Live like a lord in Norfolk
The county’s grand halls and country houses are enjoying a sparkling new lease of life
IN the medieval period, Norfolk was the most densely populated and the most intensively farmed region in England and, as late as the mid 1800s, life in the county was dominated by more than 100 gentry families who owned estates of 2,000 acres or more. After 1875, however, many big landowners were hit, not only by a nationwide agricultural depression, but by a burden of family debt accumulated over generations. As a result, from the 1880s onwards, great estates disappeared as parks, farms and woodlands were sold off to buyers from outside the county and members of England’s bustling new business ‘aristocracy’ enhanced their status by buying and restoring once-grand Norfolk halls and country houses.
Currently for sale through Knight Frank (020–7861 1069) at a guide price of £4 million, handsome, Grade Ii-listed Felthorpe Hall at Felthorpe, a small rural village eight miles north of Norwich, was luckier than most in that successive owners lavished care and attention on the grand Georgian house and its grounds. Consequently, despite being altered and extended over the years and serving as a Red Cross Hospital in both World Wars, the 14,360sq ft hall, which stands in a wonderfully private setting at the heart of its 125 acres of formal gardens, woodland, lakes and farmland, has retained the grace and elegance of a traditional family seat.
Built on two storeys of white gault brick under a slate roof by wealthy wine merchant John Geldart soon after 1825, Felthorpe Hall was later extended to the north, with the addition of a three-storey tower and a new porch and entrance between the
original three-bay east wing and the later, four-bay north wing. For much of the 19th century, the hall was owned by the Fellowes family, county grandees whose philanthropy was appreciated by the local community.
In 1935, sir Basil Mayhew, the director of a London accountancy firm who was knighted in 1920, bought Felthorpe Hall, having married the former Beryl Colman, of the Colman mustard-milling dynasty. He went on to make his mark on the Norfolk business scene and was appointed High sheriff of Norfolk in 1940.
He altered and extended the hall on his arrival and owned it until 1958. Five years later, Felthorpe Hall was bought by the legendary Norfolk businessman Geoffrey Watling, who rose from running his father’s modest horse-drawn-transport business to become the owner of 200 different businesses in his lifetime; he’s especially revered for rescuing Norwich City FC from
bankruptcy on more than one occasion. Mr Watling lived at the hall until his death in 2004, by which time the property, which in his heyday had been the envy of his peers, was looking somewhat frayed around the edges.
Three years or so later, the current owners acquired the hall and embarked on an inspirational renovation and modernisation programme that merited a Broadland Conservation Award in 2009. The work included the installation of underfloor heating and air conditioning in the principal rooms, together with high-spec wiring and CCTV systems. The grand ground-floor reception rooms—in particular, the drawing room, dining room and morning room, which have wonderful views over the gardens and grounds—have all been restored to their former splendour.
The bespoke, state-of-the-art main kitchen is a culinary work of art in oak and burr walnut, to the east of which is a gym and, beyond that, an indoor swimming pool. The first floor has been reconfigured to provide a sumptuous three-room master suite, three en-suite bedrooms, three further bedrooms and a bathroom, with two more bedrooms on the second floor.
Further accommodation is available in the converted two-bedroom coach house and the pretty, two-bedroom thatched lodge cottage. With an eye to the future, a range of brick barns, for which various residential planning consents are in hand, has already been built to a shell.
The sale of The Old Hall at Barford, four miles north of Wymondham and seven miles from Norwich—on the market through the Norwich office of Strutt & Parker (01603 617431) at a guide price of £1.85m—recalls another illustrious chapter in Norfolk’s business history, which began with the purchase by the 1st Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax (of Quality Street fame) of the Norfolk confectionery firm of A. J. Caley from Unilever, following a lunch at the Savoy in 1932.
This was the start of the Mackintosh family’s long association with the county, which led to the purchase, in the 1950s, of The Old Hall by his son, John, the 2nd Viscount, who lived there with his second wife, Gwynneth, until his death in 1980, at the age of 59. Lady Mackintosh lived on at the hall until shortly before her own death, aged 75, in 2007, by which time Strutt & Parker had sold the hall on her behalf to its current owners.
The Old Hall is a handsome red-brick country house, hung with Boston ivy, which is thought to date from the 17th century, with various later additions. It stands in 3.4 secluded acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and grounds in the heart of the village and, being unlisted, has been beautifully renovated and extended by the owners, who have created a ‘sensational’ kitchen/breakfast room/orangery overlooking the secure rear courtyard, selling agent Tom Goodley reveals.
They have also rejigged the first floor to accommodate new bathrooms and a superb master bedroom suite. In all, the house boasts some 10,000sq ft of living space, including four/five reception rooms, eight first-floor bedrooms and six bathrooms, with two further bedrooms on the second floor. Ancillary buildings include a three/four-bedroom cottage, outbuildings and garaging; amenities include a hard tennis court, a summer house and a heated swimming pool.