Hawking Down House is a glorious country property that's full of potential. Penny Churchill explains more.
Hawking Down House, a substantial, 19th-century property that stands in the centre of its 19½ acres of grounds, on the site of a former farmstead within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire National Landscape.
The property was once a farmstead, Hock Down Farm, where — according to a 19th century sale advertisement in the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette — the owner was Andrew Farratt, the steward or valet of William Beckford of nearby Fonthill Abbey. It has been more than a farmhouse for a long time, however: the house you see today was built in about 1838 in the neo-Gothic style. Strutt and Parker quote a guide price of £5.95 million.
Significant changes have been made to this grand old building since the Second World Way, but as it stands today the handsome stone-built house offers almost 7,000sq ft of accommodation on three floors.
This includes an impressive reception hall, three main reception rooms, a large kitchen, utilities and an indoor swimming pool on the ground floor, with an extensive wine cellar beneath.
Six bedrooms, all with bathrooms en suite, are spread across the first and second floors.
Those in need of further accommodation are in luck, too: there is a three-bedroom gate house and a three-bedroom cottage. There are also a number of outbuildings, including four garages, two carports, a barn and multiple stores.
Although doubts remain concerning the ownership of the original Hawking Down House, it was certainly owned by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, by 1862, and inherited by his widow following his death in 1869.
By 1920, the property was owned by her daughter, Octavia, on whose death a year later it was sold to pay death duties. The new owner was Lt-Col John Heseltine, who lived there until 1951, when it was bought by John Morrison, a major landowner and Conservative politician, as a home for his son and heir, James, on his marriage to Clare Barclay.
Between 1952 and 1954, various alterations were made to Hawking Down House, including the enlargement of the existing bathroom, the provision of a second bathroom and the redecoration of the interior. Between 1956 and 1958, James Morrison, later 2nd Baron Margadale, significantly extended the house to the east, adding a single-storey garden wing between 1959 and 1961. By 1998, ownership had transferred to Michael and Celia Crowther, the current vendors.
Hawking Down House is for sale at £5.95m — see more details and pictures.
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