It sounds too good to be true — planning permission for a handsome new Classical house overlooking a large lake, secluded in the middle of a 300-acre estate.
The estate, outside Stafford, is worth £3.5 million, a substantial sum given that the house is not yet built. But this is a place of Byronesque romance. It is the site of Ranton Abbey, one of a great run of Augustinian abbeys founded across England from the 1140s to the 1160s.
Today, only the imposing 15th-century church tower survives. Beside it Lord Anson, the 1st Earl of Lichfield, built a red brick Regency house, which became a second seat to the family’s great home at Shugborough.
The house has been a shell since 1942 when it caught fire while the bodyguard of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was stationed there.
The estate was sold in the 1950s to Wedgwood, the porcelain company, and the house stood abandoned, enveloped by ivy, until it was bought back in 1987 by Patrick Lichfield, the celebrated photographer and 5th Earl of Lichfield. His idea was that the house would once again be a seat for his heirs, who could live there untroubled by the National Trust, which had taken over Shugborough.
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But his plans for a new house, designed by a Yorkshire traditional architect, Francis Johnson, ran into difficulties with planners and English Heritage, which were concerned that the uncharted remains of the abbey might be disturbed.
Alternatively, planning permission was given for a new house just yards away. It was granted a month after Lord Lichfield died in November 2005 and is due to expire — if work is not started — in December this year.
Meanwhile, the estate was sold to an investment company in 2008, which put it on the market last spring.
The current plans for the building were drawn up by a chartered town planner, Robin Bryer. “My brief from Lord Lichfield was to produce a design that would convince the planners. He said that every bedroom must have a bathroom and every bathroom a window,” Bryer said. There was no budget, but “it’s a metal-frame construction, so the cost will depend on whether you clad it in stone or brick, and how ambitiously you fit out the interiors.”
I believe there is a cheaper alternative to building a large new house — restore the shell of the original Regency building.
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The 15th-century church tower could become the main feature of a sheltered courtyard garden.
The Regency house has 11 windows, so living rooms and bedrooms would all have great views of the lake, which is teeming with fowl. An entrance lodge marks the drive.
One drawback for some buyers is the public right-of-way along the back driveway, but this is deflected around the edge of the former gardens as it approaches the abbey tower. The estate is unlikely ever to be busy since the nearest sizeable villages are several miles away.
The upside is that you are surrounded by acres of unspoilt countryside, but are only four miles from the M6.
Fast facts
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What you get planning permission for a new Palladian house in 309 acres of parkland, including woodlands, a large lake, a 15th-century tower, the ruined shell of a Georgian house and coach house
Where is it? Birmingham 27m; Stafford 6m; Manchester Airport 57m; M6 (J14) 4m
Best schools Shrewsbury, Stafford Grammar, Wolgarston High School, and Lichfield Cathedral School
Perfect for a Midlands entrepreneur after a large estate with all the traditional trimmings
Knight Frank 020 7629 8171; Savills 0121 200 2220