LAUNCHED before Easter at a guide price of £8 million through Strutt & Parker (020–7591 2213), Georgian, Grade II*-listed Chalcot House at Dilton Marsh, near Westbury in Wiltshire, has set the pace in what promises to be a busy spring market for classic country houses. Selling agent Oliver Custance Baker is already seeing a steady flow of enquiries from mainly London-based buyers, for whom Westbury’s accessibility by rail and road is a major incentive.
Only a handful of high-profile owners have possessed Chalcot House since Henry Phipps, a prosperous clothier, began buying property in Westbury towards the end of the 16th century; his sons, Henry and Nicholas, became lords of the manor of Westbury Mauduits in 1585. According to the Victoria County History, ‘the Phipps family ‘continued to accumulate lands and manors until, by the end of the 19th century, they were among the area’s largest landowners, occupying two of Westbury’s largest country houses, Chalcot and Leighton House. In 1722, Paul Phipps, who added extensively to the family estates, was still actively engaged in the clothing industry,’ a connection that lasted ‘until the end of the 18th century by which time the Phippses had entered the ranks of the landed gentry’.
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Denne historien er fra April 24, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
