Newton Hall, in Mobberley, can easily be summarised as a six-bedroom, five-bathroom country house, set in six-and-a-half acres of land, but this would be far too simplistic a way to describe this very beautiful, very comfortable family home in the heart of the Cheshire countryside, yet just moments away from three of the county’s most sought-after locations.
‘When we first looked at the house, I thought, “We’ll have to drive everywhere,”’ says owner Zoe Lomas, who lives in Newton Hall with husband William and their three, now largely absent, children. 'But within 10 minutes we can be in Knutsford, Wilmslow or Alderley Edge, even Manchester Airport. We can walk across the fields to get to Mobberley’s three iconic pubs – The Roebuck, The Bull and The Church Inn – and we get to live in a glorious home surrounded by the peace and quiet of the countryside, so it was really a no-brainer.’
Zoe and WIlliam bought Newton Hall 11 years ago and set about creating their own perfect family home. The house dates back, predominantly, to the 17th century, when between 1634 and 1676 Mr Francis Newton built his own home on the front of a smaller building, possibly dating back to the 16th century. It comes with its own blue plaque, celebrating the life of George Mallory, born at Newton Hall in 1886, and lost on Everest in 1924. Over the centuries, successive residents have added a little here and a little there, until the property we see today came into being. Zoe and William have, like previous homeowners, done their bit to make their home perfect for their needs.
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‘When we bought the property, there was a separate coach house adjacent, which we linked to the main house by building a new kitchen over what was a courtyard space,’ Zoe explains. ‘This allowed us to create a large laundry, boot room and separate pantry in the space where the previous ground floor of the coach house stood and add an en suite to the master bedroom.
‘Upstairs, we created en suites for each of the four bedrooms and then on the second floor we have created a beautiful guest suite, with two bedrooms (one of which could easily be a sitting room, of course), a dressing room and an en suite.’
This space would also be perfect for a young adult returning from university into their first job, a nanny or a housekeeper.
As well as these small reconfigurations, Zoe and William have refurbished the interior with a definite eye for timeless, elegant design.
‘The kitchen we had made bespoke by Hetherington Newman in Knutsford,’ she says, ‘We wanted a classic, timeless style given a contemporary uplift with the choice of colour for the cabinets. Because it’s a link room, we put in the glass roof, which fills it with light. There is an internal window we had to leave in place, as this was the original external window from the older property. It now looks into the cloakroom.
‘The ground floor is set in a loop, so the kitchen leads to the breakfast room, which sits off the orangery, which is a spectacular room with high ceilings, a log burner and crittal windows and doors leading outside. From here you can enter the study, which leads to the bar, which opens into the hallway. Off the hallway is the library, from where you can enter the dining room, which is the only completely distinct space, or back to the kitchen. I love the flow, and it’s great for parties.’
The bar was put in following the ending of the Covid restrictions and is a marvellous social space.
‘We wanted somewhere to sit with friends and enjoy good times,’ Zoe says. ‘It had been a grown-ups only living room, but we never used it. Now it’s used all the time. There’s a huge fireplace in there, in which we placed a woodburning stove as that’s a more controllable heat source than an open fire. On the other side, in the hallway, we have another huge fireplace in which we keep an open fire going all winter. This area really comes into its own at Christmas and is a wonderful place to gather friends and family.’
On the first floor, the centuries-old bones of the house can be seen, quite literally, in the ancient beams in bedrooms and bathrooms, where gleaming copper baths sit alongside marble walk-through showers below iron-hard dark oak.
Outside, the six-and-a-half acres consists of beautiful gardens, a recently completely refurbished heated swimming pool, tennis courts and stabling for two horses, along with tack and feed rooms and an outdoor manège. The remainder of the land provides space for walking the dogs and safe exercising of ponies, should hacking the lanes feel too much.
‘We have certainly taken full advantage of the land,’ Zoe agrees. ‘My daughter really benefited from having the space to take her pony into, when very young.
‘We have also built a triple garage, which in winter we can take the cars out of and there’s a basketball hoop and a table tennis table, and space to just move about in however bad the weather gets. It’s also been great for kids' parties. At the same time we built a link from the garage to the house, where we have added a gym, with it all accessible from the kitchen through a glazed walkway.’
Zoe and William have taken time to come to their decision to sell, as they love where they live and all it offers, but with the children all some distance away, time spent travelling to visit could more easily be time spent visiting.
‘The children are all about four hours away,’ Zoe says, ‘and the house just feels very big and empty without them. I love it here, and it’s definitely a decision of head over heart, but it makes sense to be closer to them.
‘I shall miss this house so much, though. It's been a wonderful place to raise our children and it’s honestly like a sanctuary here; I love coming home to the space and the quiet.
‘It needs to be filled with a family again, though, and I know whoever is here next will love it and get as much from it as we all have.’
Newton Hall is for sale for £6.95m, from Jackson-Stops Alderley Edge
jackson-stops.co.uk
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