Hague Towers
Former Foreign Secretary’s £2.5m retirement home
HE may have lost the use of grace and favour mansion Chevening since stepping down as Foreign Secretary, but William Hague now has his own country pad – a tenbedroom stately home.
The former Tory leader and his wife Ffion bought the £2.5million property i n central Wales ahead of his retirement from Parliament at the General Election.
Set in 13 acres of grounds, Cyfronydd Hall also has ten bathrooms and three reception rooms, along with an indoor pool, spa pool and fitness suite. The 1865 property also has a library, orangery and six holiday cottages.
‘We have had our eyes on Cyfronydd Hall for some time,’ Mr Hague told the local County Times newspaper. ‘Ffion and I are looking forward to having a home in Wales for the first time and to living in such a beautiful part of the country.’
He has written biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce and said Cyfronydd Hall was ‘an ideal place to write books’. Currently Leader of the House of Commons, he also has a £1million apartment in his constituency of Richmond, North Yorkshire. He said he and his wife would retain a home there ‘to keep in touch with old friends’.
Mr Hague, 53, met Ffion while he was Welsh Secretary in the 1990s and she worked in his private office. She makes TV programmes for Welsh-language broadcaster S4C and grew up in the middle class Cardiff suburb of Rhiwbina. However, her father originated from Machynlleth in Mid Wales.
Glyn Davies, the Tory MP for Montgomeryshire, said: ‘Ffion has family roots here, and William is hugely popular throughout Wales. I believe they will feel very much at home.’ William Hague is thought to have amassed more than £4.8million from public speaking, two books, a newspaper column and various business advisory roles.
In 2013 Country Life said Cyfronydd Hall has ‘spectacular panoramic views over the rolling countryside of the majestic Banwy valley’. Mr Hague was due to complete the purchase yesterday.