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The Smaller Stately Homes of England
Nick Churton of Mayfair Office looks at the current market for country cottages and smaller country houses in the English countryside, and explains how to find great investment opportunities deep in this "other Eden".
Take a look at the property pages of Country Life thirty, or even twenty years ago, and the cottages and houses of the English countryside do seem rather drab to our twenty-first century eyes.
How soon we forget. Or rather how soon we ignore the realities of the past. Our image of the English country cottage today is in high-resolution digital colour and is no longer one viewed in monochrome.
The reality of course is different. Country cottages and smaller country houses as little as fifty years ago were often dark, damp, draughty places with weatherproofing that, from bitterly cold memory, seemed little better than a modern stable.
But over the past few decades something has happened to property in the English countryside. It’s been painted! Look at Country Life today. Now, weathered render has been given a fresh coat of Sandtex and window frames and doors a lick of Farrow & Ball in the latest fashionable colour, all picked to tone perfectly with vernacular building materials.
The people who occupy these homes today have affluence undreamt of by their predecessors. They have the money to repair, renovate and renew, and to paint. Like their neighbours the farmers and the estate owners, who have fashioned the agricultural architecture of the countryside over several thousand years and have today become stewards of the landscape, these new countryside residents have become stewards of the rural built environment.
Many of the countryside workers for whom these cottages were built have disappeared, along with the jobs they filled - casualties of a modernised farming industry. Their place has been swiftly taken by the rurally mobile – those who enjoy country life but draw their income from accessible towns and cities.
Cottages in need of renovation, certainly in prime locations, have become scarce. Most have been modernised over the past ten to twenty years. Those properties that have been refurbished and are in popular locations are in strong demand and attract prices undreamt of by former occupants.
But there are still great opportunities to be had. While some villages have achieved ‘highly sought after’ status with property fetching premium prices there are others that have not yet up and come. These places are perhaps a little less convenient, slightly further away from public transport and may lack some modern amenities, but my advice is to seek out these areas in advance of the herd. The trick is not selecting the unfashionable but selecting the soon-to-be-fashionable. Also look out for houses that are rather unsightly or that have been ‘modernised’ badly and need a fresh look. Re-facing a property not only affects its appearance, it can also seriously affect its value in the most positive way.
There are plenty of opportunities if you know where to look and have a bit of imagination. You’ll also need some sound local advice. That is where Mayfair Office member firms come in. Whether you are buying or selling, our member firms enjoy a rare reputation for property expertise linked to an unsurpassed local knowledge. It is this know-how and fine market instinct that provides buyers with the basis for insightful investment, and sellers with a wider and better-advised market base.
