_Country View 2020: To The Manor Born

Below is an abridged feature from Country View 2020 on The Manor House, a six-bedroom property set in 20 beautiful acres in rural Dorset, on the market for £2.95 million. Read the full feature in Country View 2020, Knight Frank's definitive guide to the finest country property from across the UK, on p. 8. 

If you aspire to live the sort of stately lifestyle immortalised by such period dramas as Downton Abbey or Gosford Park, there is surely no better place to look than the home to the creator of both: the Academy Award-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes is said to have drawn inspiration from the local village of West Stafford, a small village three miles from Dorchester, right in the heart of Thomas Hardy country. 

Unusually, for such a small village, West Stafford has two manor houses. The first is a 16th-century dwelling, the other, The Manor House, a Grade I-listed house which sits half a mile away on the eastern edge of the village, awaits a new lord and lady at its helm. Now it is on the market again for £2.95 million and can justifiably be described as a one-off because of its particular aesthetic, history and provenance, thinks Knight Frank partner Luke Pender-Cudlip.

Above: The Manor House, a Grade I listed masterpiece

“The way the house has been remodelled over the centuries means it has an unusual triptych of different façades – Stuart, late 18th century and 19th-century Georgian,” he says. “It also has absolutely stunning views across water meadows. You walk out from the house across the lawns and follow the river that runs through the property. It is heavenly.” 

The six-bedroom country house you see today, designed in a classic U-shape, dates from the very early 17th century, with the main house being built in 1603. Early in the 18th century the house was owned by Thomas White and his wife and they made significant changes to the exterior of the house. Their coat of arms adorns the east façade, which is a picture of Georgian symmetry. The front façade has a distinct grandeur about it, too, with its four Roman Doric columns at the entrance, flanked by two feature ponds and landscaped lawns. 

“The desire to live in a country house among this kind of grandeur is as old as the hills,” says Pender-Cudlip. But The Manor House is of a scale and price that makes it more manageable than many might imagine. Many Londoners house-hunt in the area, either for a full-time residence – “They move here for schooling,” says Pender-Cudlip – or a part-time home. 

“They seem to have the best of both worlds, in the country from Friday to Monday night, in the city Tuesday to Thursday with the ability to work a bit from home. For the price of a terraced house in Fulham, you can buy this, an 18th-century masterpiece set in 20 acres.”