Former Bargain Hunt presenter Tim Wonnacott puts Horsham home up for sale

H.J. Burt are instructed as joint sole agents with Strutt & Parker in the sale of Whitefoots which occupies a super rural location on the old West Grinstead Park Estate, south of Horsham.

Tim and his wife Helen bought the 10 acre Whitefoots after falling in love with another property which they had rented nearby through HJ Burt.

“This was my second bite of the cherry after we rented another property on the old estate – a lovely, unspoilt stretch of countryside – where we had been blissfully happy. It was private; the children could play safely: it had everything we wanted. I tried to buy the rented property, but to no avail, and, when Whitefoots - on the edge of the same estate - became available seven years ago, we simply had to have it!”

Whitefoots has been the perfect base for the former West Country auctioneer and ex. head of Sotheby’s South which was based at Summers Place, Billingshurst. It has combined peace and tranquillity with the on-spot great country walks and riding, but also, Tim continues: “Gatwick is key for me with a lot of filming in Ireland, Scotland and as far away as Australia, so having the airport within half an hour is a real blessing.”

During Tim and Helen’s time at Whitefoots they have transformed the initially rather sad old 17th Century cottage into a glorious family home combining and enhancing the great character of the original building with large oak framed new additions and all including underfloor heating throughout, lowered floors for increased head height and all new services, fittings, double glazing and insulation to create a vastly more energy efficient home (EPC Band C).

Tim said: “I’m keen on history and romantically attached to old buildings. I love this mix of the old and the new – the way the centuries-old building wraps itself around the new parts so harmoniously”.

The superbly appointed four bedroom and three bathroom Whitefoots includes a wonderful family kitchen/dining room opening up to a magnificent drawing room with vaulted oak framed roof and minstrel’s gallery over and with two further large reception areas and wonderful outlook from each room across the property’s beautifully landscaped gardens and grounds and thence to neighbouring farm and woodland. A short distance from the main house is ‘Blackfoots’, a fine oak framed building offering first class secondary living space spread over two floors and creating extremely attractive ancillary space for the Wonnacotts’ three adult children and their extended family.

Greyfoots extends to some 4,000sqft and is a newly built and adaptable multi-purpose outbuilding potentially offering office, workshop/garaging space and storage (subject to any consents) and potentially suited to a buyer with a similar passion for collecting antiquities, or for working from home. The electric gated entrance drive passes a further detached outbuilding of traditional elevations and potentially useful as a stable/store and leading into the well maintained pasture fields adjoining the formal grounds. The property in total extends to in excess of 10 acres, but is surrounded by many thousands of acres of neighbouring farm and woodland.

Tim is due to be spending more time filming in Australia and hence he and Helen are looking to downsize from their labour of love at Whitefoots to a pied-a-terre in the Sussex area and, if at all possible, ideally find somewhere as glorious as the current estate location.

This magnificent property is on the market for a guide price of £2,750,000.

Colour brochures are available from the joint sole selling agents’ Steyning office: 01903 879488 or www.hjburt.co.uk.