Sporting chances

Buyers inspired by Team GB's success at the Paris Olympics and the magnificent architecture of the competition venues can pursue their own sporting dreams at four charming houses that have recently come to the market

- Penny Churchill

SET against the backdrop of the majestic Surrey Hills, the exquisite Charles Hill Court, which is unlisted, stands in more than 17 acres of sumptuous gardens and grounds between the picturesque villages of Tilford and Elstead, 3½ miles from Farnham and 13½ miles from the commuter hub of Guildford. A triumph of Anglo-French collaboration between the Arts-and-Crafts architect Detmar Blow and his Beaux-Arts trained partner Fernand Billerey, Charles Hill Court was built in 1908 for Elizabeth (Lily) Antrobus of the Coutts banking family, with more than a nod to Marie-Antoinette’s Petit Trianon at Versailles in France.

Commenting on the house in the aftermath of the First World War, a COUNTRY LIFE article (November 26, 1919) describes it as ‘a little woodland retreat, a lady’s bower, designed in classic spirit… [although] not intended as a retreat for an extravagant French Queen of the past, but for a prudent English gentlewoman of the present’.

Nowadays, the court’s strikingly elegant architecture and wonderfully private location clearly appeal to a wider audience, given that it was snapped up by its current owner within a matter of weeks when Knight Frank last sold it in 2014. Since then, the vendor has refurbished the bathrooms, rewired the entire property, installed a new security system, replaced boilers and remodelled the kitchen; the immaculate gardens and grounds have also been upgraded. This time around, James Crawford of Knight Frank (020–7861 1065) quotes a guide price of £10 million.