Dinner Parties in Derbyshire
Much under-rated by country house buyers, local estate agents say that of the £1million properties in Derbyshire are sold on the dinner-party circuit


Derbyshire is another county much underrated by country house buyers, says Edward Caudwell of Caudwell & Co in Bakewell (01629 810018), who has, nonetheless, sold 12 Derbyshire country houses for more than £1m this year alone. Eleven of them were bought by local purchasers, it must be said, as according to Mr Caudwell, ?a lot of country houses in Derbyshire are sold around the dinner-party circuit?.
Caudwells and Knight Frank quote a guide price of £1.65m for one of the county?s most perfectly sited houses, Weston Lodge at Kedleston, 10 miles from Ashbourne. Built in about 1770, with a late Georgian style extension added by Alfred Curzon in about 1840, Weston Lodge is surrounded by the lands of the Kedleston Hall estate, once the seat of the Curzon family and now run by the National Trust.
Weston Lodge stands in 19 acres of its own, and has 7,000sq ft of accommodation including three reception rooms, a breakfast room, seven bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a staff flat. Outbuildings include a traditional coach house, and two courtyards with extensive stabling and garaging.
According to Mr Caudwell, Ashover is one of four traditional North Derbyshire villages the others being Baslow, Great Longstone and Ashford in the Water where good country properties with a few acres of land can fetch anything from £950,000 to £1.65m.
This article was originally published in Country Life magazine, October 13, 2005. To subscribe click here.
Sign up for the Country Life Newsletter
Exquisite houses, the beauty of Nature, and how to get the most from your life, straight to your inbox.
Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
-
'That’s the real recipe for creating emotion': Birley Bakery's Vincent Zanardi's consuming passions
Vincent Zanardi reveals the present from his grandfather that he'd never sell and his most memorable meal.
By Rosie Paterson
-
The Business Class product that spawned a generation of knock-offs: What it’s like to fly in Qatar Airways’ Qsuite cabin
Qatar Airways’ Qsuite cabin has been setting the standard for Business Class travel since it was introduced in 2017.
By Rosie Paterson