FIVE OF THE BEST Homes for

HOMES FOR REWILDING

Create your own wildlife-filled secret garden, says Tessa Dunthorne

WEST SUSSEX, £4.5m

Handsome 17th century architecture with all the benefits of 21st century living. Sprawled across six acres, this five-bedroom and five-bathroom house boasts parterre gardens and grounds offering not only an orchard, but also a pond and an island. Oh, and not to mention your own woodland, teaming with wildlife. savills.com

SWINDON, £2.8m

A fine Jacobean manor house in its own quiet hamlet, with grounds offering many nooks and crannies for nature to flourish. From the wellplanned woodland featuring mature specimen trees to the fruit-laden orchard, it’s the perfect location for discovering the joys of living off the land. It even sports pastureland for your local grassfed meat. hamptons.co.uk

RIPLEY, £14m

Step straight into The Tudors with this Henrician estate overlooking the River Way in Surrey. Dunsborough Park occupies a sprawling 117 acres, offering over eight bedrooms in the main house (seven of which are ensuite), and its grandiose grounds, with exquisite formal gardens, are perfectly primed for regeneration and remeadowing. struttandparker.com

LYMINGTON, £2.95m

Nestled in the leafy New Forest, this characterful five-bedroom house has extensive grounds incorporating a little spring-fed lake, plus various barns, stables and a kitchen garden for cultivating home-grown produce. With a self-contained twobedroom, oh-so-cute cottage on the grounds, cosy seasons spent amid your rewilded grounds are certainly on the cards here. johndwood.co.uk

ST AUSTELL, FROM £415,000

The task of creating an eco-home is made less daunting by this ready-to-go offering at West Carclaze Garden Village, a new development on the south Cornish coast offering townhouses overlooking community allotments, traditional hedgerows and orchards, plus a lake. Best of all, 350 acres of the 500-acre plot will be dedicated to a rewilded country park. westcarclaze-gardenvillage.co.uk

A HOME FROM HOME

Why own one holiday house when you could own five?

Where are you going on holiday this year? There’s a world of choice out there – and it’s so hard to decide on your perfect destination. If you’ve ever considered buying a holiday home, then that conundrum is amplified even more.

August offers an amazing solution for would-be second-homers. The innovative real estate company offers its buyers the chance to co-own holiday homes across Europe, including in enviable destinations like Tuscany, the Cotswolds, the South of France, Mallorca, Chamonix and Barcelona.

In July you could be diving into crystal-clear waters near your holiday home on the Côte d’Azur; in December you could be decorating the Christmas tree in your skiin, ski-out chalet in the French Alps; and in March you could be catching some early Mediterranean sun on the terrace of your Mallorcan townhouse.

‘The overall experience exceeded our expectations, from the locations to the houses to the decorations,’ say Rosa and Paul, August co-owners based in New Hampshire, USA. Paul is a property developer, and understands all too well the difficulties involved in finding the perfect home.

After trying their own search in Italy and France, they quickly realised that it was nearly impossible for them to do the same level of due diligence in these different markets in order to be able to source the perfect house for them. They then discovered August.

‘I was thinking, wow, this is almost too good to be true when I first heard about it,’ enthuses Paul.

So how does it work? August’s ‘Collections’ of properties are shared between up to 21 families, meaning you invest only a fraction of the cost of the full portfolio. The value of these homes can top €10 million combined, for an investment of just €590,000. And on average owners stay in their homes for 12 weeks of the year, with co-owners of different backgrounds – families who need to travel in the school holidays alongside retirees who prefer the off-peak season, for example – carefully selected for the optimum harmonious mix.

There are many benefits to this type of co-ownership: your asset isn’t sitting dormant for 11 months of the year; you have the freedom of jumping from house to house as you wish, hosting friends all over Europe; and you never have to worry about hiring a gardener or cleaning the pool, as all of that is taken care of by August.

All in all, it’s a stress-free way to enjoy your second home investment – and make the most of exploring the world again.

Don’t choose between the Cotswolds and the Côte d’Azur – you can own a holiday home in both with August Find out more about becoming an August co-owner at augustcollection.co.uk

Sydney Street, SW3

This spacious family house has been meticulously arranged over five floors, and forms part of an attractive Grade II Listed terrace in the heart of Chelsea. Approx. 2,583 sq ft. Council Tax Band: H. 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (2 en suite), 4 reception rooms, terrace, garden, off-street parking.

Freehold | Guide Price £4,250,000 | Chelsea – 020 3151 5592

Trusted for generations

International

St James, Barbados

Designed by Michael Gomes, this approx. 6,100 sq ft, well-built, and immaculately maintained home has everything that a family might need. The open-plan living/dining area spills out onto the lower pool deck and gazebo, with the views over the large, fully fenced, back garden creating a country atmosphere.

Ref: BRBISVS-3098 | Guide Price £1,622,000 | International – 020 3151 0367