Gayhurst Court, Gayhurst, Buckinghamshire, MK16

EXCEPTIONAL APARTMENT IN HISTORIC COUNTRY HOUSE SET IN BEAUTIFUL PARKLAND

An impressive apartment within Gayhurst House, the magnificent, Grade I-listed, Elizabethan country manor in the sought-after county of Buckinghamshire, with two bedrooms and a study that has been used as a single bedroom in the past. Comprehensively refurbished, the beautiful and versatile living space overlooks the wonderful grounds, including the tennis courts, and the apartment comes with a double garage as well as communal parking for numerous cars. Coming home through the parkland and the Great Hall of the house itself, it’s impossible to imagine a more special and inspiring place to live.

Built on the site of a Roman villa, Gayhurst House was given by Elizabeth 1st to Sir Francis Drake as a reward for his Armada triumph, was later home of the Digby family of Gunpowder Plot infamy and has variously been a satellite of the Bletchley Park codebreakers and a school, before becoming exclusive apartments.

Within a short drive of Milton Keynes shopping centre and railway station, from where fast trains reach London in little more than half an hour, your new home is also just a cycle ride or footpath walk away from all the facilities and amenities of the market town of Newport Pagnell.

And you have the year-round enjoyment of over 5 acres of the most wonderful parkland, pond and gardens, the grounds originally having been laid out by the great English landscape designers, Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. Within the gardens are ten carved, stone pedestals by William Burges, the architect employed by Lord Carrington to remodel the house in the mid-19th century.

Few are fortunate enough to have a beautiful church at the end of their lawn. This “Georgian gem” has a marble monument inside described by Pevsner as “one of the finest in England”. Seek out the Digby Walk, which leads through an arch beneath the distant road to the beautiful River Great Ouse. Take out membership and fish in the lakes; play tennis on the courts; and with agreement host a family function within the grounds – all with the perfect backdrop of one of the finest houses in the Country.

The 18th century poet, William Cowper, who lived in the nearby market town of Olney, felt privileged to be allowed to walk with friends in “the prettiest place in the country”. What a place to invite your friends to. What a place to have as a weekend retreat. What a place to call your home.

MORE ABOUT THE PROPERTY 

Turn past the lodge house at the entrance to Gayhurst Court and it’s as if time stood still centuries ago. Sheep and cows graze by the lakes. Spring lambs gambol, unrestrained, alongside the 650-yard private driveway that leads just to the manor house and former estate buildings, all now gorgeous stone homes. The small, honey-coloured stone Church of St Peter appears from between ancient yew trees to welcome you to your new home.

Skirt the immaculately maintained lawn and step between Roman Doric columns and through the arched porch and beautiful, wide oak and glass door into the Great Hall, the mansion’s illustrious former owners peering down from the walls, including Everard Digby, a knight of the realm until he was hung, drawn and quartered in St Paul’s churchyard for his part in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.

To reach your apartment, you can choose either the grand, Queen Anne, oak staircase or, if you wish to remind yourself of valuable words of wisdom – in French and English – glance up at the soffits of the quarter landings of the remarkable, stone and iron, former servants’ staircase, which brings you to just outside your front door.

Inside, apart from the study, which is tucked peacefully off the breakfast area of the kitchen, the wainscoted hallway, newly carpeted in sisal weave, takes you to every elegant room, each immaculately finished, each with tall, intricately corniced ceilings.

Relax, read and entertain over dinner in your rather grand living space, medallion block-corniced ceiling high above your head, beautiful light fittings adorning the walls, the arch inscribed with the initials, perhaps, of the renowned architect, William Burges and his patron, Lord Carrington, and the view from the tall, shuttered, sash window reminding you of the wonderful environment in which you live.

Few living rooms could be so beautiful, and few bedrooms could be so delightful. Wake up to early morning coffee on the sofa or the window seat, gazing over the tennis courts and the box hedge-lined pathways, to animals grazing in the parkland and to magnificent, bird-filled trees that have graced the estate for so long. Or glance to your left and see Cerberus atop what was once the amazing, Burges-designed, male servants’ lavatory. One can’t help feeling that it is a tremendous privilege to live here.