STATELY HOME OF THE FUTURE
80-bed mansion plot for sale at £20m … catch is you’ll have to build it!
BOASTING a sauna, music room, orangery and two swimming pools, this mansion could be someone’s dream home … providing they’ve got the money (and the patience) to make the dream a reality.
Once built, St Johns House will be Britain’s largest new home, with plans for more than 80 bedrooms and floor space equivalent to 60 average family homes.
But right now, they are just plans – and the plot of land with planning permission for the 68,000 sq ft property is on sale with a price tag of around £20million.
Following a decade of work, permission was granted for the Palladian-style country house near the village of Ramsden in Oxfordshire. The designs, by architect Robert Adam, show an enormous master suite occupying the entire top floor, a grand ballroom and even an underground car museum to house 50 exotic motors.
The indoor sports complex will have a swimming pool, gym which overlooks the ballroom, leisure room, prep kitchen, bowling alley and a jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. The lavish entertaining floor has a formal dining room, music room, formal living room and games room which overlooks the orangery.
There will also be two gatehouses, a self-contained guest gazebo, guest lodge and five-bay garage. Outside, the estate, which looks towards the Cotswolds, will have landscaped gardens, a tennis court and a second swimming pool.
Estate agent Savills is now looking for a buyer to snap up the land and build the country home or another similarly-sized mansion. Charles Elsmore-Wickens, from Savills, suggested: ‘You could land your private jet at Oxford airport and then take a short helicopter ride to the house.’
When completed, the mansion could come with a price tag in excess of £6070million – and a buyer may have to fork out another £8million in stamp duty.