Inside Homestall Manor: £10 Million Medieval House in Sussex
Homestall Manor is a stunning Grade II listed property in West Sussex.
Credit: Savills Estate Agents
Homestall Manor is a substantial part medieval, part Tudor detached property set in grounds of about 28 acres.
The stunning property, one of East Sussex’s finest country houses, went on the market earlier this year for an eye-watering £10 million.
Originally a simple farmhouse, the oldest part of the property dates from 1350, when it was probably used as a hunting box by John of Gaunt, the son of Edward III, who held the hunting rights to Ashdown Forest.
But according to ‘Country Life’ the front door (pictured further down this article), which came from a French monastery, is said to be more than 1,000 years old.
Our favourite feature of the house is the impressive Great Hall, which has a partly enclosed hammer-beam roof, believed to have originated from the wardroom of the last English ship to go into battle under sail.
During the Second World War, the property, then known as Dutton Homestall, served as an auxiliary hospital presided over by the redoubtable Sir Archibald McIndoe, who performed miracles of plastic surgery during the Second World War.
In 1907, Lord Tommy Dewar, a whisky distiller from Perth, bought and restored The Homestall and remodelled the surrounding gardens.
On his death in 1930, his nephew, the racehorse owner and breeder John Arthur Dewar, inherited the estate, which he used as a country retreat, living at Claridge’s during the rest of the week.
In the late 1940s, it became Stoke Brunswick prep school, before reverting back to residential use in 2009.
To the south of the house are formal gardens with ponds overlooking woodland, and, within the grounds, two all-weather tennis courts and a swimming pool.
In its present configuration, Homestall Manor offers some 26,000sq ft of living space, with various outbuildings providing a further 10,760sq ft.
The property is reached via a long driveway, leading through the grounds to the house.
To the South of the house are formal gardens with ponds and overlooking woodland.
Within the grounds are an outdoor swimming pool, two all weather tennis courts, a walled garden, and various outbuildings including a games barn, a three bay garage with attached stores, offices, a party barn with first floor office, and a large garden store.
The remainder of the grounds are predominantly grassed with some trees and shrubs planted, and extend to about 27.91 acres in all.
The property is Situated on the outskirts of the delightful village of Ashurst Wood.
Ashurst Wood is located within the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is a thriving and well served village with a post office, village shop, church, village hall, a pub and several independent shops and businesses.
More extensive shopping facilities can be found in the nearby towns of East Grinstead (three miles) and Tunbridge Wells (12 miles).
The property is currently being sold by Savills Estate Agents.
In terms of the manor’s future, Mr Peppitt from the estate agents isn’t ruling anything out or in.
In his view, the next custodian might well be ‘a hotel owner, a headmaster or a lord of the manor’ — or even someone enterprising from a completely different walk of life.
Check out more photos, courtesy of Savills Estate Agents, below.
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