The beautiful Buckinghamshire home of the late Toby Smith, keyboard player and co-songwriter for one of Britain's most successful bands of the 1990s, has come up for sale.
Deep in mid-Buckinghamshire’s scenic Vale of Aylesbury, Mark Rimell of Strutt & Parker’s Country Department is handling the sale of Grade II*-listed The Old Rectory in the pretty hamlet of Hoggeston, nine miles from Aylesbury. As well as being a beautiful home in a lovely spot, it has the benefit of being highly commutable: from Aylesbury Station the journey to London Marylebone takes less than an hour via the Chiltern Line.
Such places within striking distance of the capital don’t come cheap, of course, and Strutt & Parker quote a guide price of £3.35m for this charming former rectory, set in three acres of wooded gardens and grounds, with five bedrooms, huge amounts of living space and separate coach house as part of the deal.
As enticing as it will be for commuters, this 1784 house will have even more interest for music fans. It was previously owned by the late Toby Grafftey-Smith, who, as plain Toby Smith, was a founder member, keyboard player and co-songwriter for Jamiroquai, the acid jazz group who were one of Britain’s most successful acts of the 1990s. Smith played with the band from 1992 to 2002 before leaving, and went on to manage and produce for another band, The Hoosiers.
Sadly, the musician lost a long battle with cancer in 2017 at the age of just 46, and for the past several years the house has been let to long-term tenants. Now, though, The Old Rectory is on the market, located a stone’s throw from the 3,000-acre Swanbourne estate and the popular Swanbourne House prep school where Grafftey-Smith was a pupil.
It offers 5,360sq ft of accommodation on three floors, including four reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room, principal and guest bedrooms, plus three further bedrooms and a family bathroom, with a games room, utility and store rooms on the lower ground floor.
Amenities include a lake, a swimming pool and a tennis court, whereas a converted two-bedroom coach house and outbuildings, including a timber-frame cottage/recording studio, provide the opportunity to earn a useful additional income in this sought-after part of Buckinghamshire.
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