Harold Falkner's work at Runfold Manor in Surrey is a perfect example of what makes this type of house so charming, elegant and highly liveable. Penny Churchill explains more.
The town of Farnham will always be linked to the Arts-and-Crafts architect Harold Falkner, who created no fewer than 115 buildings in the area in a range of styles, from Arts-and-Crafts and Queen Anne to neo-Georgian and Tudor.
In 1925, Falkner built imposing Runfold Manor in the William-and-Mary style for Lady Diana Courtauld on a green-belt site between the villages of Seale and The Sands on the southern fringes of Farnham. The house is now for sale through Savills in Farnham at a guide price of £3.5m.
Located within the coveted Guildford-Petersfield-Winchester ‘golden triangle’, the handsome brick-built house, set in 3½ acres of glorious grounds, has been reconfigured and extended by the current owners to provide 9,500sq ft of elegant living space on three floors, with modern family living very much in mind.
The ground-floor accommodation includes four reception rooms, a family kitchen, a cinema, gym and an enclosed swimming pool, with the principal bedroom suite, two guest bedrooms, three bathrooms, a study and an integral one-bedroom apartment on the first floor, as well as three further bedrooms on the second floor.
The grounds are worthy of this calibre of house as well: the south-facing garden has a large terrace and formal lawn, offering a spacious yet fabulously private place for the family to come together for play, exercise and alfresco entertaining.
There is also a walled garden with formal buxus knot garden with a central sun terrace and gazebo. There is also a tennis court in the grounds.
Runfold Manor stands at the end of a private driveway overlooking wonderful open countryside, with direct access to miles of public footpaths and bridleways and close to the commons of Hankley and Frensham, both owned by the National Trust.
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