Tag: orangery

A £250,000 Tardis

Tardis-like Grade II listed lodge house currently for sale could be Britain’s smallest detached house; it measures 10-foot by 8-foot and today also we feature some other examples of the nation’s smallest character packed homes

Whilst the Mirror wrote of what they called “Britain’s smallest detached house” in April – measuring 12-foot by 26-foot and priced at £140,000 – we can go one better and today feature a Grade II listed detached house in North Yorkshire measuring just 10-foot by 8-foot.

More practical than the £810,000 2.5-foot by 65-foot Knightsbridge “corridor” mews house The Steeple Times included in March 2017, 481 square foot Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical lodges standing either side of decorative wrought iron gates to Grimston Park, near Tadcaster – a Grade II* listed Georgian mansion of the Italianate style that has now been converted into thirteen individual residences.

Sunset Lodge forms one of a pair of symmetrical gate lodges at the entrance to Grimston Park in North Yorkshire.

Grimston Park has been occupied as a grand country residence, was used by the RAF in the Second World War and subsequently became an events venue. It was converted into 13 residences more recently.

Tardis-like internally in that it actually extends over 2 floors with a mezzanine sleeping platform also, the majority of the living space is actually underground. Featuring a kitchen with an “orangery style roof” with a sunken patio beyond, there is also a living area, a “barrel ceilinged” shower room and a dressing room also.

Parking is provided outside for two vehicles and lawned gardens extend beyond. The estate beyond includes a stud-livery, parkland and buildings occupied on both a residential and a commercial basis.

Agents Carter Jonas initially marketed the property at £299,950 in March 2020, but have since reduced that sum to £250,000. The present owners, Tom and Rebecca Hallisey, paid just £85,000 for the building 15 years ago and thus stand to return an increase of +194% if they sell at asking price.

Speaking of the property to the Yorkshire Post in March 2020, Rebecca Hallisey remarked: “It was in a poor state of repair but [when we first saw it, but] we fell in love with it and we could see it had potential.”

She continued: “We moved a lot before we came here but we have stayed because we love the building and it is such a beautiful, peaceful place to live. We wish we could stay forever and we are only moving for health reasons as we need a single-storey home.”

Pictured top: Compact, yet deceptive Sunset Lodge.

The Numbers – Sunset Lodge, Grimston Park, Grimston, Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, LS24 9DB, United Kingdom

May 2021 – Reduced in price to £250,000 ($355,000, €291,000 or درهم1.3 million) or £520 per square foot ($738, €605 or درهم2,700 per square foot) with Carter Jonas.

March 2020 – Placed for sale for £299,950 ($425,700, €349,100 or درهم1.6 million) with Carter Jonas.

June 2006 – Sold for £85,000 ($121,000, €99,000 or درهم443,000).

Some Other Examples of Britain’s Smallest Homes

Starborough Castle, Dormsland, Lingfield, Surrey

Featured in The Steeple Times in April 2017, this Grade II* listed scheduled ancient monument stands in 10 acres and has a 44 million gallon moat. It features a mini great hall and was offered for sale for £1.75 million.

20 Britten Street, London, SW3

Also featured in The Steeple Times when for sale in 2017 for £600,000, this 290 square foot detached house measured 8.5-foot by 14-foot. Estate agents estimated it could be worth £1 million when renovated, but as of May 2021, it remains in unloved condition.

The Round House, Stanton Drew, Somerset

In December 2016, we wrote about this Grade II listed former toll house that extends to just 146 square foot. The 18^th century, detached, thatched property was priced at just £110,000 at the time.

24a The Boltons, London, SW10

At the other end of the price scale, but still the cheapest, smallest house on one of London’s smartest streets, The Boltons in London, this £6.5 million terraced residence was home to novelist Jeffrey Archer from 1972 to 1976. Surprisingly due to it widening as it goes back, it actually provides 3,123 square foot of accommodation over 4 floors – so is not as quite as small as it initially seems.

More images of Sunset Lodge follow:

May 30, 2021
An English McMansion Monstrosity
Gargantuan Cheshire ‘McMansion’ once owned by a BBC Sports Personality turned tax fraudster for sale; it’s a monstrosity and beyond gaudy

Somewhat generously described as “Cheshire’s most flamboyant home” by the Manchester Evening News in December 2019 and as a place where BBC Wales Sports Personality 1980 turned VAT fraudster Duncan Evans for a time “lived the life of a country squire,” Deansgreen Hall in Lymm, Cheshire has been on the market for £6 million since 2019.

Described as “architecturally unsurpassed and with a lavish interior” and an “ambassadorial style Smallbone kitchen” by selling agents Jackson-Stops, this vast English attempt at a ‘McMansion’ is quite frankly one of the most ludicrously laughable houses we’ve ever featured.

Standing on a plot of just under 11 acres where a probably perfectly charming yet subsequently bastardised residence was constructed in 1864, the ‘hall’ itself extends to about 20,000 square foot. It includes 5 reception rooms, a cinema room, a games room, a music room, an orangery and 8 en-suite bedrooms.

In addition, there is a ‘leisure suite’ with an indoor swimming pool and gym, a staff flat, a 3-bedroom lodge, a 620 square foot ‘entertaining pavilion,’ garaging for 28 cars, a helicopter hangar, kenneling and stabling.

Plainly desperate to offload this gargantuan white elephant, Jackson-Stops declare: “Our clients are looking to downsize and would consider part exchange with either another residential property or commercial property, or possibly another asset class (for instance, prestige and collectible cars, art, etc.).”

An English McMansion Monstrosity – Amateur golf champion, BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1980 and tax fraudster Duncan Evans owned Deansgreen Hall from 2002 to 2003.

The entrance hall to Deansgreen Hall harks back to the past and currently features coats of armour and a model of an old sailing ship.

The dining room of the McMansion is equally “historic” in its inspiration, yet the white gloss paint scheme simply just doesn’t work.

Plainly aimed at a sale to a footballer, the cinema room – complete with its naff sparkling light ceiling and purple panels – could have been designed by the “prosecco gagging” disaster that is Dawn Ward.

The Names & Numbers – Deansgreen Hall, Crouchley Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 0TL, United Kingdom
- March 2021 – For sale for £6 million ($8.4 million, €7 million or درهم8 million) with Jackson-Stops. Listed first with the firm circa December 2019.
- June 2018 – A former policeman named Roderick Bond, whose current correspondence address for his active company Ravenstone UK Ltd., was jailed for 2 years and 8 months as a result of his involvement in a “Formula 1 film tax scam” in June 2018.
- 2006 – Purchased by the current owner and “remodeled and presented in its current condition.”
- 2003 – Sold by Duncan Evans for £3.5 million ($4.9 million, €4.1 million or درهم18 million). “Devious and accomplished fraudster” Evans subsequently received a jail sentence of 4 years in 2009 for his part in a £21 million ($29 million, €24 million or درهم108 million) VAT fraud. He was again arrested in July 2017 after going on the run to Portugal.
- 2002 – Sold to BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1980 Duncan Evans for £1.2 million ($1.7 million, €1.4 million or درهم2 million) having reverted to private ownership in the 1990s.
- 1970s – Used as “commercial offices” by Fairclough Homes.
- 1864 – Original house built on the site. What remains of that, God only knows.
In November 2020, we featured what we termed “the world’s worst McMansion,” a £1.65 million horror in New Jersey. In Deansgreen Hall, we’ve definitely found something that could actually come a very close second.

The insipid white theme continues in this vaulted sitting room of the English McMansion.

A spokesperson for selling agents Jackson-Stops remarked of the McMansion’s kitchen: “The centre of the house has an ambassadorial-sized Smallbone fitted kitchen/breakfast room with large central island (with seating for 10) with sofas at one end.” Any serious chef would respond: “What a bloody impractical layout.”

The McMansion’s indoor swimming pool, surprisingly, seems relatively tame in its decorative styling.

A games room in “regal red.”

It’s back to the medieval mixed up with nautical heritage theme on the McMansion’s landing – complete with a chess board that looks like it came from Dungeons & Dragons.

The ‘master bedroom’ has an especially ghastly fireplace surround and it’s got some shagpile carpets that Jimmy Savile would have loved to have rolled around on.

The nautical touch continues in this bathroom area where also included is a tub where Prince Andrew might feel at home.

The rear elevation of the McMansion is frankly nothing but a hotchpotch and a design disaster. How many styles did the architect wish to combine?

A set of flags stands patriotically at the front of the building along with a very necessary pair of dragon statues.

Looking outwards, there’s a hint of classicism to enjoy.

The garage block and ‘lodge house’ of the McMansion resemble something found on a Barratt housing estate.

Yet more patriotism on display at England’s naffest McMansion. Nigel Farage and Ann Widdecombe would go potty.

There are two lakes that are supposedly “stuffed” with carp. Watch out, Eddie Grundy of BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’ will be round to do a bit of poaching.

The entrance gates to the McMansion complete with a set of cobbles that wouldn’t look out of place on ITV1’s ‘Coronation Street.’
March 1, 2021
The Stars of Beel

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 on sale for £3.95 million or 39% less from the £6.5 million sum it sold for in 2014.

Built for the Duke of Buckingham in the 1600s and extending to 10,743 square foot, Beel House in Little Chalfont, near Amersham in Buckinghamshire stands in 13.5 acres of land. It comprises of a 7 reception room, 8 bedroom, 6 bathroom main house and also comes with an indoor swimming pool complex, a tennis court and garaging for 5 cars.

Home to The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish in the 1830s and Colonel Abram ‘Arthur’ Lyle of the Tate & Lyle dynasty from 1909 to 1920, Beel House was bought by the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde in a “dilapidated state” in 1954. Of discovering it, Bogarde, who had been renting a cottage in the close vicinity on the Bendrose Estate, stated:

“[The actress Kay Kendall and I] walked across muddy fields from my rented home to look at Beel House. It was a horror. Bleak and empty, few of its twenty-six rooms caught the sun, and the garden surrounding it was a tangle of overgrown rosebeds. Inside it seemed a labyrinth of corridors and stone passages. It was painted throughout in dejected yellow and brown and each room had a rusty gas fire in it.”

Bogarde made significant changes to the building and pulled down a wing of 11 rooms. In their place, he built a swimming pool and a 30-foot long conservatory in the grounds – which Kay Kendall later described as looking like “an out patients’ department” – and it seems he spent several happy years there. He moved to another property nearby named Drummer’s Yard in 1960 and sold Beel House to Basil Dearden, the director of The Assassination Bureau, Khartoum and The Man Who Haunted Himself.

An aerial photo of Beel House, Little Chalfont, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP7 9QP, United Kingdom

Images of the exterior of Beel House in the 1950s

Actor Anthony Forwood, Sir Dirk Bogarde’s eventual “life partner,” at Beel House with his dogs Sinuhe and Bogie; Sir Dirk Bogarde in his study at the house

Sir Dirk Bogarde outside Beel House with one of many Rolls-Royces he owned and inside on the house’s main staircase

Film director Basil Dearden, owner of Beel House between 1960 and 1966, worked with Sir Dirk Bogarde on the controversial film ‘Victim’ in 1961; it was the first English language film to use the word “homosexual” and of it one Italian critic remarked: “At last the British have stopped being hypocrites”

Dearden sold up in 1966 and the next famous owners were Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. It was whilst here that Mr Osbourne “decided to murder his wife” and of the ensuing incident on 3^rd September 1989, the Amersham Museum’s website reports:

“Ozzy Osbourne put the house up for sale after he had been arrested for the attempted murder of his wife whilst living at Beel House. After taking a cocktail of drugs and drinking heavily during a family meal at the Chinese restaurant at Nightingales Corner he attacked his wife and was subsequently arrested. He had no memory of the attack but the conditions of his bail were that he entered a rehab centre, did not contact his wife and did not return to Beel House.”

Marketed for £1.75 million in 1991, unsurprisingly Sharon Osbourne, herself, did not have much positive to say about her time at Beel House either. In her 2006 autobiography, Extreme, she remarked:

“I decided I wanted to go back to England. By this time we had already sold Beel House. I had enough bad memories not to be too sorry to see it go. Also it had reached what the builder called the domino point: mending one thing only triggered something else that needed to be done.”

Ozzy Osbourne, photographed by Conrad Rickenbacker, sitting on his four poster bed at Beel House in the 1980s

Images of Beel House during the ownership of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne (photographs by Conrad Rickenbacker)

Robert Kilroy-Silk at Beel House prior to his appearance on ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here’ in November 2008

The house as furnished by Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife Jan Beech, circa 2014

Matt Aitken, the composer of chart toppers for Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Bananarama, supposedly lived at Beel House for a period subsequently and in the 1990s, the property was sold to the “exotically handsome man, with a very un-English facial glow and ice blue eyes” Robert Kilroy-Silk and his wife, Jan Beech.

Controversial television personality Mr Kilroy-Silk, an MP from 1974 to 1986 and an MEP from 2004 to 2009, brought with him a herd of fallow deer as well as Vietnamese pheasants and bantams to Beel House. He lived between there and his home in Spain and then sold up for the staggering sum of £6.5 million in 2014 to an “international buyer” who, according to Country Life’s Penny Churchill, immediately found “it ‘surplus to requirements’ and put it straight back on the market” through Savills.

Of the estate, which by then had been for sale for three years, in October 2017, then selling agent Hugh Maconochie told the Bucks Free Press:

“In many respects Beel House is the archetypal country residence: a Grade II* listed home in the heart of the Chilterns, beautiful grounds and easy access to London by both rail and road. Yet, while it was completely refurbished in the 1980s – new garaging, games block and swimming pool complex included – its current state necessitates a complete restoration project.”

“For those seeking a country residence to move straight into, Beel House is not the home for them. Instead it would appeal to a buyer looking to restore and revive a Georgian gem. A reduction in price over the years reflects the refurbishment that’s required.”

Empty and plainly somewhat neglected, Edward Welton of Knight Frank’s Baker Street office is now marketing the property. His firm describes Beel House as: “An exciting opportunity for a full restoration project, giving someone the chance to create their own style on a private estate, so close to London.”

Beel House – The Names and Numbers

November 2017 – Further reduced to just £3.95 million ($5.29 million, €4.47 million or درهم19.44 million) through Knight Frank.

January 2017 – Reduced to £4.95 million ($6.63 million, €5.61 million or درهم24.37 million) through Savills.

November 2015 – For sale again for £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) through Savills.

2014 – Sold to “an international buyer” by Robert Kilroy-Silk for “close to” the £6.5 million ($8.7 million, €7.4 million or درهم32 million) asking price.

June 1991 – For sale for £1.75 million (the equivalent of £3.45 million, $4.62 million, €3.91 million or درهم16.98 million today).

October 1989 – Placed for sale by media personalities Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne.

1966 – Placed on the market by Basil Dearden for £66,000 (the equivalent of £1.1 million, $1.5 million, €1.2 million or درهم5.4 million today).

Circa 1960 – Sold to film director Basil Dearden (1911 – 1971).

January 1954 – Sold to actor Sir Dirk Bogarde (1921 – 1999) for £4,000 (the equivalent of £101,000, $135,000, €114,000 or درهم497,000 today).

1836 to 1954 – Part of the estate of the Lowndes family, largescale landowners in the Chesham, Buckinghamshire area. During this time tenants included The Hon. Lady Caroline Cavendish and from 1909 to 1920 by Colonel Abram Lyle (of the Tate & Lyle dynasty).

1730 – Valued at £500 (the equivalent of £99,000, $133,000, €112,000 or درهم487,000 today) by Sun Insurance whilst home to Thomas White of Middle Temple.

1672 to 1682 – Home to Mary Pennington, the mother-in-law of the Quaker founder of the State of Pennsylvania, William Penn.

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November 29, 2017
A Derelict Doer-Upper

Derelict 18^th century Oxfordshire mansion with 125 acres of land for sale for £10 million

A 125-acre Oxfordshire estate with Humphrey Repton landscaped grounds has gone on sale for £10 million ($13.2 million, €11.3 million or درهم48.7 million) in spite of being described as being “in poor order.”

The Coombe Park Estate at Whitchurch-on-Thames is situated at the end of a ¾ of a mile long private drive just 49 miles from Central London. Constructed in 1865, the original mansion was later demolished and what now remains consists of a 13,368 square foot house created from the original servants’ quarters, a coach house and an extension built in 1982.

Featuring 4 main reception rooms, an indoor swimming pool, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, Coombe Park itself “has been unoccupied a number of years” but now presents an opportunity for a buyer to unleash its “enormous potential” according to selling agents Strutt & Parker.

In addition to the main residence, there are three additional houses, an orangery, a coach house, offices, a sports pavilion, an indoor tennis court, stabling and a boat house included in the sale.

According to a blog from 2008, the estate – which was used by the American military as a rest and recuperation ‘flak house’ during the Second World War – has been in the ownership of an individual from Rotterdam since 1982. He is described as having now “sadly lost his fortune.”

October 17, 2017
Sail Away

Georgian house in Emsworth, Hampshire complete with its own private dock for sale for £3.4 million

A symmetrical, yellow brick early 19^th century house complete with its own private dock has gone on sale for £3.4 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.1 million).

Grade II listed Wharf House in the small town of Emsworth stands in gardens of 0.72 acres and comes with a dock with a 45-foot capacity. It has tidal access to the Emsworth Channel, which leads to Chichester Harbour, and comes with a private slipway.

Wharf House itself provides 5,231 square foot of accommodation over four floors and features 3 reception rooms, an orangery, 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A double garage and garden room are to be found within the grounds and there is potential to add an outdoor pool.

Agents Strutt & Parker describe the property as: “A rarely available Georgian gem”.

June 1, 2017
Robert Adam

With such a name, this suave gent just had to design landmarks. University of Westminster educated and Hampshire based Robert Adam (born 1948) followed his more famous namesake (1728 – 1792) and became a designer of “progressive neo-classical style buildings” in 1975. He won “the richest prize in architecture” in January 2017 and counts the Sackler Library at the University of Oxford, a “miniature Baroque mansion” at Eastwood Farm – complete with a lion on the roof – in Herstmonceux, East Sussex and the “KGB proof” Ingliston House on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey amongst his notable works.

(more…)

May 27, 2017
Over-Engineered

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, near Harlow in Essex, Beresfords bizarrely go as far as to describe it as “over-engineered”.

Situated on a plot of 11.5 acres and redeveloped and extended since 2010 by an “award winning builder” named Paul Pickering, the 7,409 square foot main residence offered is described as being “neo Georgian Palladian” in style. Given such an architectural period doesn’t exist as a sole entity, it is a bit of a mish-mash but given the new building is an improvement on the plain house that it has been created from, one can be forgiving of the result.

The old Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP

The new Threshers House, Hobbs Cross Road, Threshers Bush, Harlow, Essex, CM17 0NP

The old interior of the building and the new interior

A proposed design that was ultimately rejected by planning officials at Epping Forest District Council

Aside from a somewhat ostentatious South Fork-esque portico entrance, Threshers House is presented without kitchens and bathrooms so as to allow “incoming purchasers to design to their own requirements”. It includes 5 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and a 2-bedroom first floor flat and comes with planning permission for a 1,400 square foot orangery and underground leisure facility. Within the grounds is a completed 1,988 square foot 3 bedroom cottage, a 886 square foot bungalow, a 768 square foot bungalow and a 1,386 square foot six car garage.

Elsewhere and benefitting from separate access, a tiled stable and thatched barn complex provides accommodation for 14 horses and was previously run as a business named Threshers Equestrian. It comes with a horse walker, floodlit manège, lunging room and hard standing as well as a number of paddocks.

Threshers House – which is situated about 40 minutes drive from Canary Wharf – is also available for £3.25 million ($4.06 million, €3.81 million or درهم14.92 million) with just 5 acres of land and minus the ancillary accommodation.

April 3, 2017
Barbed Manors

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 is a Grade II* listed manor house.

For sale currently for £3.95 million ($4.81 million, €4.56 million or درهم 17.65 million) through Savills, the main 4,435 square foot house dates back as far, perhaps, as 1208. The present Tudor residence includes 4 reception rooms, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, but aside from that there is a 3 bedroom cottage, a converted oast house providing a recreation space, a Grade II listed double vaulted timber frame barn, an orangery and a coach house.

Within the 7.8 acres of formal and informal gardens and grounds of this attractive, restored property – which has been offered as a film and photo shoot location through the JJ Media agency – there is also an outdoor swimming pool, a hard tennis court, three ponds and an orchard.

Though the eventual purchaser of Waystrode Manor will of course be a multi-millionaire, they will most likely not be nearly as rich as their controversial neighbours, Neil Trotter and his partner Nikki Ottaway. Mr Trotter won £107.9 million ($131.4million, €124.6 million or درهم 482.4 million) on the EuroMillions lottery in 2014 and subsequently bought the adjoining 423-acre estate, Leighton Manor, for £5 million ($6.1 million, €5.8 million or درهم 22.4 million). In 2016, Trotter and Ottaway were “slammed” in the national press by locals after installing what was termed an “unsightly” barbed wire fence.

Neil Trotter was a garage mechanic before he won a EuroMillions jackpot

Waystrode Manor, Spode Lane, Cowden, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7HW

A sitting room in the main house

A drawing room with an equally imposing fireplace

This hallway is used as a dining space

Whilst this is described as a breakfast room

The kitchen is one of the few “modern” rooms in the main building

The master bedroom has its own bathroom

This barn is Grade II listed

It features a double height, vaulted interior

An oast house stands in the grounds also

The interior of the building

A view of the gardens

This orangery is quite impressive from the outside

As is its interior

There is a tennis court

And a swimming pool

A further outbuilding

The setting

Another view of the main house

March 9, 2017
Northern glory

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 over £4.25 million. (more…)

October 8, 2014
Drugs and Dents

A Cumbrian mansion built by opium traders and more recently used by cannabis growers comes to the market for just £1.5 million

Built by the well-known Dent family, who made their fortune trading both tea and opium, Flass is a vast 23,000 square foot Palladian mansion on the outskirts of the village of Maulds Meaburn in Cumbria. Ironically it was also the setting for one of the country’s biggest drug raids in May 2012. (more…)

July 11, 2014