Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals. Penny Churchill takes a look at the biggest of the lot.
Research compiled by Crispin Holborow and his team at Savills paints a fascinating picture of the workings of the upper end of the English country-house market in the 11 months from January to November 2024. Sales of houses valued between £5 million and £10m numbered 173 in 2023, but fell to 88 this year, whereas the number of houses sold for more than £10m showed a marginal increase: 25 up from 23.
The significant drop in the volume of deals done at almost all levels of the market in England in 2024 — not only at the rarefied top end, but also for country houses valued at £2m or more — can be attributed to a number of factors, which combined to create a perfect storm. These included the cold, wet winter and spring, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the snap General Election in July, the October Budget and the US presidential election, not to mention high interest rates, increased stamp-duty rates and high mortgage costs.
As a result, vendors who didn’t need to sell this year are still waiting for the dust to settle and, as Ed Rook of Knight Frank so aptly put it: ‘Generally speaking, only houses in amazing condition or amazing settings found buyers in 2024.’
Hardway House in Bruton, Somerset, sold in October after being on sale at £2.95m.
Given the ever-increasing cost of construction materials and labour, few buyers were prepared to take on a house in need of renovation, which might have meant sharing their new home with builders for months, if not years ahead. However, it wasn’t all gloom and doom, as a snapshot of some of the year’s most interesting sales reveals.
Home Counties highlights included the sale of Redwood at Penshurst, Kent, a handsome, six-bedroom country house built by Quinlan Terry in 1990 on an 18½-acre site that was once part of the Penshurst estate. Described by joint agent Will Peppitt of Savills as being ‘both practical and aesthetically beautiful’, the house came to the market in January 2024 with a guide price of £9.25m and sold six months later.
In the same county, Mr Peppitt also found a buyer for the stately Oxon Hoath, near Sevenoaks, a 28-bedroom, château-style manor house set in 74 acres of gardens and grounds that had been run as a high-end wedding and conference venue for 28 years, before its launch onto the market in October 2023 with a guide price of £7.95m. It sold in October this year to a buyer who, unusually, plans to convert it back into a private country home.
Stately Oxon Hoath, Kent, £7.95m.
In Surrey, Tim Harriss of Knight Frank in Guildford reported a strong market for houses realistically priced at up to £2.5m. Higher up the food chain, Woodlands in Mill Lane, Chiddingfold, described by Mr Harriss as ‘a Grade A house in a Grade A location’, was launched in April and found a buyer in October at a guide price of £4.2m.
Historic, Grade II-listed Chobham Park House near Chobham, which was originally part of a 100-acre estate that came to the market in 2022 with a guide price of £15m, was relaunched with less land and a guide price of £6.75m in March 2023. It had been beautifully restored by its long-term owners and was acquired in September this year by an American buyer.
Chobham Park House near Chobham, Surrey. £6.75m.
In East Sussex, Mr Rook oversaw the sale of idyllic Newbarn, an enchanting Sussex farmhouse set in 14 acres on the banks of Bewl Water, three miles from Wadhurst. Beautifully restored and maintained by successive generations of the same family, the house came to the market in April at a guide price of £4.5m and was sold by October to a local buyer.
Picturesque Newbarn on the banks of Bewl Water near Wadhurst in East Sussex. £4.5m.
Ed Sugden of Savills is one of few country agents who won’t be so happy to see the back of 2024: he has handled the sale of no fewer than 16 prime country houses this year — at prices ranging from £3.5m to £25m — within his area, which runs from the M3 and M4 corridors in the south to the Cotswolds in the north, and boasts some of the most valuable country real estate to be found in the UK. Of particular note was the sale of the impeccably restored and historically important Grade I-listed Down Ampney House near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, which came to the market, jointly with Knight Frank, at a guide price of £7.75m in April this year, and sold a month later to a UK buyer.
The Cotswolds was one of few areas to more than hold its own in 2024, due in no small measure to the return of American buyers, one of whom recently bought Kitesbridge Farm in ‘Clarkson country’ at Swinbrook, Oxfordshire, in a widely publicised sale, following its launch through Savills earlier in the year at a guide price of £12.5m.
Elsewhere in Oxfordshire, the elegant, Georgian-style North Hay at Tackley, in the lovely Cherwell Valley, four miles from Woodstock and 11 from Oxford, was launched in September with a guide price of £12m through Knight Frank and Strutt & Parker.
North Hay had a guide price of £12m.
Designed by Dorset-based architect Stuart Martin and built between 2004 and 2007, North Hay stands in 152 acres of immaculate gardens and ancient woodland, within easy reach of the Oxford schools and the golden triangle of Daylesford, Soho Farmhouse and Estelle Manor. In 2011, it was the only new house listed by Country Life among the ‘12 best family houses in England’. It sold within six weeks to a UK buyer.
Still in the Cotswolds, another American buyer landed old-world Solomon’s Court at Bourne’s Green between Cirencester and Stroud, a classic Cotswold-stone farmhouse set in 48 acres that were part of the Over Lypiatt estate in the 16th century. The house came to the market in September 2023 at a guide price of £3.5m through Blue Book Agency and was sold in August 2024.
Solomon’s Court, Gloucestershire, was on the market at £3.5m with Blue Book.
Located between the Cotswolds and the West Country, Wiltshire tends to keep its head down and go quietly about its business. Here, Oliver Custance Baker flew the flag for Strutt & Parker with the early-April launch of Georgian, Grade II*-listed Chalcot House set in some 53 acres of gardens, parkland and woodland at Dilton Marsh near Westbury, at a guide price of £8m.
Only a handful of high-profile owners had owned the property from 1585, when the Phipps family became lords of the manor, until the 1970s, when the house, by then in disrepair, was acquired by City financier Tony Rudd, who completed a stylish refurbishment shortly before the 1974 financial crash. The present owners, who bought Chalcot House in 1998, carried on where Mr Rudd left off and the eventual buyer was happy to close the deal before the 2% increase in the surcharge on second homes kicked in at the end of October.
Chalcot House found a new owner in the Autumn.
After a relatively strong performance in 2023, the West Country failed to fire this year, with only seven country houses changing hands to date, compared with 26 sales the year before. Informed observers attribute this lacklustre showing to a disconnect between vendors’ expectations with regard to values and what buyers are prepared to spend in uncertain times. Nevertheless, some West Country agents found reasons to be cheerful.
Sarah Brown of Knight Frank celebrated the sale of one of Devon’s great country houses, Lord Ivar Mountbatten’s grand, Grade I-listed Bridwell Park at Cullompton, Devon, which was launched on the market in April with a guide price of £5.5m and sold in August to an American family for close to that figure.
Bridwell Park made close to its asking price.
Oliver Custance Baker of Strutt & Parker matched that with the sale of Thalassa at East Portlemouth near Salcombe, Devon: it was launched in March with a guide price of £5.95m, with the deal completed in October.
Thalassa, a £5.95m dream in Devon, across the estuary from Salcombe.
The only other coastal property of note to sell in the West Country was Ropehawn in St Austell Bay, Cornwall. Joint agents Knight Frank and Jonathan Cunliffe found a buyer for the landmark property that came to the market in May and sold in October.
Ropehawn at Trenarren, Cornwall. £3.5m.
In Somerset, Alice Keith of Knight Frank underlined Frome’s status as the ‘new (better value) Cotswolds’ with the launch in April of Georgian, Grade II-listed Millards Hill House, set in 44 acres near Trudoxhill, four miles from Frome and 18 miles from Bath. It was sold in October to a young family who were previously renting in the area.By all accounts, Bath bucked the national trend from May onwards following the surprise announcement of an election in early July. ‘The market in and around Bath has been electric,’ reports Alistair Heather of Savills, whose favourite sale of 2024 was that of the inventor James Dyson’s former home, classic, Georgian Sycamore House at Bathford, three miles east of Bath, which was launched in March with a guide price of £4m. It sold quickly for more than the guide to a local family who weren’t even planning to move, but couldn’t resist buying the house of their dreams.
Sycamore House, the former home of James Dyson at Bathford, Somerset, found a buyer quickly after coming to the market at £4m.
The 18 landmark property sales of 2024
- North Hay, Kidlington, Oxfordshire (Knight Frank/Strutt & Parker): guide £12m, launched mid September; sold late October
- Redwood, Penshurst, Kent (Savills/Strutt & Parker): guide £9.25m, launched October 2023; sold October 2024
- Chalcot House, Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire (Strutt & Parker): guide £8m, launched March; sold October
- Oxon Hoath, Tonbridge, Kent (Savills): guide £7.95m, launched October 2023; sold October 2024
- Down Ampney House, Cirencester, Gloucestershire (Knight Frank/Savills): guide £7.75m, launched April; sold May
- Arthington Hall, Arthington, West Yorkshire (Strutt & Parker): guide £6.95m, launched February; completed October
- Chobham Park House, Chobham, Surrey (Knight Frank): guide £6.75m, launched March 2023; sold September 2024
- Boden Hall, Rode Heath, Cheshire (Savills): guide £6.65m, launched April; sold November
- Thalassa, East Portle-mouth, Devon (Strutt & Parker): guide £5.95m, launched March; sold October
- Bridwell Park, Cullompton, Devon (Knight Frank): guide £5.5m, launched April; sold August
- Millards Hill House, Trudoxhill, Somerset (Knight Frank): guide £4.5m, launched April; sold October
- Newbarn, Wadhurst, East Sussex (Knight Frank): guide £4.5m, launched April; sold October
- Woodlands, Chiddingfold, Surrey (Knight Frank): guide £4.25m, launched August; sold October
- Sycamore House, Bathford, Somerset (Savills): guide £4m, launched March; sold October
- Ropehawn, St Austell Bay, Cornwall (Knight Frank/Jonathan Cunliffe): guide £3.5m, launched May; sold October
- Solomon’s Court, Blockley, Gloucestershire (Blue Book Agency): guide £3.5m, launched September 2023; sold August 2024
- Hardway House, Bruton, Somerset (Knight Frank): guide £2.95m, launched April; sold October
- The Old Rectory, Longham, Norfolk (Savills): guide £2m, launched November 2023; sold April 2024
Best country houses for sale this week
A stunning Cornish farmhouse, a grand Yorkshire mansion, a delightful Arts and Crafts home in Surrey and a wonderful Cotswolds
