Building back better

Sizeable estates in the New Forest and Cotswolds rarely seen on the market show the benefit of improvement over centuries

- Penny Churchill

THE concept of ‘building back better’ is nothing new; for centuries, country landowners have been remodelling their homes, estate buildings and even the landscape—as the launch onto the market of three exceptional properties demonstrates.

For sale for the first time since 1993 and only the second time since 1582, the pale-grey stone buildings of historic Rossley Manor appear to grow out of the hillside of the wooded Dowdeswell Valley, four miles from Cheltenham and 14 miles from Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Clive Hopkins of Knight Frank (020–7861 1064) quotes a guide price of £10 million for the picturesque Cotswold estate, comprising a Grade II-listed manor house, a cottage, garage block, stabling, outbuildings and sporting facilities set in 140 acres of pasture and woodland, with magnificent views across the valley to the dramatic Malvern Hills.

In the early 16th century, the Rossley Manor estate was owned by Winchcombe Abbey and leased to Richard Rogers and his family. After the Dissolution, Richard’s son, William, by then the lessee of neighbouring Dowdeswell Manor, acquired Rossley Manor in 1582, after which both estates passed down through various branches of the Rogers family. In the 19th century, Rossley Manor was one of the main farms in Dowdeswell and when, in the early 20th century, Charles CoxwellRogers installed himself in the main farmhouse, he retained 73 acres of land before selling the rest of his estate in the late 1920s.