Named ‘The Best Place to Live in the Southwest 2022’ in a recent Times survey, Wiltshire’s Chalke Valley is described as ‘picturesque countryside at its spring-scented best, with Saxon churches, thatched cottages, rolling downs and a series of villages radiating from Salisbury, and strung out through the 13-mile chalk escarpment from Salisbury west towards Shaftesbury’.
Historically, villages such as Bowerchalke, Broad Chalke and Ebbesbourne Wake were part of the Chalke estate granted to Wilton Abbey in 955.
At the Dissolution, the Chalke Manor estate, together with the bulk of the vast Abbey estates, was granted to Sir William Herbert, later Earl of Pembroke, and thereafter passed with the Pembroke title to Reginald, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, who succeeded to the family estates in 1913.
Having served with distinction in the First World War, Lord Pembroke retired as a Lt-Col in the Royal Horse Guards and took over the running of his Wilton estates. From 1919 onwards, he sold a 2,000-acre chunk of land as half a dozen individual farms on the northern edge of what is now the Cranborne Chase AONB.
Farming had been the main source of employment in the prosperous Chalke Valley since Saxon times and there were plenty of willing takers for the land.
West Chase farm, a mixed half-livestock, half-arable farm, sits in the parish of Bowerchalke on the Wiltshire/Dorset border to the south of Broad Chalke and Ebbesbourne.
In the early 1990s West Chase was acquired by its present owners, who were captivated by the long-term potential of this green and pleasant slice of south Wiltshire countryside, which boasts views ‘to die for’ over neighbouring Dorset to the Purbecks and the Isle of Wight, and has changed hands only twice in the past 100 years or more.
Over their tenure, the owners have transformed a traditional working farm into a wonderfully private, 600-acre residential and sporting estate with a handsome 5,630sq ft principal house, a walled garden and tennis court, a pretty courtyard of converted farm buildings, large period barn, a secondary farmhouse, further estate cottages and extensive equestrian facilities, with direct access to a network of bridleways on Cranborne Chase.
The scenic ring-fenced estate, comprising 387 acres of productive arable land, 142 acres of let pasture and 48 acres of woodland, with no public access and no rights of way, is for sale as a whole through Savills with an asking price of ‘excess £18 million’. Alex Lawson and Louise Harrison are handling the sale.
With no listed buildings at West Chase, the owners were able to remodel the original south-facing Georgian farmhouse as an elegant and spacious country house, using designs by renowned Classical architect William Bertram.
It provides four fine reception rooms, five bedrooms and three bathrooms and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens designed in 1996 by multiple Chelsea Flower Show Gold-medal-winner Julian Dowle.
West Chase Farm is currently on the market via Savills for offers over £18 million — see more pictures, or enquire with the agent for further details.
Broadchalke: What you need to know
Location: The village is situated on the banks of the River Ebble in the heart of the Cranbourne Chase Area of Natural Beauty. Salisbury is located just under 10 miles to the east and there are excellent transport links with access to the A303 and A350.
Atmosphere: The village is home to a church, primary school, village shop and pub. The neighbouring village of Sixpenny Handley is also well equipped with day-to-day amenities including a butchers, cricket ground and primary school.
Things to do: There is private shooting and stalking on the estate, plus additional sporting facilities with racing at Salisbury, golf at Rushmore Park and sailing and watersports along the Dorset coast. The Chalke Valley is home to stunning landscapes and offers plenty of walking and riding routes.
Schools: There are plenty of excellent schools in the area with Bryanston, Clayesmore, Sherborne, Marlborough and Broad Chalke Primary School, which is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted.
See more property for sale in the area.
Credit: Strutt and Parker
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