Penny Churchill enjoys the delights of the Swathgill Estate in North Yorkshire.
It seems odd to describe a 211-acre estate as ‘tucked away’, but a secluded location in a hidden valley really justifies the description in the case of the Swathgill Estate.
The valley and estate in question lie at Coulton, between Hovingham and Brandsby within North Yorkshire’s scenic and much sought-after Howardian Hills National Landscape. This picturesque estate, 2½ miles from Hovingham, is for sale through Andrew Black of Savills in York at a guide price of £7 million.
It’s not the first time in recent years that such a place has come up for sale: the estate lies between Potter Hill Farm at Coulton and Valley Farm at Gilling East — both sold in recent years at guide prices of £10m and £8m, respectively.
Built of the local stone with rendered and painted walls under a pantile roof, Swathgill stands centrally within its land, with the well-proportioned principal rooms all facing south.
It offers more than 6,000sq ft of beautifully modernised and maintained family accommodation, including a large reception hall, three main reception rooms, an impressive kitchen/breakfast room and seven/eight bedrooms; a particular feature is the full-length covered verandah.
In addition, there’s a two-bedroom detached cottage, a leisure complex comprising a heated indoor-pool area converted from a range of traditional brick and stone buildings (the subject of a CLA award), gym and cinema room, plus a set of farm buildings ideally placed for those with livestock or equestrian interests.
According to the Victoria County History, Robert Worsley, son of Sir Robert Worsley of Hovingham Hall, sold the manor of Coulton to Nicholas Fairfax of Gilling in 1564, after which it descended with the manor of Gilling, eventually passing to Hugh Charles Fairfax-Cholmeley, who inherited the Brandsby estate in April 1889.
By then, the traditional order of landed gentry was breaking down and, for agriculture, the years 1888 to 1914 were mainly years of depression, when income from land declined dramatically. Fairfax-Cholmeley broke the mould of the traditional squire by instigating a number of cooperative ventures and agricultural reforms in and around Brandsby, even after the break-up of his estate in 1912.
Still known as ‘the last squire of Brandsby’, in 1926, Fairfax-Cholmeley commissioned the Arts-and-Crafts architect Alfred Powell to build Swathgill House around the core of a Georgian farmhouse and to plan the gardens; a year later, he and his family moved in.
By 1935, his son, Richard, was managing the in-hand farms at Swathgill, Valley Farm and Snargate Farm. In 1939, still plagued by financial problems, Fairfax-Cholmeley decided to let Swathgill House and live at Snargate Farm House, but this plan was never implemented and Snargate Farm House was sold instead. Fairfax-Cholmeley died at Swathgill a year later, aged 76, after which the estate was sold.
The ring-fenced land, which borders the council highway to the north, comprises some 62 acres of arable, whereas the south-facing land, comprising some 108 acres of permanent grass and rough grazing, falls gradually from 460ft above sea level to 246ft on the beck side of the southern boundary.
The woodland, running to some 27 acres in all, is a mix of broadleaf, conifer and sessile oak underplanted with bluebells — a spectacular sight in the spring. There is also the potential to reinstate a small private shoot, thanks to sporting rights owned over an additional 23 acres.
The Swathgill Estate is for sale at £7m — see more pictures and details.
