JUST as the country-house market seemed to be coming off the boil, three small manor houses, each set in gardens of distinction in a prime South of England location, have suddenly burst onto the scene.
Paul Finnegan of Savills (07967 555513) is handling the sale of historic, Grade I-listed Rymans in the parish of Appledram, West Sussex, a picturesque coastal area three miles south-west of Chichester, bounded to the west by the main channel of Chichester Harbour, to the north by the River Lavant and to the south by a stream that runs into the harbour below Birdham Mill.
He quotes a guide price of £4.5 million for Rymans, described by Pevsner as ‘a delightful small 15th-century manor house’, which takes its name from William Ryman, a prominent merchant and lawyer who was knighted in 1420 and appointed Sheriff of Sussex in 1434. He built the house of stone from the Bembridge and Ventnor quarries in about 1410. This oldest part of the T-shaped house, which remains largely unaltered, comprises a three-storey stone tower with trefoil windows and a south wing of two storeys under a tiled roof.
In 1654, the Ryman family sold the house to the Smith family of Binderton, who, in 1656, renamed it Appledram Place. The Smiths lived there until 1730 when it passed by marriage to the Bartellot family who owned it until 1913.
This story is from the July 28, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the July 28, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Love and logic
Two lovers who endured adversity and separation in life would become united in Paris after death, discovers Eileen Reid
Don't mock them
Plant a philadelphus, or mock orange, now for improbably lovely scent and cascades of sparkling blossom this summer, says John Hoyland
Home is where the art is
No trouble is too much for the Marquess of Cholmondeley to display to best effect Sir Antony Gormley's sculptures against the magnificent backdrop of Houghton Hall, even if it means cutting a hole in the floor, as Charlotte Mullins discovers
Bold and beautiful
The gardens at Broughton Grange, Oxfordshire The home of Sir Stephen and Lady Hester An arboretum, woodland garden, stumpery and heather garden all planted for artistic effect are among the many features that mark out this exciting garden, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Land of liquid gold
Greek cuisine-from delicious mezes to shellfish-might be 'tightly bound to the sparse soil and the blue sea', but it is sorely underrated, laments Tom Parker Bowles
An old way of life in rural France
Arcadian tranquillity, a wealth of cultural richness and a slow pace of life enchant John Lewis-Stempel as he reflects on his existence in France profonde
Deep in Hardy country
Hardy's beguilingly pretty Wessex is the setting for three houses with links to people and places that fuelled the writer's imagination
The benefit of foresight
The ability to anticipate the future is the secret of a successful building project
Nature's rarest gems
G. Collins & Sons specialises in the sourcing and setting of the finest natural fancy coloured diamonds the world has to offer
A prickly subject
Resembling a jumbo jacket potato on surprisingly long, scurrying legs, the hedgehog is Britain’s favourite mammal. Marianne Taylor takes a closer look beneath its spines