Stately homes cost an arm and a leg to maintain, as everyone knows. Highclere
Castle in Berkshire, where Downton Abbey is filmed, is pretty typical. Years
of structural decay – leaky roofs and rotting floorboards – have been
followed by thumping £10 million-plus restoration bills.

^{Stately splendour: Temple Grove in East Sussex, where a two-bedroom
duplex apartment is on the market for £649,950, with Knight Frank}

The magnificent Jacobean property, now a television celebrity in its own
right, is owned by the Earl of Carnarvon. But because of the need to admit
paying visitors to cover its upkeep, the Earl and his family now have to
spend some of the year living in a modest cottage in the grounds.

Mr Carson, the butler at Downton Abbey, would be horrified. “A cottage, my
lord?” At least he would take satisfaction from the fact that the “Downton
effect” has swelled the number of visitors to Highclere – not to mention
boosting house prices in the area.

Researchers at Knight Frank have calculated that there is an 89 per cent
property premium on homes within three miles of Highclere. A similar
phenomenon has been observed at Chatsworth in Derbyshire, where the property
premium is 74 per cent.

Other stately homes have long since been sold and carved up into separate
residential units. This has dismayed architectural purists, in some cases,
but does give people of more modest means the chance to live the Downton
dream. You don’t have to have a title, or be a billionaire, to sit in a vast
drawing-room in a velvet smoking-jacket looking out over acres of parkland.

A fine example of a stately home reinvented for the 21st century is Bentley
Priory in Stanmore, Middlesex, 45 minutes from central London by
train. The great house, set in 57 acres on the Harrow Weald, was designed in
1775 by Sir John Soane, who was also responsible for the Bank of England and
the dining room at 10 Downing Street.

It has now been converted into a collection of luxury homes, set in beautiful
parkland, and suitable for families and retired couples alike. Two-bedroom
apartments in the Walled Garden Court start at £824,950, not bad for such a
stunning property in a prime location in the South East.

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Some stately homes have been carved up into such sizeable portions that the
price tag for living in them is beyond ordinary pockets. Take Dingley Hall
in Northamptonshire, which dates from Tudor times and has a superb
Italianate wing added in 1680.

After falling into disrepair, it was converted into 10 units by the architect
Kit Martin. One, a handsome four-bedroom property occupying a wing of the
house, is on the market with Strutt Parker (struttandparker.com), at a
hefty asking price – £2.35 million.

“The beauty of this property, which used to be owned by an ambassador for the
Woodland Trust, is that it comes with 142 acres of private parkland,” says
Ed Lucas of Strutt Parker. “Everything you see from the window is
yours.”

Another mini-stately home in the £1 million-plus bracket (£1.65 million with Strutt
Parker) is Rossetti Hall, part of Exning House near Newmarket.

Exning is one of the grandest Georgian properties in Suffolk and, during the
Second World War, was the headquarters of 3 Group of RAF Bomber Command. But
the hall, which forms part of the property, is not exactly a granny flat. It
was designed by the Arts and Crafts architect Philip Webb and has six
bedrooms as well as a gym, cinema and other post-Downton fripperies.

At other stately homes, there is a different approach, with the properties
split into numerous small units rather than a handful of big ones. A good
example is Charlton Park House in Wiltshire, owned by the Earls of Suffolk
and Berkshire since the Reformation. It was divided into 19 modestly sized
apartments in 1975. One is now on the market for £345,000 with Savills.

^{Stunning: Charlton Park, now split into 19 apartments}

The apartment has two bedrooms, and one can imagine Maggie Smith muttering
about the difficulty of swinging a cat in the bathroom. Yet it is
beautifully furnished, and there is a delightful private roof garden, with
glorious views of the estate. Best of all, for those who like playing at
being aristos, residents at Charlton Park House are able to entertain their
guests in the great hall and communal drawing-room.

Other apartments within grand country homes can be purchased for even less.
Even on a butler’s salary – and the modern butler is far better remunerated
than his predecessors – Mr Carson would be able to afford the £250,000
asking price for a two-bedroom apartment in Prestbury Manor House, near
Cheltenham ( Knight
Frank)

From the first-floor apartment, in a Grade-II listed country mansion, he could
savour the views of the communal parkland ground.

He might have to fork out £1,200 a year in service charges – a common drawback
in properties of this type – but he would probably think it was worth it.
After all, when you get to a certain age, you want some of the burden of
maintaining a property lifted from your shoulders.

“One of the benefits of these country-house conversions is that they provide
impressive proportions and grand settings but without the worry of
day-to-day maintenance. This is invariably in the hands of a management
company,” says Tim Harriss of Knight Frank, Guildford.

“Apartments like this are popular with buyers looking for a smart
lock-up-and-leave property. The recent trend has been for them to be snapped
up by buyers in their 60s, who may spend six months a year overseas, and who
have downsized from the family house, but still require large rooms.”

That hankering for space – rooms on a scale unimaginable in a bog-standard
property – seems to be one of the common denominators among buyers drawn to
this type of house. Margaret Stone has lived in a three-bedroom wing of
Balfour Manor, near Sidmouth in Devon, for the past 11 years. She is still
captivated by the beautiful wooden staircase, dating from the 19th century,
which could slot into Downton Abbey and no questions asked.

^{Quirky: Balfour Manor in Devon. where a three-bedroom section is on sale
for £550,000}

“The stairwell is simply vast. I was standing on top of a stepladder the other
day, holding a broom with a paintbrush on the end, trying to get to a cobweb
on the ceiling, and I couldn’t reach it.”

Balfour Manor used to be a girls’ school before its conversion into private
residences in 1972. It is a quirky property, but with immense period charm.
Margaret Stone’s three-bedroom section of the hall, on the market for
£550,000 with Strutt
Parker, also has a palatial dining-room – perfect for the
annual AGM of the Balfour Manor residents’ committee.

For others lucky enough to live in a property of historic importance, the
ghosts of the past are ever present. Carol Bradburn has lived in a mews
house attached to Busbridge Hall in Surrey for the past seven years. She is
now downsizing, but was so fascinated by its long history that she has
written a book about it.

“The original property dates from the 16th century. Charles I came
stag-hunting here. It was moved to higher land in 1906, rebuilt in an
Edwardian style and later became a convalescent home. Those who stayed here
included the actor Terry-Thomas.

“It really is an extraordinary property, which has seen so many changes and
been witness to so much history. One dramatic episode occurred during the
Second World War, when a German bomber crashed in the grounds and the
residents came to the pilot’s rescue.”

One of glories of Bradburn’s four-bedroom mews house, now on the market for
£895,000 with Knight
Frank, is the shared use of 15 acres of communal gardens and a
private tennis court. The residents of the hall, mainly retired, form a
happy micro-community, with a summer party in the grounds and a social
get-together at Christmas.

Carol Bradburn may be a mere Mrs, but thanks to owning such a magnificent
property within a property, she could look the Countess of Grantham in the
face.

GET THE ABBEY HABIT

The South Wing: Three-bedroom wing of Besford Court, a Grade-II listed
Elizabethan manor house in Worcestershire: £750,000 with
Knight Frank

The Garden Wing: Three-bedroom wing of Grade-I listed Callaly Castle, near
Alnwick, one of the finest properties in Northumberland: £250,000 with
Strutt Parker

Two-bedroom apartment in Pickhill Hall, a Grade-II listed 18th-century hall
near Wrexham, north Wales: £215,000 with Savills

Two-bedroom duplex apartment at Temple Grove, a Grade-II listed country house
near Uckfield in East Sussex: £649,950 with
Knight Frank The property enjoys access to 15 acres of communal
parkland, as well as a tennis court and swimming pool.