Parks Road, Clifford, Herefordshire

Now you get to decide what comes next

There are houses that have been carefully preserved through the years, and there are houses that have evolved around the people who live in them.

This is very definitely the latter.

The family tell us that Edward Wakeling bought the cottage in the 1970s, when it was considerably smaller. Over the years he extended it, changed it and acquired more land, gradually creating the home that suited his life.

And Edward led a fascinating one.

He became an internationally respected authority on Lewis Carroll, the name under which Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Edward’s scholarship encompassed Dodgson’s diaries, correspondence, photography, mathematics, games and puzzles, and for many years he was closely involved with the Lewis Carroll Society, including serving as chairman.

Look around the house and glimpses of that world remain.

Edward’s library was approached through a curved passageway, his own quiet reference to going down the rabbit hole. There is wonderfully individual stained glass. And outside is perhaps his most extraordinary contribution.

Edward acquired land behind the cottage and created a yew maze in tribute to Alice.

It tells you much about this place. This wasn’t just somewhere Edward lived. It was somewhere he allowed his interests and imagination to take physical form.

Even the way the house worked changed with life. In the original cottage, a spiral staircase once rose from what is now the Library/Sitting Room. Today, the Stiltz lift occupies that part of the house.

That history of change feels important.

Because whoever buys this house isn’t being asked to preserve Edward’s choices forever.

Edward didn’t.

He took the cottage he found and created the home he wanted.

There is plenty here for somebody else to think about: varied living spaces, flexible bedrooms, separate ancillary accommodation, gardens and grounds, the maze and all the possibilities that come with an individual country home that has already evolved considerably once.

Edward’s remarkable collection has moved on too. In accordance with his wishes, material from the collection has passed into museum care, where it can continue to be viewed and appreciated by others.

The books may have moved on, but their influence remains quietly embedded in the home Edward shaped: in the former library, the curved passageway that leads towards it, the stained glass and, most memorably, the yew maze created in tribute to Alice.

And then there’s the view.

It is rural Herefordshire just as you hope rural Herefordshire will be: countryside folding away beyond the garden, changing with the weather, light and seasons.

Someone standing here made the casual observation:

“You can’t buy a view like that.”

Except, occasionally, you can.

Here, you can.

Edward Wakeling found his place here and made it his own for the best part of six decades.

Now you get to decide what comes next.

And may you love living here for many decades to come.

NB: ALL VISITS STRICTLY BY PRIOR APPOINTMENT