Penny Churchill takes a look at the grand and delightful Brigstock Manor, in a charming Northamptonshire village.
The great forests of England have long been the preserve of the country’s royal and ancient families, who built hunting lodges in secluded woodland areas. Among the most picturesque is Grade II*-listed Brigstock Manor, set in four acres of gorgeous gardens on the edge of the conservation village of Brigstock, near Kettering, Northamptonshire, which has medieval origins as a hunting lodge within the Royal Forest of Rockingham. It is now for sale through Barclay Macfarlane of Savills at a guide price of £3m.
The present owners, who acquired Brigstock Manor in 2018, have completed a meticulous, eight-year-long refurbishment of the entire manor, which boasts many period pieces of note, among them the fine Jacobean main staircase and the 13th-century Great Hall. There is also a real curiosity in the vaulted first-floor ‘Solar’, or drawing room.
In all, it offers 9,700sq ft of elegant, well-ordered living space, including four grand reception rooms, a Bronte fitted kitchen and adjoining diner on the ground floor.
On the first floor you’ll find the aforementioned Solar, the family room, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
There are four further bedrooms and two family bathrooms on the second floor.
According to its Historic England listing, the present manor was probably built by Thomas Montague in the late 15th century and extended by Roger Montague in the mid 16th century.
It later passed to the Dukes of Buccleuch, who had it restored in the mid 18th century and extended in the late 1880s by Northamptonshire architect J. A. Gotch.
From 1936 to 1945, it was home to the film producer and director Herbert Wilcox, one of Britain’s leading film-makers from the 1920s to the 1950s. Thereafter, it was owned by British Steel until 1998, when it again reverted to private residential use.
Brigstock Manor is for sale at £3m — see more details and pictures.
Best country houses for sale this week
A Highland fantasy home and delightful commutable houses from £500,000 make the cut in our look at the best houses
