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Grand living on a budget

Buying an apartment in a converted country house has a number of advantages, as Josephine Murray discovers.

Article by: Josephine Murray
Publish date: 8th January 2009

If you dream of living in a mansion stuffed with period features and surrounded by acres of parkland, but dont have a trust fund to buy it with, why not consider a stately home that has been converted into flats? Youll be able to admire the beautiful faade of your home as you approach from the sweeping drive, without having to worry about its upkeep. And what a place to entertain friends and relatives!

What you get for your money
Brian Keyworth and his wife Barbaras flat in Shardeloes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire is for sale with Hamptons at 425,000. For that you get a drawing room, kitchen, utility, store, inner hallway, two bedrooms, bathroom, garage and 50 acres of communal grounds. Brian, who for health reasons is leaving his top-floor flat for a property with a lift, says: You get all the space and the view theres the whole valley and a lake at the bottom of the hill. Its as close as ordinary people come to living in a stately home. Donna Green, whose flat in Stratton Audley Manor, near Bicester, Oxfordshire is on the market with Carter Jonas (price on application), agrees: Living here I have all the benefits of a stately home without having to maintain it. Theres nothing lovelier than coming home from work on a hot day and going into the pool. She is moving to live with her partner and his dog, who is, sadly, incompatible with Stratton Audley Manors no pets policy. The flat includes a personal entrance hall, drawing room, kitchen/breakfast room, two bedrooms, bathroom, two fitted store rooms, single garage, outdoor communal pool with barbecue area and games room. There are 2.75 acres of communal grounds.

Period features
Donnas flat is in the original part of the Grade II listed manor, which was built in 1545. You get to the flat via the main entrance, which leads into the grand reception hall with its oak staircase, carved wooden panelling and decorative plaster ceiling. The apartment itself has original wooden panelling in the sitting room, a large working fireplace, wooden beams and decorative plaster ceilings.

Having been converted from Shardeloes attics, Brians flat has a more contemporary feel, but is accessed via the 18th Century entrance and staircase, where a few paintings still hang on the walls as they have always done.

History
Former stately homes have fascinating histories and buying a flat in one means you can keep the building alive as a home. Stratton Audley Manor was built by the Borlase family and used as a medical training centre during WWII by its then owner Mrs Beckwith-Smith.

Shardeloes was built for William Drake MP, one of the wealthiest commoners in England, between 1758 and 1766, and was designed by architects Stiff Leadbetter and Robert Adam. The Drake familys fortunes declined in the 19th and 20th Centuries and it became a maternity home during WWII. It stood empty after the war and was threatened with demolition by developers, but was rescued by the Amersham Society, the Council for the Protection of Rural England and others, then restored and converted into flats and houses, which were first rented and then sold in the 1970s. Bill Tyrwhitt-Drake, who lived in Shardeloes when it was still his ancestral seat, returned in July to celebrate its 250th birthday with current residents.

Management companies
Tony Wright, a partner at Carter Jonas in Harrogate which has several converted mansions on its books, such as Wells House in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, says one of the attractions for buyers is that theyre lock up and leave. He explains: A lot of the apartments in Wells House have been sold to people who spend time out of the country. Residents have no responsibility for the gardens, because theres a management company.

Owners of flats in properties like Shardeloes and Stratton Audley Manor pay an annual maintenance charge to a management company, which looks after the building and grounds, and sometimes the interiors of the flats too.

What are the neighbours like?
Donna describes her neighbours as: a complete mix of people, couples who moved in at a similar time to me, who now have young children, much older people, and people who have it as a weekend place.

Families can be put off properties in converted mansions because of their mainly rural locations. They are also generally flats with few rooms. But some can be found in towns and others, like Shardeloes, include two-storey houses converted from outbuildings or the service wing.

Tony adds: Sometimes buyers of these properties are downsizers; people who have had a large house, but dont want to go from one extreme to another and like the character and elegance of the room sizes and ceiling heights. It probably also means they can accommodate some of their period furniture.

Communal living
Sharing a converted mansion with communal grounds and entrance areas means that youre never alone, which has both advantages and disadvantages. Brian says: Everyones quite private, but we do have an annual lunch after the AGM and a carol concert at Christmas. The management company, Shardeloes House Ltd, produces a newsletter to keep residents informed of whats going on in the property.

Donna says: The main benefit of living here is that its very much a community, full of lots of things to join if you want to, in the house and in the village.

Tony believes the credit crunch will dissuade many developers from taking on old manor houses. However, an internet search reveals there are plenty which have already been converted on the market. Bear in mind that some, such as Busridge Hall in Godalming, Surrey are priced at 1,000,000 upwards. No problem if you do happen to have a trust fund.