The old English manner - Ogston Hall, Derbyshire The home of David and Caroline Wakefield

The characterful re-working of an ancient family house in the 1850s integrated its varied elements into an impressive and coherent whole. John Martin Robinson reports

- John Martin Robinson

DERBYSHIRE contains an array of some of the largest and most important country houses in Britain. In addition to such masterpieces as Haddon, Hardwick, Chatsworth and Kedleston, however, are middling houses of great interest that are still lived in and well-maintained, but comparatively unknown. Ogston Hall falls into this latter category. It is an intriguing building that has developed over many centuries, although its dominating character today is Victorian.

The hall enjoys a romantic site adjoining a beautifully landscaped reservoir formed in 1958, in the manner of the grandest of Capability Brown lakes. Its hilly shores are dotted with woods and old stone farmhouses, which still belong to the estate. The drive runs along the water side and brings the visitor to the northern gatehouse range. This dates to the 16th century, but was remodelled in 1899 to make it look more like Haddon, by a son of the house, Gladwyn Turbutt. He trained as an architect, but was killed in the First World War.

Turbutt’s death was the opening tragedy of a period of decline characteristic of many country houses in the early 20th century. From the Second World War onwards, the place was let to schools and religious institutions, until being sold in 1973 to Frank Wakefield, a Nottinghamshire businessman, who repaired it. The work of revival has been continued by his son, David, an expert on Proust and Stendhal, and his wife, Caroline, the eldest daughter of Sir Josslyn Ingilby of Ripley in Yorkshire. She has brought some of her family things to Ogston and replanted the terraced 19th-century gardens.