Combining a mix of society's last word and both wit and wisdom, The Steeple Times covers food, drink and fine dining as well as luxury, travel, the arts, individuals of influence and current affairs in the United Kingdom, America and elsewhere. We are best described as being akin to "a cross between The Huffington Post and Private Eye".
The magazine's following is affluent, engaged and international. With 41% of readers coming from the UK and 38% from America, The Steeple Times also has strong presence within Canadian, Italian, German and Australian territories.
February 21, 2020
by Matthew Steeples
Knightsbridge ‘cage’ in an underground car park for sale for the same price as a 6 bedroom former farmhouse in 1 acre in Scotland In Kincardineshire, you’ll get a 4,090 square foot 19th century farmhouse that has most recently been used as a hotel for £375,000 ($484,000, €448,000 or درهم1.8 million). In Ennismore Gardens, Knightsbridge, … Continue reading “A Cottage or a Cage?”
February 6, 2020
by Matthew Steeples
Victorian country cottage in picturesque rural setting in East Sussex for sale for less than a new BMW 3 series saloon A brand new BMW 3 series saloon will set you back approximately £35,000 ($45,000, €41,000 or درهم167,000), but for the same sum you could buy a Victorian cottage in 0.103 acres in a “pleasant … Continue reading “A Cottage With A Catch”
December 18, 2018
by Matthew Steeples
Repossessed Grade I listed Dorset mansion once worth circa £15 million for sale for £3 million; the catch? It’s burnt to the ground An “exceptionally important,” Grade I listed, 38,000 square foot, 16th century country house in Dorset with 131.6 acres for just £3 million is certainly something that sounds like a bargain. Sadly, … Continue reading “A Fire Sale”
November 11, 2018
by Matthew Steeples
A Lancashire country cottage with 1.4 acres is for sale for less than the price of a parking space in Knightsbridge; it could be yours for just £80,000 A country cottage with acreage: It sounds idyllic and with a price of just £80,000 ($104,000, €92,000 or درهم381,000), it’s cheaper than the price of a … Continue reading “A Cheap Country Cottage”
September 8, 2018
by Matthew Steeples
Derelict Uncle Monty-esque farmhouse in the countryside of the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site for sale for a staggering sum Described as “one of the most stunning sites in the Lake District National Park” by selling agents Michael C. L. Hodgson, the Hard Crag farmstead above High Brow Edge at Backbarrow in … Continue reading “A Pricey Doer-Upper”
August 14, 2018
by Matthew Steeples
Diverse 2,000 acre Suffolk riverside estate for sale for £31.5 million; it has been owned by the same family since the 19th century and produces an income of some £500,000 per year A vast Suffolk estate – just 120 miles from London – has gone on sale for £31.5 million ($40.1 million, €35.3 million … Continue reading “A Perfect Estate”
November 29, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Neglected Georgian mansion that has been home to Sir Dirk Bogarde, Basil Dearden, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Matt Aitken and Robert Kilroy-Silk for sale for 39% less than it sold for in 2014 A dilapidated Grade II* listed country house whose extensive roster of owners numbers aristocrats, rock and film stars and politicians is … Continue reading “The Stars of Beel”
November 19, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Former Wiltshire home of ‘Lord of the Flies’ author Sir William Golding for sale for 562% more than he sold it for in 1985 The one-time home of the author and Nobel Prize in Literature and Booker Prize winner Sir William Golding, CBE (1911 – 1993) has gone on sale for £795,000 ($1.1 million, … Continue reading “Lord of the Thatch”
September 11, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Detached Grade II listed Georgian cottage in London, E13 for sale for just £180,000 What could be one of London’s cheapest detached Georgian houses is headed to auction. Built in 1836 as the gate lodge to a now demolished mansion known as Bedfords and later The Willows, Grade II listed Willow Lodge in … Continue reading “A Cheap Cottage”
September 9, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Kitsch San Francisco mansion turned private museum that houses everything from Hitler memorabilia to a portrait turned down by Prince Philip for sale for £9.5 million The collection of a former advertising executive turned San Francisco based bon viveur named Robert C. Pritikin – better known as ‘Bob’ to his friends – includes everything … Continue reading “Pritikin’s Folly”
September 8, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Delightful West Country estate with Elizabethan manor house and 450 acres of land for sale for £7.95 million Launched to the market in May for £8.75 million ($11.55 million, €9.60 million or درهم42.42 million) with 538 acres of land, Higher Melcombe Manor at Melcombe Bingham, near Dorchester in Dorset is now available for a … Continue reading “A Magnificent Manor”
August 27, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Long Island mansion with links to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Big Short’ for sale for £13.1 million (or 152% more than it sold for in 2011) F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) set his ‘Roaring Twenties’ classic The Great Gatsby in the fictional locations of East Egg and West Egg on Long Island … Continue reading “Big Shorting Gatsby”
July 25, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
North Yorkshire mill conversion with 120-foot chimney and cast iron water wheel for sale for £975,000 A converted mill in the Yorkshire Dales National Park has gone on sale for £975,000 ($1.3 million, €1.1 million or درهم4.7 million). It has not only its original 120-foot chimney still in-situ but also an original cast iron … Continue reading “Chim Chim Cher-ee, Chim Cher-oo!”
July 15, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
New York penthouse complete with a ‘Nantucket style cottage’ on the roof goes on sale A New York penthouse with a difference has gone on sale for £2.7 million ($3.5 million, €3.1 million or درهم12.9 million). Situated in Minthorne House at 72 East 1st Street in the East Village, a fourth to sixth … Continue reading “A Cottage in the Clouds”
July 9, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Thatched seaside cottage in West Sussex for sale; it has a plot laid out in the style of the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning garden of 1936 A thatched seaside cottage on what has been described as “the Sussex Riviera” has gone on sale for £3.25 million ($4.19 million, €3.67 million or درهم15.39 … Continue reading “Breaking For Gold”
May 25, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Scottish sporting estate, once home to Sir Walter Scott, for sale; it comes with nearly two miles of fishing on the River Tweed, 863 acres of land and seven houses The Scottish estate where Sir Walter Scott, Bt. (1771 – 1732) wrote his narrative poems Lay of the Minstrel and The Lady of the … Continue reading “An Epic Estate”
May 6, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Pint sized studio house for sale for £70,000; it’s unmortgageable and undoubtedly “one of Britain’s smallest detached properties” A glorified garden shed in Edgeley, Stockport has gone on sale for £70,000 ($90,900, €82,600 or درهم333,800). Available only to cash buyers as it is “not deemed a suitable security for mortgage lending purposes”, the 176 … Continue reading “A £70k Shed”
by Matthew Steeples
Grade I listed Georgian mansion in Worcestershire for sale for the first time since the 1720s Few houses remain in the ownership of the same family for three hundred years, but an example of such, Ombersley Court at Ombersley in Worcestershire, has just been placed on the market for £3.5 million ($4.5 million, €4.1 … Continue reading “A Georgian Gem”
May 4, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
17th century Buckinghamshire farmstead requiring complete renovation for sale for £5 million A 17th century farmhouse just 28 miles from Central London has gone on sale for £5 million ($6.5 million, €5.9 million or درهم23.7 million) in spite of being “in need of updating” through agents The Frost Partnership. Dean Farm at Jordans, … Continue reading “A £5 Million Fixer-Upper”
April 21, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Herefordshire fruit farm for sale for £2.25 million A 47.6 acre organic Herefordshire fruit farm is for sale for £2.25 million ($2.88 million, €2.69 million or درهم10.58 million). Situated in the Malvern Hills, Hermitage Court at Canon Pyon, near Hereford has fruit orchards and a walnut grove and also comes with grazing land, … Continue reading “Finding Fruit”
April 20, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Britain’s smallest castle is for sale; it comes with 10 acres, a 44 million gallon moat and a narrow boat Last marketed in 2003 for £1 million (the equivalent of £1.45 million, $1.86 million, €1.73 million or درهم6.83 million today), what is allegedly Britain’s smallest castle is back for sale for the slightly higher … Continue reading “A Homely Castle”
April 3, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Essex “neo Georgian Palladian” residence created from an ordinary detached house marketed for £5.4 million; it is a bit of a mish-mash and described as “over-engineered” Estate agents normally wax lyrical about properties they are marketing but in the case of £5.4 million ($6.7 million, €6.3 million or درهم24.8million) Threshers House at Threshers Bush, … Continue reading “Over-Engineered”
March 29, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Miss Marple-esque thatched cottage for sale for a sum 129% higher than it achieved in 2014; it has 2 reception rooms, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms Sold last in October 2014 for £175,000, Fussells Cottage in the “unspoilt” Wiltshire village of Wedhampton is again for sale for £400,000 ($497,000, €460,000 or درهم1.8 million). … Continue reading “A Treble Two”
March 9, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Grade II* listed Kent manor house for sale for £3.95 million; the purchaser will get a controversial £107.9 million EuroMillions jackpot winner as their neighbour Sold last in 2009 for £1.9 million (the equivalent of £2.3 million, $2.8 million, €2.2 million or درهم 10.3 million today), Waystrode Manor at Cowden, near Edenbridge in Kent … Continue reading “Barbed Manors”
February 14, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Quaint medieval thatched cottage for sale; it is one of the oldest in Wiltshire One of the oldest building structures in Wiltshire, The Old Cottage at Ogbourne St. Andrew, dates to medieval times and is now for sale for £630,000 ($786,000, €743,000 or درهم2.9 million). Grade II listed and built from banded sarsen … Continue reading “Chocolate Box Perfection”
February 10, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Chelsea’s smallest stand-alone house for sale; it is situated on the same street at two pubs What could quite possibly be the smallest stand-alone house in Chelsea is for sale for £600,000 ($750,000, €705,000 or درهم2.8 million). 20 Britten Street extends to just 290 square foot in total and is situated next to … Continue reading “Pint Sized”
January 22, 2017
by Matthew Steeples
Berkshire country house named “Gays” for sale Not connected with the LGBT community in any way, but in fact named after a man named John Gays, “Gays” at Holyport, near Maidenhead in Berkshire dates to around 1456 and is currently for sale for £5.95 million ($7.36 million, €6.88 million or درهم27.05 million). … Continue reading “A Happy House”
December 9, 2016
by Matthew Steeples
East Sussex country house for sale; it comes complete with an enormous rectangular moat allegedly dug by an eccentric parson in the 1700s One generally associates moats with castles and manor houses – such as the one we featured last month – but an old rectory currently for sale for £5 million ($6.3 million … Continue reading “A Parson’s Moat”
October 7, 2016
by Matthew Steeples
Grade II* listed North Yorkshire hall for sale; it comes with a converted chapel and a converted pigeon loft £925,000 ($1.14 million or €1.03 million) will barely buy a broom cupboard in Kensington and Chelsea, but for the same sum a 3,893 square foot Grade II* listed medieval hall in the Yorkshire Dales National … Continue reading “Religious Pigeons”
August 7, 2016
by Matthew Steeples
Thameside boat house that will no longer suffer from flooding for sale for £3.75 million A riverside home might be wonderful on a sunny summer’s day but when the water rises, they can be an absolute nightmare. The Boat House at Goring in Oxfordshire previously fell into that category, but thanks to a £200,000 … Continue reading “Forget flooding”
May 6, 2016
by Matthew Steeples
Grade I listed 40,000 square foot Oxfordshire stately home on the market for just £3.6 million – but inevitably there’s a catch
February 8, 2016
January 19, 2016
by Matthew Steeples
Shropshire cottage with a most unusual secret for sale for just shy of £200,000
November 28, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
Cottage orné complete with its own former chapel for sale in a cultural haunt made famous by Benjamin Britten and Sir Peter Pears
June 24, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
Vivien Leigh’s retreat and final resting place for sale for £3.25 million
June 20, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
£3 million sought for a repossessed, roofless shell set in 1,530 acres of Cumbrian countryside
May 25, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
Dorset mansion built by Bastards that has been the setting of a bitter familial feud for sale for the first time since 1846
March 23, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
An 18th century former court house in Chelsea is for sale for £14.5 million or available to rent at £10,000 per week
March 5, 2015
March 2, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
200 acre Scottish estate for sale for the price of an 800 square foot flat in Knightsbridge
January 3, 2015
by Matthew Steeples
The last great Newport ‘cottage’ heads into its second year on the market
October 24, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
Gareth Southgate markets his £3.25 million Grade I listed Yorkshire home Footballers are not generally noted for living in tasteful homes so it is somewhat surprising to find that the former England player turned Middlesborough manager Gareth Southgate’s current home is a Grade I listed “Elizabethan style” hall on the banks of Swinsty Reservoir, nine … Continue reading “Fortunes and footballers”
October 8, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
Reconfigured Lancashire estate for sale for £4.25 million Businessman Martin Higginson and his wife Maggie have reversed what has happened to most English country estates in buying back properties and land around their Lancashire home, Hay Carr at Bay Horse, near Lancaster. They are now selling the whole property with a price of offers … Continue reading “Northern glory”
September 5, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
Frankie Dettori puts his Voysey designed country house up for sale Champion jockey Frankie Dettori is best known for his “flying dismounts” and for having won seven out of seven races at Ascot in 1996. He currently lives at Stetchworth on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border near Newmarket but is now selling his home there.
August 27, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
An image of Nigel Farage outside his home shows his true character God help us: They say we get the leaders we deserve and our Picture of the Week clearly shows what we’d be getting if we ever elect Nigel Farage as our Prime Minister.
July 29, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
Small, unmodernised former home of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh for sale for the extraordinary figure of £7.5 million Built in 1850, Durham Cottage in Christchurch Street, Chelsea is a house “hidden behind a high dusty brick wall” that was the love nest of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh between 1937 and 1956. Now, in … Continue reading “Larry and Leigh’s love nest”
July 17, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
Thameside cottage where ‘Lewis’ was filmed for sale Two episodes of the Inspector Morse sequel, Lewis, were filmed at Thatched Cottage at Mile End Reach, Henley-on-Thames. The cottage – last sold in 2000 for £1,075,000 – is now on the market for £3,600,000
May 8, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
£8 million Morley Hall combines traditional style with a home fit for modern living Morley Hall is a Georgian country house to the east of Ware in Hertfordshire. This fine residence is worthy of note as it was remodeled in the Palladian style by the renowned classical architect Raymond Erith
April 13, 2014
by Matthew Steeples
One of England’s finest estates comes to the market for £25 to £30 million The scene of the tragic deaths of the Conservative MP Michael Colvin and his wife Nicola in 2000 in a fire, Tangley House, near Andover in Hampshire subsequently had to be demolished. A new house was constructed on the site … Continue reading “From the ashes”
December 21, 2013
by Matthew Steeples
A former rectory that truly is a classic English home Old rectories and vicarages are the things of novels: Jeffrey Archer lives in one near Cambridge that was previously the home of the poet Rupert Brooke and Joanna Trollope waxes lyrical about them regularly.
November 4, 2013
by Matthew Steeples
A coastal estate in a spectacular setting on the White Cliffs of Dover Known as The South Foreland Estate, an 11.5-acre parcel of land overlooking the English Channel at The Front, St Margaret’s Bay in Kent includes a main house, three further residences and a decommissioned lighthouse that was used in a film starring … Continue reading “A Front and a half”
June 16, 2013
by Matthew Steeples
Robbie Williams’ Wiltshire estate for sale again for £2.6 million less than he paid for it Singer Robbie Williams paid £8,100,000 for Compton Bassett House, near Calne in Wiltshire in 2008. In the years since he’s tried to sell it several times but even now that it has been relaunched for just £5,500,000, will … Continue reading “Blighted Bassett”
May 16, 2013
by Matthew Steeples
Jimmy Savile’s cottage to be sold at auction “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is the motto Glasgow based auctioneers Ross Harper. This is indeed apt given that they are to sell the late paedophile Jimmy Savile’s cottage in Glencoe on 30th May.
December 17, 2012
by Matthew Steeples
Five of the best places to escape to with family and friends in 2013 Farmhouse, Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee, USA Crafted of materials from an 1800s Pennsylvania bank barn, this classic American farmhouse forms part of the exclusive Blackberry Farm, one of America’s most celebrated luxury culinary escapes. Set in 4,200-acres, this stylish property … Continue reading “Five of the best: Holiday rentals”
November 18, 2012
by Thomas "T.J." James
Thomas James on the playground of the rich and famous that is The Hamptons One of the most popular guest features on the blog that preceded The Steeple Times was this article by Thomas James. The summer may well have passed along with Sandy and her might but as the article continues to … Continue reading “The Hamptons: where the upper classes of New York holiday”
November 5, 2012
by Matthew Steeples
Matthew Steeples explores the story of an empty Kensington mansion A multi-million pound 8-bedroomed house in Kensington isn’t anything unusual. In fact, rather, they’re ten a penny. In this, one of the wealthiest boroughs in the land, large, expensive homes are just the norm. No. 1 Campden Hill, which is being marketed for … Continue reading “Boujis in the basement?”
November 2, 2012
by Matthew Steeples
A £15 million mansion fit for a self-made tycoon or an upwardly mobile WAG While the youth of the Kings Road and Loughton have featured in the reality shows Made in Chelsea and The Only Way is Essex, their counterparts in Cheshire have yet to undergo the same social experiment. Having come across a … Continue reading “Windows on the WAGs”
September 23, 2012
by Matthew Steeples
The joys and pitfalls of island life Living on a private island would, to many, seem like a dream. The prospect of being able to do what you want, when you want and without having to pander to rules and regulations indeed does sound appealing. Swapping the rat race and daily commute for white … Continue reading “No man is an island”
