You miss out on sole ownership of several hundred acres, plus the right to
hire and fire your own Mrs Patmore or Mr Carson, but you not only get free
access to those acres, but get help in finding the money to look after them.

Richard and Kathy Chalk have owned Camoys Lodge, one of the wings of grand,
old Hunstanton Hall, in Norfolk, for more than a decade. It stands in 450
acres of rolling parkland, dating back to the 16th century, and was a
favourite haunt of PG Wodehouse.

“In many ways, it’s the best of both worlds, because you can socialise when
you want to, but at the same time, you are allowed your privacy. It is a
lovely community,” says Mr Chalk.

Even when the grounds are communal, it seems fellow residents observe
unwritten British codes of behaviour, and don’t impinge on one’s space. “The
benches are well and truly scattered around the grounds,” says Anne
Fletcher, who lives in a three-bedroomed Regency wing of Belford Hall, in
Northumberland, a Grade I-listed, 27-acre parkland Palladian villa.

“It’s always possible to find one that’s secluded. That said, people are all
very helpful when needs be. I wasn’t very well last year, and people were
regularly calling me up on the phone, or knocking on the door, to see if
they could help.”

At Belford Hall, only seven of the 16 apartments are lived in all year round;
the others are rented out as holiday accommodation.

In some houses, though, the rules don’t allow this, as at Callaly Castle, in
Northumberland (divided into 20 homes, with No 2 Garden Wing on sale for
£250,000).

“All of the residents have lived here for some time, so it’s a warm and
friendly place to be,” says Sharon Thatcher of Strutt and Parker.

Some of the stately homes have not only been converted, but improved. At
palatial Warleigh Manor, near Bath, a penthouse suite with three bedrooms
and a roof garden has been created at the top of the Grade II-listed manor
house (£685,000 with Hamptons International).

So although technically you may not be sole master of all you survey (eight
acres leading down to the River Avon), it certainly feels like you are.
Another advantage is that all the grappling with historic home-preservation
bodies and hiring specialist builders has already been done.

“Work on a stately home inevitably works out pretty expensive, especially when
you need to get consent to carry out alterations,” says Philip Eddell, head
of Savills country house team. “Use the wrong materials, too, and English
Heritage will be all over you.”

It is far simpler to follow the time-honoured Blue Peter method and simply buy
a bit of a stately home that someone has made earlier, not least since those
buyers who opt for a portion of a preserved and protected building tend to
be rather closer to 60 than 30, and want to hear the gentle sound of
birdsong, rather than the constant knocking on the door from listed
buildings inspectors clutching clipboards.

“What these stately home conversions offer is privacy and community in one
place,” says Sharon Thatcher.

“They are perfect for people who have always wanted to live in a historical
property, but never thought they could afford one.”

STATELY HOMES FOR SALE

1 Wiltshire Charlton, near Malmesbury

Two-bedroom, split-level apartment with roof garden, in Grade I-listed,
17th-century Charlton Park House, now converted into 19 apartments.

Guide price: £345,000.

Agents: Savills,
01285 627550

2 Kent Penshurst, near Tonbridge.

Three-bedroom, ground-floor apartment in 19th-century Swaylands House, now
divided into 28 properties. With 40 acres of communal grounds.

Guide price: £1.6m illion

Agents: Jackson-Stop;
01892 521700

3 Sussex Balcombe, near Haywards Heath.

Ground floor, two-bedroom apartment in Grade II-listed Ditton Place, built in
1904. In 15 acres of grounds, including tennis court and cricket pitch.

Guide price: £649,950.

Agents: Strutt
and Parker; 01403 246790

4 Norfolk Old Hunstanton (main picture).

Spread over three floors, four-bedroom Camoys Lodge has secluded gardens,
running down to the moat.

Guide price: £975,000.

Agents: Bedfords,
01328 730500

5 Northumberland Belford Hall, nr Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Three-bedroom Dobson House sits in the left wing of Grade I-listed Belford
Hall, built in 1756.

Guide price: £295,000 (plus annual management fee of £2,000).

Agents: Smithsgore,
01289 333030

6 Devon Sampford Spiney, nr Yelverton.

Sampford Manor is a five-bedroom manor house, with farm buildings, gardens, 11
acres of pasture and woodland, and 202 acres of common land.Comes with the
Lordship of Sampford Spiney.

Guide price: £990,000.

Agents: Mansbridge
and Balment, 01822 855055

7 Northumberland Callaly Castle.

Alnwick No 2 Garden Wing has three bedrooms and is part of an overall, Grade
I-listed structure that dates from the 12th century, with 35 acres of
grounds.

Guide price: £250,000.

Agents: Strutt
and Parker;, 01670 516123