Thomas H. Mawson, one of the 20th century's most renowned landscape architects, created this place for his family to enjoy. A century later it's looking for a new owner.
The landscape immediately south of the Lake District ‘tends to be bypassed by people belting up the M6 to join the queues of traffic into Windermere and Ambleside,’ wrote Fiona Reynolds of Arnside & Silverdale in a piece for Country Life in 2020. Yet this is no poor relation: it was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1972, which — as Fiona points out — makes it ‘equal to the Lakes and other national parks in its beauty and significance.’
It’s in this peaceful and idyllic setting that Thomas H. Mawson, founder of the Institute of Landscape Architecture, created a masterpiece. After a career spent making landscapes for royalty across the world — from the Maharajah of India to Queen Alexandra of Denmark — Mawson brought his family to Silverdale, and the Grey Walls Estate.
The garden he laid out here is thought to be his last, and made purely for his family; and a 5.75 acre portion of it is up for sale with an ‘offers over £1m’ asking price.
The natural limestone here supports rare trees and shrubs, with terraces offering glimpses of the sea, an orchard and woodland glades, within the Silverdale National Landscape.
As you might expect for your £1m, there is more than just a garden for sale here: it also includes the pretty, one-bedroom summer house you see in the pictures — and, crucially, planning permission to expand the house into a proper three-bedroom family home.
Having a chance to specify your own home exactly as you’d wish it to be is part of the appeal, but of course it’s the grounds that are the main draw. As the images on this page show, it looks stunning at the moment — but it’s not always been that way since it was first made in 1926. As few as 10 years ago, it was overgrown, but rescuers have restored ‘the gardens, now a truly magnificent finding,’ say the agents Armitstead Barnett, in ‘a patchwork of hills, woodland and ever-changing tidal reaches’.
For sale at offers over £1m via Armitstead Barnett — see more details and pictures.
Best country houses for sale this week
A house that's straight out of Cider With Rosie, and a picture-perfect cottage that's commutable to London make it into
