Yahoo Finance Happy ending to house hunt: Homes with literary connections
If World Book Day on 4 March has your creative juices flowing, why not think about buying a property with a literary connection? With prices starting as low as £220,000, you don’t need to be a millionaire to live in a bookish abode (although it does help).
From Dame Barbara Cartland’s luxurious Mayfair mansion and the Chelsea apartments nicknamed "Writers’ Block" because of the authors who’ve lived there, to Evelyn Waugh’s very own Brideshead in Somerset, these homes have all been graced by famous writers at some point in their history.
South Street, Mayfair
This six-bedroom Mayfair mansion, which comes with its own swimming pool, sauna and a capacity to accommodate 100 guests in the reception rooms, was once home to prolific romance novelist Dame Barbara Cartland.
The writer, known for being one of the most commercially successful novelists of the 20th century, lived at the address during the Second World War. Her daughter, Princess Diana’s stepmother, Countess Raine Spencer, famously made her public debut outside its Edwardian façade in 1947.
To add to the property’s impressive history, prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Howe also spent a brief part of his childhood there in 1903. The décor is suitably impressive with several floor-to-ceiling glass doors, a grand entrance hall, two south-facing terraces and bespoke black wood flooring.
On the market for: £40,000,000
Agent: Rokstone: 020 7580 2030
Carlyle Mansions, Chelsea
Carlyle Mansions is known locally as "Writers Block" due to the huge number of writers who have resided here over the years.
Henry James, Somerset Maugham, Erskine Childers and TS Eliot all called this building home at some point, while Ian Fleming even wrote Bond novel Casino Royale while living here.
Although the entire building isn’t for sale, a third-floor, three-bedroom flat is on the market. It has amazing views of the River Thames and Albert Bridge, high ceilings, well-proportioned rooms and comes with a resident caretaker.
On the market for: £4,400,00
Agent: Russell Simpson: 020 7225 0277
Combe Florey House, Taunton, Somerset
Legendary author Evelyn Waugh, who penned Brideshead Revisited, bought his very own "Brideshead" — this Grade II-listed 18th century manor house.
Waugh purchased the property in 1956, and lived there till his death 10 years later. His family stayed on at Combe Florey House until it was sold to the present owners in 2008.
It has been sympathetically renovated since Waugh’s day, and now has a large orangery, American walnut kitchen, four-oven Aga and two dishwashers.
As well as the main house, which is over 16,000 square feet and has 12 bedrooms, the property comes with just under 35 acres of parkland, a three-bedroom cottage, a "party barn", a swimming pool and a pool house.
On the market for: Offers in excess of £5,000,000
Agent: Strutt & Parker: 01392 229405
Elliot Terrace, Plymouth
The Grade II-Listed, stucco-fronted Elliot Terrace is steeped in British history. As well as being home to Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived at No 6, it counts a prime minister, Hollywood star and Britain’s first female MP among its famous former residents.
Sir Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin and Nancy Astor all inhabited Elliot Terrance apartments at some point in their lives.
The lower ground floor apartment currently for sale has a period fireplace, its own entrance, two spacious bedrooms and a beautiful stained-glass door.
On the market for: £220,000
Agent: Lang Town & Country: 01752 256000
Roundwood House, Windsor Green, Bury St Edmunds
The thatched Roundwood House had a famous literary visitor in the 19th century. Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was a frequent guest to the house.
Many of the property’s original features have been retained, including its exposed bricks, oak beams and a splendid inglenook fireplace, so it doesn’t look completely different to the way it did in the Scottish writer’s day.
On the market for: £875,000
Agent: Fine & Country: 01284 718822
Colesgrove Manor, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire
This impressive manor house dates back to 1629 and was the home of Oliver Cromwell’s son, Richard, in its early years.
More recently, though, it was inhabited by historical fiction writer Doris Leslie, who lived here in the 1950s.
The seven-bedroom house has been renovated for modern living and comes with a fully fitted Mark Wilkinson kitchen, a self-contained annex and a heated outdoor swimming pool.
In a nod to its literary past, the house still has its own library.
On the market for: £2,995,000
Agent: Hamptons: 020 3369 4283
Holtby House & Lodge, East Yorkshire
Novelist and social reformer Winifred Holtby lived at her family home, Holtby House, until her death in 1935, aged just 37. Despite her short life, Winifred wrote the critically acclaimed South Riding, based in Yorkshire, and was a friend of author Leonard Woolf.
In 1955, Holtby Hall was bought by Hull University as a bachelor's halls of residence, and poet and librarian Philip Larkin briefly stayed here when he arrived from Belfast. Writing about his lodgings to a friend, Larkin wrote that it "felt as if he were lying in some penurious doss-house with hobos snoring and quarreling all around him".
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Since Larkin’s day, the five-bedroom Victorian villa has thankfully been restored, with a modern kitchen, period features and four-bedroom lodge house.
On the market for: £1,500,000
Agent: Woolley & Parks: 01482 755700
