The £14 million Tudor manor house once visited by Elizabeth I
This nine-bed Cotswold manor house, with its historic interior and fabulously modern interior, is a rare find
Hawling Manor, a 16th-century country house on the edge of a picturesque village between Cheltenham and Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, is the grade II listed residence with everything. It has an Elizabethan façade, a Georgian wing, stables and a croquet lawn, a swimming pool and sauna, and a cast of past visitors that include Queen Elizabeth I and Lewis Carroll, who used to teach maths to the children of the manor in the 19th century.
Within the spectacular architecture is an equally remarkable interior, one which is informal and understated, in contrast to the grandeur of the local limestone exterior and topiary-ornamented gardens. The owners James Holder, one of the founders of Superdry, and his wife, Charlotte, a lawyer, have pieced together a deeply comfortable, modern family home inside a magnificent historic shell.
There are cloudlike white sofas immense enough to accommodate family movie night, thronged with squashy cushions. Emperor-size beds are made up with fresh white linens and layered with tasselled blankets. Chunky rustic timber tables, tan-leather chesterfields and blue and white-striped flatweave rugs add texture. In the bathrooms are roll-top tubs, and a mammoth Aga warms the kitchen. In short, it’s the last word in low-key luxury. James says: “We have completely different styles, but they mesh together really well. I’m always yearning for progression and Charlotte is deep into heritage. When you combine the two, the result is Hawling Manor.”
Will Pitt, a senior director at UK Sotheby’s International Realty, who is handling the sale of the manor, on the market as a turnkey property for £14 million, says, “It’s a difficult thing to do, to modernise something but retain its place in history. This is one of the best examples I’ve seen of traditional architecture coupled with modern décor.”
When the Holders bought the property in 2014 for £10 million, Charlotte was expecting their first child. “Because the house is so big [13,834 sq ft, including nine bedrooms in the main house — nearly 20,000 with stables and offices] the obvious question was how to take a big grand house and make it liveable in as a family home,” she says. “We moved in two days before [our daughter] arrived. I’m not sure we had any towels — but we had a perfectly designed house.”
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The manor had been restored and extended in the mid-Nineties by the previous owners, who added new wings and a showstopping indoor swimming pool, with views onto the gardens. James says: “When they did the major renovation, the architect was Peter Yiangou, the don of Cotswolds architects, who really blends old and new like no one else.” The Holders decided the building and gardens could not be bettered; the interiors, however, needed a comprehensive makeover. The process took just three months, once started. “It’s my old-school rag-trader mentality of just get it done,” James says.
Not that any corners were cut. “Because I come from a fashion background, where creating a product is a very complex process that takes time, when it came to designing and curating Hawling Manor, that was all about making a decision for each room, piece by piece,” James says. “Nothing was done for convenience,” Charlotte adds. “We didn’t think, ‘Oh but we can’t get that sofa through the bedroom door, so let’s get another one.’ We said what can we do to make it work —OK, we’ll build it in the room.”
Having perfected their work, they are ready for a new adventure and are seeking a buyer who will nurture and take delight in Hawling Manor.
“James and I don’t feel like owners,” Charlotte says. “The house was here before us and will be here after us, and it was our job to treat it with respect. We are custodians. ”
Hawling Manor is for sale via Will Pitt at Sotheby’s International Realty with a guide price of £14,000,000. For details, visit sothebysrealty.com
