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Bloomberg
A country house in West Sussex, an hour and a half by train from London, is about to hit the market for £6 million ($8.6 million).
Designed by Edwin Lutyens, arguably the most famous father of Arts and Crafts architecture, the manor house known as Little Thakeham dates to 1902 and sits on a 3.2 rolling acres comprising big, elaborate formal gardens.
The gardens have been notable for more than a century: In 1904, visiting the house, Lutyens wrote, “I got to Thakeham about eight, a most divine evening. The great downs bathed in reflected light and the garden wonderfully good.” (The house is listed as Grade I, which means it’s of “exceptional” preservation interest; the gardens are listed as Grade II, which means they’re of “special interest.”)
When not bathing in light or the garden pool, Little Thakeham’s future owners will be able to wander around the massive, 12,400-square-foot home.
There are nine bedrooms and eight bathrooms, as well as a succession of south-facing reception rooms. One, a double-height drawing room, features a giant bay window and two Juliet balconies at dramatic internals. You’ll also find a stately dining room, several living rooms, and hand-carved Arts and Crafts motifs throughout. Finally, a rambling, eat-in country kitchen with herringbone floors and an Aga stove means that entertaining can be cozy, too.
Outdoors, those gardens include a pergola, lily pool, and planted terraces. There’s also a full swimming pool with a pool house (replete with a Lutyens bench), a greenhouse, triple car garage, and enough topiary to keep a team of groundskeepers busy from April through October.
The house was last listed in 2013 for £5.5 million pounds ($7.9 million). While the current listing (offered by Strutt & Parker, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate) is certainly on the high end of the area’s real estate market, its proximity both to London and to the coast means it could function either as a full-time residence or as a weekend home. Check out more photos of the house below.