Time slows to walking pace in the pretty stone villages that line the wide, shallow valley of the River Welland.
This waterway flows gently from its source near Sibbertoft, eight miles from Market Harborough, through the borderlands of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to Stamford in Lincolnshire, before passing eastwards through the fens to the Wash.
And amid this charmed landscape, Stephen King of Market Harborough-based King West has hit the ground running with the launch onto the market of imposing Horninghold Hall at Horninghold, in the upper Welland Valley, seven miles north-east of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and four miles south-west of Uppingham, Rutland.
Mr King seeks ‘offers in excess of £3.95 million’ for the Hall, previously known as Horninghold House, which, according to Pevsner, was converted in the 1880s from a 17th-century farmhouse by Thomas Hardcastle of nearby Blaston Hall; he added the bay-windowed Victorian stone front and the extensive red-brick stables, dated 1882. Alexander Cross, who rented the house before buying the Horninghold estate in 1916, reputedly kept as many as 30 hunters there.
Following Thomas’s death in 1902, his son, T. A. Hardcastle, completed the remodelling of Horninghold into a ‘garden village’, building stone, brick and half-timbered houses in a neat and symmetrical pattern and surrounding them with ornamental shrubs and trees.
Between 1903 and 1913, the well-known Leicestershire architect H. L. Goddard worked on the re-modelling of the village; at its centre is a triangular green with a village sign made of oak, paid for with prize money won when the village was judged ‘the prettiest in Leicestershire’ in 1953.
Approached through wrought-iron gates and over a brook that runs along the front of the property, Horninghold Hall, set in 5¼ acres of immaculate gardens and grounds, takes pride of place within the village.
Extensively refurbished and improved in recent years — work included windows being replaced with modern casements set into the stone mullions, a central heating upgrade and a completely new roof — the main house offers some 6,750sq ft of stylish, well-planned living space, which is hardwired for television and internet; Gigaclear technology provides excellent data speeds, so working from home is a possibility in any room.
The accommodation includes a central reception hall, elegant drawing room, dining room, study and comfortable snug, a restored Victorian orangery, kitchen by Harborough Kitchens, large family room (the former snooker room) and a principal bedroom suite with two bathrooms, plus three further bedrooms and bathrooms.
Additional accommodation is provided in the detached one bedroom Brook Cottage and four refurbished apartments in the massive former stable block. The gardens are a delight, with pristine, south-facing lawns surrounded by mature specimen trees, including cedar and spruce, and a laurel shelter-belt to the driveway that ensures maximum privacy.
Horninghold Hall is for sale with King West. For more information, click here
-
Love, sex and death: Our near-universal obsession with the roseNo flower is more entwined with myth, religion, politics and the human form than the humble rose — and now there's a new coffee table book celebrating them in all of their glory.
-
The sounds of spring and stained glass in an Arts-and-Crafts masterpiece in DorsetWith 35 acres, more than 10 bedrooms, a swimming pool and tennis court, Winterfield has it all.
-
The sounds of spring and stained glass in an Arts-and-Crafts masterpiece in DorsetWith 35 acres, more than 10 bedrooms, a swimming pool and tennis court, Winterfield has it all.
-
An eight-bedroom wonder in East Sussex where the outdoors are an adventureThe interiors of Old Middleton are pretty good too.
-
A lakeside farmhouse on the market in the beautiful heart of PembrokeshireA lake, streams, 15 acres and five bedrooms. Rogershook might have it all.
-
An idyllic countryside home that's light, spacious and comes with a Grade II-listed follyHagg House is a gorgeous family home that just happens to have a miniature castle in the gardens. Annabel Dixon explains more.
-
A historic villa for sale on the Via Nomentana worthy of Rome's rich historyThree floors, lots of balconies, and a private garden in one of Rome's loveliest neighbourhoods.
-
Eight bedrooms of unlisted Edwardian elegance with sweeping views of SomersetAshton House sits near the market town of Chard and comes with a wealth of amenities both inside and out.
-
A waterside cottage in Devon with a private quay, idyllic views and the prettiest summerhouse we've seen in yearsRight beside the picturesque Yealm Estuary, No 1 Noss Mayo is an idyllic home that feels like an escape from the world. Annabel Dixon takes a look.
-
This elegant Greek villa offers would-be buyers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in the shadow of the AcropolisAthenian Legacy consists of two houses in walking —and almost touching — distance of one of the world’s most famous and precious landmarks.
