An English country house that sold for a £1 and a Scottish mansion with an asking price of just £1
Downton Abbey addicts take note: For the same price as a double cheeseburger on McDonald’s saver menu you could live like the Earl and Countess Grantham if you bought a Georgian mansion in Chirnside in Berwickshire in Scotland.
Offers in excess of £1 are sought for the B-listed Old Whitehall House, derelict since 2007, by Edwin Thompson estate agents. The property – complete with an ornate music room decorated in Italian plasterwork and 7 bedrooms – comes with a caveat however: You’ll need to be able to prove you can afford and will carry out a £1.2 million refurbishment of it in order to ensure it is removed from the Buildings at Risk Register.
Another mansion that was sold for £1 is the Grade I listed Barlaston Hall in Staffordshire. Saved from near collapse by former Country Life editor Marcus Binney in 1981 and set in 4.5 acres of land, this vast 16,309 square foot Palladian mansion complete with a Chinese Chippendale staircase was made structurally safe and sold on for £300,000 in 1992. The purchasers, James and Carol Hall, completed the renovation and are now selling the Sir Robert Taylor designed residence for £2.3 million through Knight Frank.
Given the success story of the restoration of Barlaston Hall, there’s undoubtedly hope for Old Whitehall House. Take the risk and you’ll ultimately be potentially in for a vast profit.
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