Penny Churchill November 1, 2022
Baycliffe Farm has survived aeons, yet comes up for sale in 2022 looking quite probably as good as it has ever done. Penny Churchill reports.
Think of a country farmhouse and you tend to think of homes that are, well, a little rough around the edges. That couldn’t be farther from what’s on offer at the pristine Baycliffe Farm in Maiden Bradley, on the Wiltshire/Somerset border, six miles south-west of Warminster in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB.
Savills quote a guide price of £3.75m for the handsome, Grade II-listed, stone-and-brick thatched farmhouse, which dates mainly from about 1820 with earlier, 17th-century origins, although the 108-acre farm itself has been continuously occupied since 1087.
The lovely main house is a five-bedroom home with over 4,000sq ft of space, with the ground floor arranged around a main hall space. There is a drawing room (which was once the ‘cheese room’, rather brilliantly), a dual-aspect dining room and a lovely kitchen-breakfast room with flagstone floor and inglenook fireplace, among other attributes.
Upstairs the galleried landing leads to the bedrooms, one of which is a ‘work-in-progress’ in which two smaller rooms are being knocked together to create a master suite complete with balcony overlooking the swimming pool garden. There is also a separate studio annexe with its own entrance.
Having acquired Baycliffe Farm in ‘a dilapidated and ever-declining state of repair’ in 2003, racehorse owner and breeder William Harrison-Allan embarked on a three-year programme of building and restoration that saw the farmhouse, extensive outbuildings and land converted into an outstanding breaking and pre-training yard serving the racehorse-training profession. The farm has also operated as a racing stud in recent years.
Baycliffe Farm and some of the facilities as seen from the air.
The equestrian facilities are impressive. They include a front yard of 12 stables set around a picturesque central courtyard. The main yard, which is situated away from the house, comprises a range of converted farm buildings housing American barn-style stabling, a large storage barn and an indoor manège. There is also a Monarch horse-walker.
Recommended videos for you Much of the land is split into well-fenced paddocks for grazing and has been impeccably maintained over the years. The paddocks run down to a large field from which a crop of hay is taken each year.
An all-weather gallop crosses the field on a gentle uphill slope, whereas a 1½-mile grass gallop runs around the perimeter, with a belt of mature woodland forming the southern boundary of the property.
Baycliffe Farm is for sale via Savills at £3.75m — see more pictures and details.
Credit: Savills Catch up on the best country houses for sale this week that have come to the market via Country Life.