The lair of the Jackal
£3.7m rural hideaway where top writer brings his thrilling stories to life
HE’S been arrested by the East German Stasi, strafed by fire from a Russian fighter plane in the Nigerian civil war – and at one point even found himself the target of a honey trap by an attractive Czech secret police agent. ent. In many ways, the life of novelist list Frederick Forsyth sounds like it has sprung straight from the pages of one of his thrillers.
The author’s colourful exploits are all detailed in his autobiography, The Outsider: My Life In n Intrigue, which he wrote at hiss remarkably peaceful Buckingg-hamshire homes, Weavers.
Forsyth’s experiences have come me courtesy of the various occupapations he has had in his 78 years:rs: RAF pilot, foreign correspondent ent and novelist.
For the latter – which all started ted with the publication of The Day Of The Jackal in 1971 – he has underdertaken daring expeditions to do research, once going undercoverr to Somalia and, more recently, flying ga a Spitfire from RAF Duxford.
The Day Of The Jackal took Frededdie, as he likes to be called, just 35 days to write. But it has sold more ore than 12 million copies and was famously turned into a film starring ing Edward Fox. ‘No one had any ideadea how successful the book would be, so only 5,000 copies were originally printed,’ Freddie says. ‘The publishing editor said he had never read a novel where the reader never learned who the hero was, not even on the last page. He also wanted to know how I knew how to get hold of a forged British passport and was somewhat relieved to hear that I had consulted a forger.’
Freddie wrote The Day Of The Jackal on a portable typewriter, which he kept in a metal case and carried all over the world. ‘The case saved my life when it was hit by a bullet which shot through the wall of my hut when I was in Biafra, ricocheted off the typewriter case and narrowly missed me,’ he says.
The library in Freddie’s study is packed with his novels, which have been published in 200 countries and 40 languages. Apart from The Day Of The Jackal there has been The Odessa File, The Dogs Of War, The Cobra and The Fourth Protocol, among others.
He and his wife Sandy bought Weavers, which they are selling for £3.75 million, in 2010 – and since moving there Freddie has written the novel The Kill List as well as The Outsider. Freddie likes to work from the study. ‘It’s relaxing to overlook the garden and I’m surrounded by family photos, books and mementoes from various corners of the globe,’ he says.
Freddie, who has two children with his ex-wife, Carole Cunningham, married Sandy in 1994. Before the couple met, Sandy had spent 20 years working in the film industry, including two years as personal assistant to Elizabeth Taylor.
Weavers, which is about a mile and a half from the town of Beaconsfield and situated on the edge of the picturesque village of Seer Green, overlooking farmland, is approached via a single-track lane. As you enter the electric gates, you drive past a paddock to a large courtyard that leads to the main house, which has a 25ft-high entrance hall, majestic staircase and galleried landing.
The house, which was built 16 years ars ago for the previous owners, also has a ground-floor leisure suite with exercise pool, Jacuzzi and changing room.
On the first floor is the master bedroom suite. There are three further bedrooms (two en suite) as well as a family bathroom.
JUST off the courtyard is a guest cottage with a large open-plan living space, kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom and an internal garage. There’s also a substantial log cabin which can provide guest accommodation or be used as a home office.
There’s garaging for up to five cars and the gardens have a Japanese theme with a koi pond, tea house, pagoda and dovecote – ‘Sandy’s influence,’ says Freddie.
The couple are downsizing to a single-storey home with an acre garden, about a mile away, as opposed to the four and a half acres Weavers has. ‘No stairs to climb and a manageable-size garden,’ says Freddie, reflecting on advancing years.