Upper Station Road, Henfield

Henfield Place is a substantial Grade II listed House, set in the heart of Henfield Village, that has been central to its community for centuries. This handsome period property is thought to date from the 15th century, with significant additions and alterations during the Queen Anne, Georgian, and later periods. Between 1889 and 1991 Henfield Place housed one of the first Catholic Seminaries founded in England after the Reformation. Externally, this impressive building includes mellow part-rendered and part brick-and-tile-hung elevations under a mainly Horsham stone-covered roof. It has accommodation spread over two principal floors, with good sized cellars, and large attic rooms offering further potential. In recent years, thorough refurbishment work has been undertaken to the fabric of the building, which now offers a wonderful opportunity for the purchaser and new guardian of this important village house to put their own mark on the property, by further decorating and improving it to their own taste. The extensive and elegant accommodation offers great flexibility to create a main family living-space, with secondary accommodation in the side wing and attic areas, and further scope for conversion of the traditional Sussex Barn (subject to all consents). The principal rooms are very well-proportioned, with good ceiling heights, fine period features, and a large number of windows and French doors overlooking mature and delightful gardens.

These fine gardens are planted throughout with an abundance of specimen trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, including elegant magnolias, colourful mixed climbers, majestic lime trees, ancient biannual wisterias, and, in the spring, enchanting carpets of flowering bulbs.

The house itself is located at the centre of the village, with a gate leading to the nearby village churches, and its occupants have for generations been integral to this community: It was a former owner of Henfield Place, Miss Margaret Knowles, who gifted the ‘King’s Field’ Recreation ground to the village in 1935 to mark the silver jubilee of King George V. Accordingly, the house and its gardens have played host to many village events over the years, even as they have given gracious accommodation and peaceful recreation to successive families and their circles of friends.