Terrace at The Old Printworks
“We have had great dos,” says Richard. “One evening we can drop the cinema
screen down and have a film night with 20 people; another we can have 180
people. In the summer we open the bifold doors into the garden, where we
have barbecues. The internal levels of the house work well acoustically, so
we have had up-and-coming bands playing on one level and 80 or 90 people on
another.” The ladies and gents cloakrooms are an adventure too, with a
urinal for men hidden behind a mirrored screen. “Women can use the upstairs
bathrooms before making flawless Rita Hayworth-style entrances down the
sweeping staircase,” says Caroline.
Their parties continued after the children were born, and poets and musicians
have found it a great meeting place. Overnight guests are tucked into the
separate gatehouse. Singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner started here, as did
Emmanuel Jal (former Sudanese child soldier). The couple now want to take
their children Jasmine, 13, and Oskar, nine, to live in the Côte d’Azur, so
they are letting the house at £1,800 per week, or selling at £3.25 million
through Cluttons (020 7223 7574).
It might seem a little excessive to some, but there is still plenty of money
circulating at the top end of the market. Globalisation has created new
Great Gatsbys. James Davies of Knight Frank (020 7861 5026) is selling a
mansion called Beaumont at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, built during the
recession and geared to lavish entertaining, priced at £5 million. “The
owner is an entrepreneur, and wanted it to be like an après-ski lodge,” he
says. “The nightclub and hair salon are unusual, as are the woven silk walls
in the drawing room. This is unusual for around here, though in Gerrards
Cross or Wentworth it would be expected.”
On cue: the pool room in après-ski-styled Beaumont mansion at
Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, which also comes with a nightclub,
hairdressing salon and sauna
It is a fantasy house in prime commuter territory. There are six bedrooms, all
with bathrooms, and a garden lodge for guests, plus a gym, sauna, solarium,
nine-seat cinema (with a life-size Stormtrooper standing in as an ice-cream
girl), nightclub with bar, wine cellar, hairdressing salon and laundry. The
house opens out towards an outdoor night-lit heated swimming pool with an
outdoor kitchen and bar.
In a village setting, a large party space can bring out a generosity in owners
who want to share their good fortune. Peter and Joanna Jensen have a
stunning Queen Anne house at Hurstbourne Tarrant in Hampshire, with an
enormous Grade II listed timbered barn. “It was used to store hay and logs,”
says Joanna, “but we made it good, and where the cattle stalls were we made
a bar. When it was finished we invited the whole village for a party.”
Hurstbourne Tarrant’s party barn
Joanna has hosted sales for the prison charity Fine Cell Work, events for the
Riding for the Disabled Association, village fetes, parties for her children
Emilia, seven, and Bella, five, and friends’ weddings and birthdays. “It is
usually straw bales, a hog roast and a man with a fiddle,” she says. “We
don’t have a village hall, so we think of it as a community barn. The parish
Nativity is great; Mary comes in on a real pony and we have mulled wine and
carols. This year we have a real baby as well.”
They are downsizing now so Savills (0207 409 8823) is selling Ibthorpe Manor
with its six bedrooms, cottage, stables and 15 acres for £3.95m.
READ 10 best houses for lavish Christmas
entertaining: in pics