Look Inside This £75 Million Mansion Featured in the James Bond Films
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1 year ago
You won't find an estate more extravagant than this
You can spot it on the silver screen and it’s been visited by celebrities and even royalty. Could this £75 million estate in Buckinghamshire be the most luxurious property on the UK market? A mansion good enough for James Bond is certainly good enough for us.
Look Inside This £75 Million Mansion Featured in the James Bond Films
Venture just 30 minutes outside of London and you’ll find Denham Place, an astonishing Grade I-listed stately home. Spanning nearly 29,000 square feet of space and boasting 12 bedrooms, 12 reception rooms and 14 bathrooms, the property is certainly hard to miss – although you might get lost in the 43 acres of immaculate land surrounding it.
The history of the estate is lengthy and illustrious, and it even includes a rather fabulous movie cameo: eagle-eyed 007 fans might recognise the library, which was used as M’s office in Bond films including Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun. (Harry Saltzman, co-producer of the film series, began leasing the estate in 1960. He often reviewed Bond scripts here and entertained a dazzling array of celebrity guests including Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Gregory Peck.)
The story starts in c.1541, when the first Tudor mansion was built on the land by Sir Edmund Peckham, High Treasurer to King Henry VIII. It was subsequently owned by Sir Roger Hill – a prominent courtier and MP – who, in 1670, commissioned the construction of the home we see today. It was inhabited by members of the Bonaparte family between 1834 and 1844, while American financier JP Morgan used it as his country home from 1853 to 1913.
The property has been painstakingly refurbished after serving briefly as business headquarters, and it is now one of the most spectacular homes in the UK. Among its many highlights is a drawing room with a hand-painted ceiling fresco, custom crystal chandeliers and a handwoven carpet inspired by those found in Buckingham Palace. You’ll also find a music room, a dining room with an Italian marble fireplace, and a billiards room with panelling brought in from Hampton Court Palace in the 1700s. Take a peek at the staggering sash windows and ornate plasterwork throughout, and don’t forget to look up: ceilings in many of the rooms are over 16 feet high.
Upstairs, each bedroom is complete with its own dressing room and bathroom, while the principal suite encompasses a whole host of spaces including a study, dressing room, separate walk-in wardrobe and a bathroom. You can wander into even more bedrooms on the second floor, as well as a penthouse suite which features a kitchen and living room. Throw a party here and you won’t have to cut down the guest list.
The lower ground floor provides an informal breakfast room and a catering kitchen alongside a banqueting hall with space for up to 60 diners (although this is currently in use as a rather magnificent cinema room.) There is also a wine cellar, gym, cocktail bar and even an archive room housing the estate’s records.
If all of this isn’t quite enough, you can stroll through the gardens to a Grade II-listed coach house, further cottages and other outbuildings including numerous garages. There is even planning consent to turn the coach house into a state-of-the-art spa comprising a gym, sauna, steam room and a number of treatment rooms alongside a 15 metre-long outdoor swimming pool.
With jaw-dropping interiors, acres of space and such an incredible backstory, this estate really does have it all. (It’s just a shame about the price tag.)
Available through Knight Frank, Savills and Beauchamp Estates.
Featured image credit: Mel Yates Photography