even trouble them.
I would most certainly love to own this one. Great choice Steeple Times.
Substantial and stately but not too big. It’s quite manageable in fact (unlike Rod and his ruddy exclamation marks)!
Just about to hit the speed dial for the bank manager, untill I saw the 10 year lease.
What a magnificent place, thought it was too good to be true at that price.
Have a great weekend all.
The running costs would add at least another two million to the period ….. !!
A wonderful building but not a very practical home.