How to live the dream

Whatever your passion—be it gardening, fishing, sailing, shooting or equestrian sport— you can live the countryside dream in one of these idyllic Hampshire houses

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FOR sale at a guide price of $10 million through Ed Cunningham of Knight Frank (07884 343735) and Phillippa Dalby-Welsh of Savills (07870 999117), the secluded, Grade II-listed Old Rectory at Tunworth, five miles from Basingstoke, sits in 27 Arcadian acres near this ancient downland hamlet, surrounded by the farms and woodland of the Herriard estate. Its private location ensures that the elegant former rectory can neither see nor hear commuter traffic heading for busy Basingstoke station, nor the nearby M3 motorway, which provides quick and efficient access to London, Heathrow and Gatwick.

The former rectory, the oldest part of which dates from the Middle Ages, was substantially altered in the early 18th century and again in Victorian times, before being sold by the Church in 1917. The new owner was a prominent Yorkshire landowner who brought with him four fine Adam fireplaces to be installed in the main reception rooms. In 1952, he sold the Old Rectory to Col the Hon Julian Berry, youngest son of William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, owner of The Daily Telegraph and nearby Hackwood Park.

The medieval core of the main house, which offers 10,300sq ft of accommodation on three floors, includes the former dining room and sitting room, now part of the kitchen/ diner; the rest is mainly Queen Anne and comprises the drawing room, study, family room, various utilities, a wine store, cellar, seven bedrooms and five bathrooms. Following her husband's death in 1988, Mrs Berry added the porch and the orangery, which looks out across the rear gardens to the Herriard estate. Further accommodation is now available in the two-bedroom Garden Cottage and the converted one-bedroom Little Barn.