THE launch onto the market of three idyllic Sussex houses that have survived storms, fire, war and pestilence during their long and often eventful histories reminds one that England’s green and pleasant land will still be there when the present emergency is over.
Champions Farm near Thakeham, West Sussex, which is for sale though Knight Frank (020–7861 1093) and Savills (020– 7016 3713) at a guide price of £3.695 million, was first mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Sussex in 1296, when it was held by a Richard Champneys and, later, by a Gilbert Champion or Campion, who was probably a kinsman. The estate, known as Champneys, was a freehold of the manor of Thakeham, when it was bought by John Shelley, reputedly between 1662 and 1668.
The long driveway gives a wonderful first impression of Highfield, a superb early Victorian home at Sedlescombe, East Sussex. £2.75m
According to the Victoria County History, either Shelley or his son, Timothy, built the main estate house that was then much larger, having two storeys, attics and some 13 rooms. In about 1820, by which time the estate was known as Champions, a fire destroyed a large part of the house, including the hall and main staircase. Champions remained in the Shelley family until 1850, when it was bought by the King family, who put it back on the market in 1921.
Esta historia es de la edición April 01, 2020 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición April 01, 2020 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
