Riding high in our classy coach house
THIS WEEK: Homes that housed carriages, including this aristocratic beauty
IT WAS once a coach house for one of the country’s wealthiest aristocratic families but its t ransformation could hardly be more modern. In fact, it is difficult to believe that the interiors of the seven- bedroom Coach House, on the Brookhill Hall estate on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, were once where groomsmen tended to horses and carriages would be stored.
‘Large country houses, especially in the Georgian and Victorian eras, were often built with what were essentially barns for the coaches and horses,’ says Alex Coates, of Humberts, the estate agents selling the property.
‘It was a case of showing off the family wealth – “Come in. Now this is where we house your horses!” ’
Brookhill Hall has quite a history. The main house was built in the 17th Century and served as a hunting lodge for both James I and Charles II, before being owned by the Coke family for four centuries.
Descended from Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney General for Elizabeth I, the family became important landowners, and since 1744 the Earl of Leicester title has been in the family.
In the early 20th Century, the estate was inherited by Roger Sacheverell Coke, who went on to become a pianist and composer.
For Roger’s 21st birthday, his mother ordered the Coach House to be turned into an area where all his musical indulgences could be fulfilled – a Steinway piano was installed, recitals were given and his friend, Russian maestro Sergei Rachmaninov, would visit.
But by the time business manager Jo Westmoreland, now 54, bought the property 13 years ago, it had been converted into a fourbedroom house.
‘It needed restoring to give it a modern feel but we also wanted to retain the character,’ she says.
As part of the overhaul, Jo created a spectacular new open-plan kitchen and refurbished the bedrooms, installing en suite bathrooms. She also added an entire new first floor above the sitting room for a further en suite bedroom, and converted an old cowshed into two-bedroom annexe for her retired parents.
There are now a total of six bathrooms and five reception rooms, while the property, which is set in five acres, also boasts a clock on its stately facade. Although the Coach House, close to the Derbyshire village of Pinxton, is now too big for her family as her two children are about to fly the nest, Jo still revels in its history and links to the classical music world.
Estate agent Alex Coates recommends buying certain types of former coach houses.
‘Subsidiary buildings connected to opulent main houses are all very good quality and architecturally interesting – sometimes miniature replicas,’ he says.
And he likes what Jo has done. ‘You’ve got the imposing shell of something of great architectural merit with a brand new interior. The accommodation is beautifully light and elegant,’ he says.