Little Marlow Manor, Church Road, Marlow, SL7

Property Summary

Little Marlow Manor is a handsome and historic Grade II listed manor house set in about 8.75 acres of parkland, formal gardens and a walled garden on Church Road, Little Marlow. The interior records the house’s passage through time: the magnificent oak staircase, dating from the house’s origins, winds to the second floor through five quarter turns; much of the original beam structure survives, with Elizabethan oak panelling in some rooms, and later additions include ornate cornicing, fine fireplaces and large-pane Georgian sash windows with their original shutters. The house offers seven bedrooms and three reception rooms with extensive second-floor accommodation, together with a two-bedroom lodge, garaging for seven cars, an all-weather tennis court and an indoor swimming pool. Refurbishment is under way, with work continuing to install a new bathroom.

Key Features

• Grade II listed Elizabethan manor house
• About 8.75 acres of parkland, formal and walled gardens
• Original oak staircase, beams and Elizabethan panelling intact
• Georgian sash windows with original shutters; ornate cornicing and fireplaces
• Seven bedrooms and three reception rooms
• Extensive second-floor accommodation
• Two-bedroom lodge
• Indoor swimming pool
• Garaging for seven cars
• All-weather tennis court
• Refurbishment currently in progress
• Freehold

Design Comment

Little Marlow Manor is a house being brought back to life rather than a finished product, and that is precisely its appeal. A refurbishment is already in train, which means the difficult early questions — condition of the roof and timbers, the state of the services, what the listed fabric will and will not accept — are at least partly answered. A buyer inherits momentum, and the design task is to give that momentum a clear destination.

The interiors ask for a light touch on the historic core and a confident one everywhere else. The oak staircase, beams and panelling should be conserved and lit rather than decorated around; the later Georgian rooms can carry a richer, more furnished scheme; and the second floor, the lodge and the pool building are where a contemporary family programme — guest suites, a study, a proper wellness space — can be introduced without disturbing the principal rooms. Any works to the pool house and outbuildings will sit within the setting of a listed building and warrant early consultation with the local authority.

Outside, the walled garden, the formal parterres and the parkland already have a strong structure. A landscape strategy that connects house, garden and the wider grounds — sightlines, terraces, planting that softens the twentieth-century additions — would complete the picture.

Development Consultations

To assist potential buyers of this property to understand their full design and development options, Janine Stone & Co. is able to provide complimentary design concept and development consultations. It can be arranged for these consultations to take place at the property or in our London studio. Janine Stone & Co. will provide guidance on architecture, refurbishment and planning considerations, in addition to helping interested parties to develop their early design ideas into floor plans with estimated project costs and timelines for realisation.

Should a successful acquisition take place, we would be happy to take these initial concepts through to a full concept and subsequent planning, design and build phases.