The War Plane in the Garden Is the Highlight of a Newly Listed English Manor
An Arts and Crafts manor house in southeast England with a decommissioned Harrier II jet in the garden has hit the market for £3.95 million (US$5 million).
The airplane, which is available by separate negotiation, is one of only a handful of its kind left in the world and has been positioned on the property’s grounds as an ornamental feature for the past eight years, according to Savills, which brought the home to the market earlier this month.
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Known as Durford Edge, the six-bedroom home is on Hampshire’s Durford Wood Estate, a community about 55 miles southwest of London comprising a number of large country houses surrounded by woodland.
It was built in 1923 and has “undergone [a] complete restoration, with the combination of the original features alongside modern conveniences creating a wonderful family home,” said Ed Tighe of Savills Guildford.
An entrance hall leads into the home and on to its main living rooms. They include a dining room, which has a beamed ceiling and a stone fireplace; a drawing room with a fireplace, a large bay window and French doors that lead to a terrace; a sitting room; and a study with a view over the garden.
Savills
A solid oak staircase leads upstairs to the bedrooms, including the primary bedroom suite.
The property last changed hands in 2013 for £1.29 million, property records show. The sellers couldn’t be reached for comment.
Outside, the 10-acre grounds include extensive gardens that were designed by the horticulturist Gertrude Jekyll—a design icon of the Arts and Crafts movement. There are also lawns encompassing a vast pond, alongside which sits the Hollow, a standalone property with a large open-plan kitchen, a reception room, a dining area, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
“The spectacular Gertrude Jeykll-designed gardens are an incredible feature,” Tighe said. “As is the intriguing addition of a rare Harrier jet.”
This jet is one of only eight RAF British Harriers thought to be in existence in the U.K.—most were sold to the U.S. and have since been dismantled or destroyed—and it comes complete with its Rolls Royce Pegasus 105 turbo fan engine, drop tanks and an inert side-winder missile used for training, according to Savills.
