Beautifully maintained by its subsequent owner, Niall Holden, whose cherished family home it’s been for the past 8½ years , the striking 15,000sq ft house, set in two acres of spectacular gardens and grounds overlooking the Abbotts Barton water meadows on the northern outskirts of Winchester, has come to the market through Knight Frank (01962 850333) at a guide price of £4.395 million.
The water meadows, created in the 17th century by Dutch engineers, are owned and managed by the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust and enjoy SSSI status, as does much of the surrounding land. Piscatorial aficionados revere the meadows as the birthplace of modern flyfishing through Winchester scholar George Edward MacKenzie (G. E. M.) Skues, who fished the Itchen from 1887 to 1938 and developed the modern nymph fly in the Highland Burn tributary a few hundred yards from Chalk Dell House. (The fishing is still available to any new incumbent through an annual subscription to the Abbotts Barton Fishery.)
The quarry was worked into the early 18th century, when two thatched cottages built with the chalk were used as staff accommodation for nearby Abbotts Barton House; they were converted to a single house in the early 1960s. However, the presence of chalk meant that the building remained inherently damp and, when Chalk Dell’s creator bought it in 1998, local planners agreed that the best way forward was to demolish the existing house and start again.
Denne historien er fra November 20, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra November 20, 2019-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
