Beam me up: The house has inks to Anne of Cleves and Thomas Cromwell
For about 30 years before he bought it, Wings Place was owned by a reclusive
American. “He was friendly, but a bit mysterious when we were growing up,”
Theakston explains. “When he sold it to me, I remember very clearly that he
said he wanted the house to be filled with people and music again.”
Theakston did just that. “It’s brilliant for entertaining. In 2007 my wife
[Sophie Siegle] and I got married in the village church, and had the
reception on the green, which the master bedroom overlooks. There is a big
terrace shaded by an old magnolia, perfect for dinners or lunches. The big
dining room is wonderful at Christmas.”
With more than 5,000 sq ft of living space, Wings Place was described by the
architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as “eminently picturesque in a
watercolourist’s way”.
It has five bedrooms, two of them en suite, over three floors. On the ground
floor, there is a sitting room, library, study and drawing room, as well as
the vaulted entrance hall. Outside is parking for three cars, half an acre
of walled garden and a wine cellar.
“We had to do a lot of work when we bought it – all the plumbing and wiring –
but it is a great space, and since then has required remarkably little
upkeep. We’ve used it mostly for weekends and holidays. It was designed as a
manor house, so it’s quite grand in scale. I’m 6ft 4in, and have never
bumped my head. But we have lots of wonderful memories of the place, and so
do my sons [Sidney and Kit, six and four].”
It is not hard to see why. Mentioned in The Domesday Book, Ditchling is the
kind of place Americans would conjure if asked to describe a quintessential
old English village. Located at the foot of the South Downs, it is notorious
to cyclists as the start of Ditchling Beacon, the toughest climb on the
London-Brighton cycle race. Theakston is not the village’s only glamorous
alumnus: Sir Donald Sinden, the actor, grew up there, and Forces’ Sweetheart
Dame Vera Lynn is a resident. And it was there that the sculptor Eric Gill
founded his artists’ colony, the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic.
For most commuters the village is in easy enough range of London, but perhaps
not for Theakston, 42, who now presents a breakfast show on Heart Radio,
with the attendant early starts. The moment has come to move on. “I suppose
we’re in the same position as the previous owner,” he says. “The bottom line
is that we just don’t have time to use it that much any more. You never
really own this kind of house, you just look after it for the next
generation. It’s time for someone else to come along and fill it with
children and music.”
While selling Wings Place is a wrench, it will give Theakston time to focus on
his other love: buying and doing up properties.
“We kept the house for a decade, which is kind of amazing by my standards. I
usually move on after about three years,” he explains. “At heart I think I
am a bit of a frustrated architect. I have done up quite a few properties,
and I have even got to the stage where friends have asked me to help them
with theirs. I am fascinated by the spaces around us, where we think and
work. They are so important. They can make you happy or unhappy. I always
get a feel for the space that I’m in, and can become a bit cranky if I don’t
like it.
“I love the creative process, but I’d be very wary of doing it as a job. My
fear is that if it was work I’d stop enjoying it. I am also much happier
spending other people’s money!”
He currently lives in Chiswick, west London, where his grand designs have not
come easily.
“We built a large modern extension on the back of the house about three years
ago,” he adds. “And I fell foul of planning officers.
“I had never come across these committees before. Without even visiting the
property, they decided they didn’t like it, even though everyone else was in
favour. I had to take it to appeal, which took six months and thousands of
pounds in fees and lost rent. The independent arbitrator took about four
minutes to rule in my favour. The whole process was ridiculous. But it’s
over now, and I couldn’t be happier with the house. The kids are at school
nearby.”
When it comes to selling Wings Place, on the other hand, planning restrictions
are in his favour.
“Since we moved in, the area has been designated a national park,” he says.
“It’s part of the South Downs National Park. Anyone trying to build a new
property there is on a hiding to nothing. I think it’s one of only two Tudor
manor houses like this in East Sussex. They aren’t making them any more.”
That said, the country schoolboy in him has not gone away. “My parents are
still in Ditchling, so we will always be connected to the house. And I would
love another place in the countryside. When I bought Wings Place I was
fascinated by the history, but now I would really like to design and build
my own house.”
That might be Theakston’s new ambition. His Sussex home, however, is sitting
much as it has for more than half a millennium, waiting for someone to write
its next chapter.
Wings Place is on the market for £2 million through Savills (01444 446000; www.savills.com).