Laurie Lee’s childhood home has come up for sale. A part of the building that featured so prominently in Cider with Rosie is on the market for £475,000.
Lee, his mother and six siblings moved from Stroud to Bank Cottages (now Rosebank Cottages) in Slad in 1917, when the author was ‘set down from the carrier’s cart at the age of three’. His recollection of wading through tall grasses teeming with grasshoppers under a sky slashed by ‘frenzied larks’ until his sisters rescued him and led him safely to the cottage shapes the first chapter of his 1959 masterpiece.
‘That was the day we came to the village, in the summer of the last year of the First World War,’ wrote Lee, ‘To a cottage that stood in a half-acre of garden on a steep bank above a lake; a cottage with three floors and a cellar and a treasure in the walls, with a pump and apple trees, syringa and strawberries, rooks in the chimneys, frogs in the cellar, mushrooms on the ceiling, and all for three and sixpence a week.’
The charm of Rosebank Cottages has remained intact since then, although there no longer are frogs in the cellar and the rent, if charged, would be rather a lot more than three and sixpence a week.
The Grade II-listed house, say selling agents Hampton International, is in need of ‘a comprehensive programme of restoration and renovation’ in line with local planning and conservation policies — in 2016, the cottage’s owners fell foul of the local authority and were told to reverse changes they had made to the interiors.
But with more than 2,000 sq ft of living space, original features that include exposed beams and the views that so charmed Lee, it offers plenty of opportunities.
Slad and Rosebank Cottages always had a special place in Lee’s heart. Although he left the village as a teenager for an adventurous life that took him to London and, later, Spain, where he became an International Brigade volunteer in the Civil War, he returned to Slad in the 1960s and chose to spend the rest of his days close to his childhood home until he died in 1997.
Now Rosebank Cottages is looking for a buyer that will build on Lee’s heritage and once again turn the house into a much-loved family home.
A nine-bedroom castle in Scotland for sale at just £400,000 — but you'll have to be quick
Set in the magnificent Grampians foothills, Grade A-listed Craig Castle was built in the 16th century for Scotland's powerful Gordon
A secluded Cotswolds farmhouse tucked away in a valley made famous by Laurie Lee in 'Cider with Rosie'
The Dillay is tucked away from the world in the sort of valley that you can imagine time leaving behind
The picturesque Cotswolds farmhouse that once belonged to Cath Kidston
Trillgate Farm is an enchanting period country house.
-
Name that hat! Country Life Quiz of the DayTuesday's quiz has a wartime property for sale, plus popes, linoleum and more.
-
Everything you need to know about the stealth red carpet tease and Breitling’s new Top Time B31 watch — as seen on Austin Butler’s wristIn the space of a month, Breitling has signed Austin Butler as a brand ambassador, launched a new collection and snapped up a dormant brand.
-
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.
-
Six charming homes up for sale, including one dubbed 'one of the most picturesque in Dorset', as seen in Country LifeOur look at the finest houses to come up for sale through Country Life in the past week is full of delights, from a new-Georgian mansion to a perfectly-sized Hertfordshire estate.
-
A Buckinghamshire mansion built for the speech therapist who set Churchill on his path to greatnessPenny Churchill takes a look at Rignalls, a classic Arts-and-Crafts home that looks like it's stepped out of the pages of an EM Forster novel.
-
An idyllic Hampstead mansion whose price has risen nine times faster than inflation — and it's not hard to see whyCloth Hill is even more beautiful on the inside than it is on the outside.
-
Some of Scotland's most beautiful churches are being sold off for as little as £40,000 — but a word of warning before you take the plungeLucy Denton examines how best to help former church buildings thrive as times move on and property changes hands.
-
Inside the £28 million mansion designed to 'shake things up' and 're-define the English country house of the 21st century'With everything from helicopter parking and a 1000-bottle wine cellar to bespoke wallpaper designed by Christian Lacroix, Harford Manor is a country house like no other. Annabel Dixon took a closer look and spoke to the man behind its creation.
-
A blissful and beautifully named home in one of the most exclusive spots in CornwallPenny Churchill takes a look at Boswodegh, a wonderful home that makes the most of its superb location in Helford Passage.
