Country Life Early Property Pages February 23, 2022

EVERY WEEK

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Fine Art: Ravilious and the landscape

ISSUE: 08

PRINTED IN THE UK

£4.50

FINE ART & SCHOOL LIFE FEBRUARY 23, 2022

It’s me! The art of self-portraiture Discovering a plantaholic’s heaven Green schools: how pupils are leading the way

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ONE FAMILY SPECIALISING IN FINE FURNITURE SINCE 1866

A specially commissioned oil painting, interpreting The House of Commons, 1833 by Sir George Hayter.

The painting depicts the moving of the address to the Crown on 5th February 1833, at the opening of the first Reformed Parliament in the House of Commons. The figure in red, speaking, is the 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane and the scene includes nearly four hundred identifiable figures, mainly MPs, but with a smattering of important Whig and Tory peers, and a few outsiders.

At the time, Sir George Hayter made it clear that no artist had previously attempted to paint this many portraits in one sitting but believed the effort to be worthwhile in the hope the finished portrait painting would not only be profitable but also increase his reputation and fame.

The original hangs at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The canvas has been stretched, applied with ageing varnish and mounted in a hand-made English swept frame with light antique patina.

£4,235

Width: 67 inches (172cm) | Depth: 3 inches (8cm) | Height: 44 inches (112cm)

NATIONWIDE HOME APPROVAL SERVICE | BESPOKE COMMISSIONS UNDERTAKEN OVER 1,000 ITEMS OF EXCLUSIVE CLASSICAL FURNISHINGS IN STOCK CALL 01491 641115 | WWW.BRIGHTSOFNETTLEBED.CO.UK NETTLEBED

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BEAULIEU, HAMPSHIRE

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well-presented family house set in beautiful gardens and grounds close to the Beaulieu River. Built in 1927, Clobb Gorse offers well-presented and extensive accommodation over two storeys, amounting to approximately 6,728 sq ft.

6 - 7 B E D R O O M S | 6 - 7 B AT H R O O M S | 5 - 6 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S S TA F F F L AT | C O A C H H O U S E | S W I M M I N G P O O L & P O O L H O U S E | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 7 A C R E S | E P C E B U C K L E R S H A R D & M A R I N A 0. 5 M I L E S | S O L E N T B E AC H 1 M I L E | B E AU L I EU 2 M I L E S

Guide price £5,500,000 Knight Frank London & Lymington edward.cunningham@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7121 toby.turnage@knightfrank.com 01590 630591 Ref: CHO012097290

knightfrank.co.uk Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021

BALDOCK, HERTFORDSHIRE Offers Over: £1,150,000

4 Bedrooms | 5 Reception Rooms | 2 Bathrooms | N/A EPC

A Grade II listed late 17th century thatched cottage with 2,814 sq. ft. of versatile accommodation. The Nook Cottage is set on a plot of 0.5 acres with a 300 ft. private driveway leading to a gravelled parking area and a detached outbuilding which includes a garage and store.

There are views over rural farmland and access to public bridleways to Bygrave, Ashwell and beyond. Baldock mainline station, which has services to London Kings Cross, is just over 0.5 miles from the property.

Michael Graham Hitchin Philip Powell 01462 441700 Michael Graham London Bob Bickersteth 0207 839 0888

michaelgraham.co.uk michaelgraham_living

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MUCH HADHAM, HERTFORDSHIRE

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charming Grade II listed former farmhouse situated within beautifully maintained formal gardens and grounds. Located on the edge of the picturesque village of Much Hadham, the house has been renovated to the highest of standards by the current owners.

6 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 3 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S | W I N E C E L L A R G A R A G E W I T H G Y M A B O V E | M O AT E D G A R D E N S | S TA B L I N G | 2 P A D D O C K S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 7. 1 1 A C R E S BISHOP'S STORTFORD 6 MILES (LIVERPOOL STREET FROM 38 MINUTES) | HERTFORD 11.5 MILES

Guide price available upon request Knight Frank London & Bishop's Stortford edward.welton@knightfrank.com 020 4502 7216 paddy.pritchard-gordon@knightfrank.com 01279 888501 will.collins@knightfrank.com 020 3869 4698 Ref: BST012274922

knightfrank.co.uk Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021

Handsome Country Home Horsforth, Leeds Horsforth: 1 mile, Leeds: 6.5 miles A recently renovated and extended Grade II listed Georgian country house, privately situated in just under seven acres of beautifully maintained gardens and grounds. 3 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms (4 en suite), 2 further bathrooms, conservatory, cinema room, gym, office and garage.

About 7 acres | Guide £2.95 million

Edward Stoyle Savills York 01904 899 777 edward.stoyle@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

Devon, Nr Crediton

A majestic Grade II listed Victorian Gothic Revival style country house in a peaceful position Crediton: 5.5 miles, Exeter: 14 miles (London Paddington 2 hours 3 mins) Hall | 4 Reception rooms | Office | Commercial kitchen | Inner courtyard | Plant room | Principal bedroom with dressing room and ensuite bathroom 9 Further bedrooms (8 ensuite) | Self-contained apartment with kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom Stable Cottage with 3 bedrooms (2 ensuite) | 2-Storey coach house with home office | Garaging | Stables | Large barn | 9,000 sq ft indoor arena Formal landscaped gardens of lawn and terraces | Orchard | Walled garden | Woodland | Tennis court | Paddocks About 25 acres Available as a whole or in lots (current use class C1)

Over 50 Offices across England and Scotland, including prime Central London.

Offers in Excess of £3,000,000

Oliver Custance Baker

Richard Speedy

Country Department 020 7591 2207

Exeter Office 01392 215 631

oliver.custance.baker@struttandparker.com

richard.speedy@struttandparker.com

/struttandparker

@struttandparker

struttandparker.com

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4 5 CROCKHAM HILL , KENT/SURREY BORDERS

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n exceptionally private country house with spectacular 180 degree views. Positioned on the south side of Crockham Hill and set in exquisite gardens and grounds.

5 B E D R O O M S | 5 B AT H R O O M S | 5 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S 2 B E D R O O M G U E S T A N N E X E | 4 B E D R O O M L O D G E C O T TA G E TENNIS COURT WITH SUMMER HOUSE | SWIMMING POOL

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E XT E N S I V E GA R AG I N G & O U T B U I L D I N G S I M M A C U L AT E G A R D E N S & G R O U N D S | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 6 . 3 3 A C R E S E P C E | S EV E N OA K S 8 M I L E S | L O N D O N 2 6 M I L E S

Guide price £6,950,000 Knight Frank London & Sevenoaks edward.rook@knightfrank.com 020 3930 1379 james.crawford@knightfrank.com 020 3930 2523

Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021

knightfrank.co.uk

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GOMSHALL , SURREY

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handsome family home situated on the edge of one of the most popular villages in the Surrey Hills. Thought to date from 1927, the house offers elegant proportions and generous accommodation.

6 B E D R O O M S | 4 B AT H R O O M S | 4 R E C E P T I O N R O O M S G A R A G I N G | A N N E X E | A P P R O X I M AT E LY 1 .7 3 A C R E S | E P C D G O M S H A L L V I L L AG E C E N T R E 0.6 M I L E S | S H E R E 1 . 2 M I L E S

Guide price available upon request Knight Frank Guildford james.grillo@knightfrank.com 01483 355875 Ref: GLD012084296

knightfrank.co.uk Winner of six customer service experience awards in 2021

Hewell Grange Hewell Lane, Redditch, B97 6QS

Impressive late 19th century Grade I Listed former country house, with associated outbuildings, walled market garden and farm, set in picturesque Grade II* Listed gardens, principally designed by Lancelot “Capability” Brown.

Circa. 247 acres (100 hectares) • Located within the rural village of Tardebigge, Worcestershire • Decommissioned as a prison by MoJ with vacant possession to be provided • Seeking suitable and sensitive redevelopment to bring this historic property back into use • Suitable for a variety of uses, subject to planning and listed building consents • On behalf of the Ministry of Justice

James Perkins, Senior Surveyor, Landline: 0121 697 7253 james.perkins@cushwake.com

Alex Sapstead, Surveyor, Landline: 0121 697 7294 alexander.sapstead@cushwake.com

Charming Country Home Nantwich, Cheshire Nantwich: 4 miles, Chester: 19 miles Attractive period farmhouse with open southerly views. 4 reception rooms, kitchen/breakfast room, 6 bedrooms (2 en suite), 3 further bathrooms, home office, self-contained annexe, double car port, gardens and grounds. EPC = F About 1.4 acres | Guide £1.25 million Charlie Kannreuther Savills Chester 01244 459 785 ckannreuther@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

Beautiful Georgian House Preston Crowmarsh, South Oxfordshire Didcot Station: 9.5 miles Grade II listed home with 104 feet of River Thames frontage and charming period features.

5 reception rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, swimming pool, detached coach house, gardens and grounds and 2 paddocks.

About 10.5 acres | Guide £3.25 million Stephen Christie-Miller Savills Henley-on-Thames 01491 817 808 schristie-miller @savills.com

Victoria Knight Savills Henley-on-Thames 01491 817 823 vknight@savills.com

savills

savills.co.uk

Only With Us property showcase

Virginia Water, Surrey

£2,500,000

guide price

Waltham-on-the-Wolds, Leicestershire

£475,000

guide price

Whenby, North Yorkshire

£1,500,000

offers in excess of

A spacious five-bedroom family home situated on the Wentworth Estate, with a beautiful south-facing garden approaching 0.4 acres.

Contact: Virginia Water 01344 527687

An attractive and appealing three-bedroom character home, situated opposite the village church right in the centre of the village.

Contact: Melton Mowbray 01664 518924

An exceptional property with refurbished barns, manège, gardens, land and an enviable position in the Hambleton Hills.

Contact: York office 01904 595677

Crieff, Perth & Kinross

Great Ayton, North Yorkshire

Stretton on Fosse, Gloucestershire

£680,000

offers over

£1,695,000 guide price

£550,000

guide price

An impressive four-bedroom James Denholm designed country home enjoying south-facing views over open countryside.

Contact: Perth office 01738 301815

A beautifully presented farmhouse in a most attractive location with substantial gardens, high-quality stabling and outbuildings.

Contact: Stokesley office 01642 966693

A delightful two-bedroom property offering an abundance of features including solid wood floors, exposed stone walls and timbers.

Contact: Chipping Campden 01386 324032

Wetherby, West Yorkshire

Bretton, West Yorkshire

Zelah, Cornwall

£795,000

offers over

A stone-built, three-bed detached property in approx. 0.3 acres. Potential for development with planning permission for a detached house.

Contact: Wetherby office 01937 205882

£1,890,000

offers in region of

A substantial, beautifully built detached family home with wonderful accommodation, mature trees and a large duck pond.

Contact: Barnsley office 01226 417786

Verify at www.onthemarket.com/only-with-us/. Agents specify exclusivity.

£795,000

guide price

A well-situated detached farmhouse with glorious rural views. Includes a swimming pool, steam/shower room, gymnasium and parking.

Contact: Truro office 01872 395946

All these properties appeared exclusively with us, 24 hours or more before Rightmove or Zoopla.

Eglwyseg, Denbighshire

£595,000

Stoke Prior, Herefordshire

£775,000

offers in excess of

Bratton, Somerset

£500,000

guide price

An individual, unique and spacious detached family residence, externally finished in traditional stone and slate typical of the area.

Contact: Llangollen office 01978 255856

A four-bedroom detached 18th century cottage with two en-suites, set in an acre amidst beautiful countryside.

Contact: Leominster Sales 01568 597976

A beautiful detached two-bed Grade II listed cottage enjoying wonderful country views, set in large gardens with garage and parking.

Contact: Minehead office 01643 238968

Litton, North Yorkshire

Ashford Bowdler, Shropshire

Sedlescombe, East Sussex

£700,000 guide price

A spacious and charming three-bedroom family home, with a separate three-bed guest accommodation ideal for a business opportunity.

Contact: Leyburn office 01969 738985

£935,000

guide price

With an incredible quality of finish, this stylish barn conversion is situated on the edge of the foodie haven of Ludlow.

Contact: Ludlow office 01584 539971

£570,000

A charming four-bed detached Grade II listed character house nestled on the village green, with generous accommodation and garden.

Contact: Hawkhurst office 01580 487976

Create an alert To view these and the finest selection of premium properties, search OnTheMarket Cheriton Bishop, Devon

£1,500,000 guide price

A beautifully presented Grade II listed country house set in a private rural location, with 6.41 acres and a range of outbuildings.

Contact: Exeter office 01392 976715

Horam, East Sussex

£800,000

guide price

A stunning four-bed detached family home enjoying far-reaching countryside views, with spacious accommodation and a large garden.

Contact: Heathfield office 01435 577943

at CountryLife.co.uk and set up a property

Create alert alert today.

Washford, Somerset | 316.90 Acres An historic farm with 316.90 acres (128.25 hectares) within the Exmoor National Park, four miles from the Somerset coast. Grade II Listed house with 8,250 sq ft of accommodation including a 40’ grand hall and ten bedrooms. A walled garden, heated outdoor pool and ponds. An exceptional range of stone barns. Modern farm buildings for livestock, machinery and grain storage.

Productive grade 2 / 3 arable and pasture land. Pockets of woodland with the farm forming part of a local shoot.

Price on application Stags 01392 680059 | farms@stags.co.uk | stags.co.uk

Smaller country houses issue E X PL OR I NG T H E BEST OF BR I TA I N ’S RU R A L B OLT HOL ES

O N S A L E M A R C H 16 , 2 02 2

Don’t miss your chance to advertise your property in the smaller country houses issue

Booking/copy deadline: March 2, 2022

For more information on advertising, please contact Lucy Khosla, lucy.khosla@futurenet.com – 07583 106990

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FOR SALE

DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK Introducing a spectacular and imposing Georgian residence currently run as a boutique hotel and events venue, but with consent to reinstate as a private home. This unique property is steeped in character and style, its interiors designed by designer Timothy Oulton.

PRICE ON APPLICATION Contact the Marchand Petit Prime Waterfront & Country House Department to be one of the first to view.

PRIME WATERFRONT & COUNTRY HOUSE - 01548 857588 TOTNES - 01803 847979

With you all the way. marchandpetit.co.uk

Spring international issue SHOWC A SI NG T H E MOST E XC LUSI V E PROPERT I ES F ROM A ROU N D T H E WOR L D ON SA LE M A RCH 30, 2022

Don’t miss your chance to advertise in our Spring international issue Booking/copy deadline: March 16, 2022 For more information on advertising, please contact Lucy Khosla lucy.khosla@futurenet.com – 07583 106990

Brian Horton 2 – 25 March

Haystooks and Evening Light

oil on board 42 x 61 cms 161⁄2 x 24 ins

Brian Horton offers us an original interpretation of observed reality, more than just a summary of appearances. He discovers the poetry in the ordinary: in fields and woods and hedgerows, rocks and streams, harbours at dawn or dusk. He finds the underlying pattern and abstracts from nature.

Prices from £2,250 to £15,500 Catalogue available £15

Andrew Lambirth

Writer, critic and curator

12 Bury Street, St. James’s, London SW1Y 6AB Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 4448 www.messums.com

Property market

Penny Churchill

By royal example A grand house ‘practically in the palace gardens’ of Hampton Court and another on the site of a royal hunting lodge in Oxfordshire show how to live the good life Ivy House, in the borough of Richmond, borders Hampton Court Palace and was the former home of scriptwriter Ray Galton. £5.995m

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N 1539, having acquired and extended the grand palace built on the banks of the River Thames by his disgraced former chancellor Cardinal Wolsey, Henry VIII established the ‘Honour’ of Hampton Court by Act of Parliament, annexing manors and lands throughout Middlesex and Surrey. The statute provided for the creation of a new forest or ‘chase’ over the claimed Surrey lands, from the Thames on the south side of Hampton Court manor to Cobham and Weybridge.

The chase was deeply unpopular among the ‘men of Molsey and other towns in the chace’ who protested vigorously at the damage done by the deer and the loss of their commons and pastures. After Henry’s death in 1547, the deer were moved to Windsor Forest and the former tenants—and their much-needed rent rolls—were reinstated.

Hampton Court’s Thames-side location and green open spaces were much appreciated by Henry’s successors. Charles I had grand plans for waterworks in the grounds,

but abandoned the scheme at the outbreak of the Civil War, after which Oliver Cromwell moved to Hampton Court and made his own improvements. The Restoration under Charles II saw further heavy expenditure on the palace and gardens, then William and Mary had the palace largely rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren from 1689 onwards.

For many years, Wren both worked and lived at Hampton Court, residing in one of many fine houses built by the Crown and leased to suitable tenants. One of these was

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Find the best properties at countrylife.co.uk

Grade II-listed Ivy House offers more than 9,000sq ft of living space over its three floors

built, according to English Heritage, in about 1778, is now being sold for the first time in more than half a century by the family of the late comedy scriptwriter Ray Galton, who bought the property from the estate of Sir Ralph’s widow, Lady Ainsworth, in 1965. Tom Shuttleworth of Strutt & Parker’s country department (020–7591 2232) quotes a guide price of ‘excess £5.995 million’ for the wonderfully authentic Georgian building with its timeless, Upstairs Downstairs interiors and views over Hampton Court’s historic gardens.

Galton and his cowriter, Alan Simpson, met as teenagers in the 1940s, when both were being treated for TB in a Surrey sanatorium.

They went on to become household names as the scriptwriters for BBC Radio’s Hancock’s Half Hour and, later, the hit television series Steptoe and Son. Ivy House provided the perfect backdrop to ‘a Rolls-Royce lifestyle’ enjoyed by the pair on the back of their new-found success.

However, Galton’s obituary by Guardian journalist Dennis Barker, in October 2018, revealed that ‘neither took their new wealth entirely seriously. In one room of Galton’s huge house in the grounds of Hampton Court was a grand piano with Liberace-style candelabra on it. Asked by a journalist who played it, Galton replied: “The piano tuner”.’

Ivy House stands in just over half an acre of grounds and is listed Grade II, together with its boundary walls shared with the gardens of Hampton Court and twin carriage entrances flanked by stone piers. It offers more than 9,000sq ft of living space on three main floors—each a mirror image of the floor above, with large bay windows overlooking Hampton Court to the side and rear and an array of domestic offices on the lowerground floor.

The raised ground floor houses the drawing room, dining room, library and kitchen, with the master suite, six further bedrooms and two bathrooms on the floors above. Outside, a large double garage has space for a shiny new Rolls-Royce, with a studio room above.

From a favourite royal palace to the sport of kings: Andrew Russell of Oxford-based The Country House Department (01865 338300) is handling the sale of Antwicks Manor in the village of Letcombe Regis, near Wantage, Oxfordshire, which stands on the site of a medieval royal hunting lodge, hence the use of Regis in the village name. Mr Russell quotes a guide price of £3.95m for the impressive former manor house, which stands at the end of a long tree-lined drive, surrounded by 3½ acres of gardens and paddocks.

Antwicks Manor, the oldest part of which dates from about 1780, was moated until the late 1800s. The house was substantially

Asked by a journalist who played it, Galton replied: “The piano tuner”

Ivy House on Hampton Court Road, East Molesey, the freehold to which was granted in 1873. The house is described in the Victoria County History (1911) as being ‘practically in the palace gardens, with a terrace overlooking the Broad Walk, a picturesque building the property of Col Walter Campbell, son of Mr James Campbell, who formerly owned Hampton Court House’.

After the First World War, Ivy House was owned by Major-General Sir Ralph Ainsworth, a distinguished military surgeon, who acquired it from John French, 2nd Earl of Ypres, in 1926. The classic Georgian house

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Property market

Above and left: Antwicks Manor in Oxfordshire dates from 1780, but has been substantially enlarged and renovated over the years and offers nine bedrooms. £3.95m cites as ‘worthy of note that the Racing Illustrated (the forerunner of COUNTRY L IFE) in 1895 described [Antwicks Manor] as “few prettier places of the kind have we seen in the course of last summer’s wanderings”’.

Croker’s father wasted his inheritance and was forced to start afresh in New York remodelled and enlarged in the late 1890s and early 1900s by the fearsome Irish-born racehorse owner and breeder Richard ‘Boss’ Croker, who planned to establish a stud farm on the adjoining land.

Scion of an old Irish Protestant family, Croker’s father wasted his inheritance and was forced to start afresh in New York.

There, the young Richard made a name for himself as a street fighter and a budding politician, who was happy to win elections

or business deals by means fair or foul.

Having made a vast fortune through mainly dubious means, an impending police investigation persuaded him to leave for rural England, where he lived in some style between London and Antwicks Manor.

Croker not only had a good eye for a racehorse (he later bred the 1907 Epsom Derby winner Orby at his Glencairn stud in Ireland), he also had a good eye for a house.

David Nash Ford’s Royal Berkshire History

Croker spared no expense in the renovation of Antwicks Manor, the best elements of which have been retained and updated by the current owners, who bought it in 2001.

Highlights include the Long Room overlooking the garden, the central open-plan kitchen and the magnificent games room with its vaulted ceiling and picture window.

In all, the manor offers six reception rooms, nine bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Outbuildings include a stable block with two loose boxes, a greenhouse and an original Georgian ice house, converted to a summerhouse with a wood-burning stove.

76 | Country Life | February 23, 2022

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Natural, beautiful, comfortable.

We are a family company, making wonderfully comfortable furniture from natural materials. Every piece is made by hand and crafted to last a lifetime. To experience Maker&Son comfort for yourself, book a visit from one of our beautiful mobile showrooms, or pop in and see us in our Sussex home. To find out more, visit our website or give us a call. We’d love to hear from you.

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Property comment

Annunciata Elwes

Power to the people Long gone is the Thames-side wasteland– a new neighbourhood is thriving and the transformation of its centrepiece, Battersea Power Station, completes in September After plans to turn it into a giant rubbish incinerator were scrapped, a proposed theme park ran out of money in the 1980s, but not before large sections of roof had been removed. Michael Jackson considered creating Neverland UK here and, later, permission was granted for a hotel and offices, but that didn’t happen either. Other possible fates included a retail/residential conversion criticised for its ‘airport-lounge treatment’, a biomass-energy plant with a mammoth eco tower (or ‘inverted toiletroll holder’ as Boris Johnson had it) and Cirque du Soleil base, but these plans petered out, too. Chelsea FC had eyes on a new stadium, but were outbid when Knight Frank negotiated a landmark deal with a Malaysian consortium for £400 million in 2012—and now we get to the good stuff.

Londoners used to admiring the building from afar—floating at the end of a row of pretty workers’ cottages, perhaps, above the London planes of 200-acre Battersea Park or across the Thames from Chelsea’s Cheyne Walk—saw the chimneys come down and go back up again, one by one, overseen by Historic England, and have enjoyed wandering right up to it since Circus West Village opened in 2017.

The 42-acre site is totally unrecognisable.

Railway arches house restaurants, cafés and shops, including a Gordon Ramsay pizza place. There’s a theatre, the acclaimed

The pig escaped and caused havoc with the Heathrow flight path before landing in Kent

The once derelict power station and surrounding area will soon offer 4,239 homes

Archlight Cinema, crazy golf, dentist, Moyses Stevens florist, deli, bike shop, brewery and 19 acres of open and green space.

Thames Clippers stop here and the historic jetty, where once a million tons of coal were unloaded annually, hosts outdoor cinema screenings. More than 1,500 residents live in avant-garde buildings, some using water and boating as architectural inspiration.

The reincarnation of Battersea Power Station itself has been navigated by architects WilkinsonEyre and interior designers Michaelis Boyd. It now houses 254 homes: Switch House East and West in 1950s and Art Deco style respectively. Both are topped with three glazed stories and contain studios to five bedrooms and penthouses (prices start at

Alamy

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OU don’t have to be a fan of Pink Floyd or inflatable livestock to admire Battersea Power Station’s ‘toppled table’ silhouette. (For the uninitiated, a blow-up pig was tethered to it for the 1977 Animals album cover—it escaped and caused havoc with the Heathrow flight path before landing in Kent.) For decades, this dramatically decaying ‘temple of power’ has been surrounded by a vast, fenced-off wasteland, but a £9 billion regeneration has changed its fate; once complete, this buzzing area will provide 4,239 homes.

Built in two halves from 1929 and designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott of redtelephone box and Tate Modern fame, its boiler house (the central part) is so enormous you could fit St Paul’s Cathedral inside. At one time, it produced one-fifth of the capital’s power, responsible for electrifying the BBC Television Centre, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Carnaby Street and Wimbledon.

We were lucky that, during the Blitz, the Luftwaffe (like our RAF pilots), found the plumes of white vapour from its two 331fttall chimneys too useful as a navigational tool to risk bombing it. Then, in 1955, the icon as we know it was born with the completion of the second half of the ‘table’.

However, electrical output waned and both stations ‘A’ and ‘B’ were shut by 1983; thus began decades of conjecture over the Grade II*-listed building’s future.

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A new look: The Coaling Pier occasionally moonlights as an outdoor cinema

Alamy

£865,000), making the most of floor-to-ceiling Crittal windows. Boiler House Square offers a clever twist to traditional London—it is a normal garden square of 20 ‘villas’, only 160ft up, on the roof between the chimneys.

‘Iconic in nature and stature, and an investment case of its own kind, the former industrial power station is quite possibly the last opportunity to purchase a home within a prime London landmark of this prestige,’ says Meriam Lock-Necrews, head of residential sales, who believes that, post-pandemic, buyers are now returning to London with ‘a new lease of life’, searching for just the ‘diverse mix’ that the area provides.

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Property comment

Above: The site will host the UK’s first Art’otel. Right: The former interior as seen in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight

9000

opened. The two cavernous turbine halls are almost fully transformed into glass-fronted shopping galleries—expect Ray-Ban, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Aesop and Calvin Klein—and there’ll be a food hall, cinema, event space and bar in the vintage-‘James Bond’style Control Room B—opening in September, perhaps around the time that Apple moves into a new six-floor London HQ in the boiler house.

Phase 3 will bring more killer views from Battersea Roof Gardens, designed by James Corner of Field Operations, who did New York’s High Line, and the UK’s first Art’otel, with a rooftop pool; phase 4, with its red-brickstyle mansion blocks echoing Prince of Wales Drive, is also under way. In a humorous nod to heritage, water vapour can be seen pluming from two chimneys—from the underground heating and cooling system—and the northwest chimney will be topped with a viewing platform opening later this year. When the entire quarter is complete (there are eight stages, finishing in 2030), there’ll be a £13 million medical centre, police offices, nursery and 25,000 people living and working |on site, with an estimated 40 million visits per year, bringing the UK a £6.1 billion tax boost—a perfect way to celebrate the building’s 100th anniversary. London’s newest neighbourhood has arrived.

Visit www.batterseapowerstation.co.uk

It’s all in the detail • The Bank of England is said to have burnt huge wads of bank notes in the power station’s furnaces, fearing invasion in the Second World War • Six million ‘Golden Brown Pressed’ bricks were used to build the power station and the same firm, Northcot Brick, handmade 1.3 million more from the same Gloucestershire quarry for the restoration • The thriving Battersea Power Station choir already has more than 100 members • The Battersea Power Station Development Company contributed £300 million to the Northern Line Tube extension • Déjà vu? The building has appeared in Batman movie The Dark Knight, Hitchcock’s Sabotage, The Beatles’s Help! (above), Doctor Who, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, Sherlock and The King’s Speech

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