Cotswolds estate for sale at £26m after aristocrat’s death

Built in 1826 for Sir Charles Cockerell of neighbouring Sezincote and designed by architect CR Cockerell, Hinchwick Manor stands in a secluded position and was extended in 1937.

The Cotswolds stone manor has entered the open market following the passing of Stephen Asquith in May 2024.

A great-grandson of Liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith, he had inherited the historic North Cotswolds farm in the 1980s.

The main house is arranged over three floors plus a cellar, with a series of impressive reception spaces, including a central flagstone hall, drawing room and dining room, balanced by more informal family and service rooms in the later wing.

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The sprawling Cotswolds estate. (Image: Savills)

Consent was granted in 2008 for a reconfiguration of the family rooms to form a larger kitchen and breakfast room, giving buyers scope to create a substantial modern heart to the historic house.

Bedrooms are spread across the top two floors, with a principal suite, bedroom, dressing room and ensuite bathroom, and two further ensuite bedrooms and a family sitting room on the first floor.

The second floor offers a more relaxed feel, with seven attic-style bedrooms and two bathrooms providing flexible guest, children’s or staff accommodation.

One of the estate’s most striking features is the octagonal courtyard of buildings to the east of the manor, entered through a central arch and dovecote, which forms the main approach to the house.

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The main entrance. (Image: Savills)

Either side, long Cotswold-stone ranges include the converted Scarlet Sub Edge barn to the south and a former threshing barn to the north, now renovated as a dramatic full-height entertaining space.

The remaining ranges provide single-storey workshops and stores, with potential, subject to consents, for sensitive conversion into further ancillary accommodation under an outline design scheme already drawn up.

Scarlet Sub Edge itself is a beautifully finished barn conversion attached to the manor’s southern wing, with an entrance hall, large open-plan kitchen and dining space, en-suite bedroom, laundry and WC on the ground floor.

Upstairs, four bedrooms over two storeys, two with ensuites, plus a family bathroom, make it ideal as a guest, multigenerational or staff space, or potentially as a showpiece party and dining barn directly linked to the main house.

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The living room. (Image: Savills)

Outside, Scarlet Sub Edge sits behind a generous, well-kept front garden with gravelled parking.

Formal gardens and grounds are a key part of Hinchwick’s appeal, with a flagstone terrace flowing from the breakfast room onto stepped lawns to the west and rear of the house.

To the east, within the shelter of the courtyard walls, lies an enclosed garden of lawns, gravel paths and terraced beds divided by mature hedging, creating a series of intimate outdoor rooms.

The surrounding land secures the manor’s immediate setting and views, and could be shaped as parkland, equestrian ground or landscaped gardens while retaining its agricultural value.

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The octagonal courtyard. (Image: Savills)

Beyond the core house and courtyard, the estate includes four character cottages, providing useful staff or guest accommodation and potential rental income.

Alders Yard, a substantial farmstead at the centre of the holding, underpins the estate’s working credentials with grain drying and storage for around 3,000 tonnes, four 50-tonne wet bins, a grain dryer, modern livestock buildings, a Dutch barn and silage clamps, plus a detached bungalow.

In total, the land forms a coherent block of North Cotswolds farmland with about 611 acres of arable, 72 acres of pasture and grazing, and roughly 136 acres of woodland.

Its rolling grounds, natural valleys and established woods offer strong potential for a reinstated private shoot, with scope for driven pheasant and partridge days, rough shooting and deer stalking.