A CONTROVERSIAL new stately home is set to be built on a 160-acre site on the border between Shropshire and Cheshire. Phynson Hayes will have a 1,100-yard drive and a lake and is designed to solve a pressing problem: there are simply not enough handsome homes in an area of high demand from new money. Large country houses in Cheshire set in fine grounds sell for almost as much as their equivalents in the Home Counties; earlier this month Bricks and Mortar featured Poole Hall, near Crewe, for sale for £4.5 million.

The controversy centres on the size and style of the new mansion. When Rupert Higgins, a successful businessman, and his wife, Gilly, sought planning consent to build a house on the site of a demolished farmhouse, the authorities suggested that a bigger property might suit the site more than the relatively modest pile that the couple were planning.

The couple have now put the land up for sale with planning consent because the huge mansion – 8,500 sq ft in all – that the planners think appropriate is beyond their means. The sale – for £3 million – includes the stables from which the Higgins family run their livery business. There are illustrations suggesting how the property might look – a Regency villa in which it would be possible to throw lots of wonderful parties – but it is an open question whether the house will take the form approved. Will the buyer choose to follow the architect’s plan for a double-height top-lit entrance hall overlooked by a balcony (the venue for those parties) or will he employ another architect to come up with another design in another style?

In my opinion an informal farmhouse, built of traditional materials but modern in design, with wings of different heights, would be more appropriate and more in keeping with the setting; the estate’s unusual name is said to date back 1,000 years to when Hayes was a deer enclosure and Phynson the deerkeeper.

Anyone thinking of taking on the challenge will need to find at least another £750,000 to £800,000 to build the house; Graham Moss, the architect employed by the couple, estimates that the bill for fitting out could be as high as £1.5 million if you want all the luxuries such as impressive fireplace, good joinery, cornices and the rest. Money would also need to be spent on landscaping to ensure that the mansion fits in with the landscape, which at present is a rather bald expanse of grass. Moreover, sophisticated planting is vital to screen off the converted brick coach-house with swimming pool in front. Although this is pleasant enough in itself, it looks out of place beside a house designed with pretensions to grandeur.

There are sufficient millionaires in Cheshire to undertake the task, but they face those who fear that the eventual house will be more footballer-style mansion than elegant stately home.

For more articles by Marcus Binney, go to: timesonline.co.uk/marcusbinney

FACTFILE

WHAT YOU GET:

Planning consent for a 5-bedroom house (8,500 sq ft); lake and 160 acres; stable yard and converted coach-house.

WHERE IT IS: Woore, Shropshire, seven miles from Crewe, Cheshire.

PRICE: £3 million via Savills, 01952 239500.

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