We’re Ardently In Love With This Manor House From Colin Firth’s 1995 Pride & Prejudice – Now For Sale

Pride & Prejudice (1995). However much we adore Matthew Macfadyen’s mumbling, sad dog-eyed Darcy from the 2005 film, and however excited we are for Jack Lowden in the Dolly Alderton Netflix show, nothing will ever beat Colin Firth’s turn as the brooding, wet-shirted hero. The best Jane Austen adaptation of all time, perhaps the best period drama ever made, few on-screen adaptations have ever been so referenced or so beloved. While Chatsworth (AKA Pemberley from the Keira Knightley film) is the most famous estate in the Austen-verse, we’d happily settle for Edgcote Estate: the home that played Bingley’s Netherfield Park in the series, now on the market for £45 million. 

Edgcote Estate Is For Sale

‘It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first time seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.’ Was it the house or was it the man? You can’t really blame Lizzie if it was the former. Who could say no to a gentleman with a gorgeous manor house and £10,000 a year, however moody he is? While neither of the Pemberleys (Chatsworth nor the National Trust-run Lyme Park) look like they’ll come to the market anytime soon, Edgcote Estate (or rather Charles Bingley’s Netherfield Park) is an equally attractive prospect for any single men in possession of a great fortune. 

The future home of Bingley’s future-wife Jane Bennett, it is here that she collapses into a cold after a strategic ride through the rain (a plan perfectly concocted by her marriage-minded mother) and where Darcy is struck to find himself entranced by Lizzie’s muddy skirts and ‘fine eyes’. It is also where Lizzie and (her nemesis) Caroline Bingley take their very Regency-esque ‘turn around the room’ and where Darcy not-so subtly admires Lizzie’s ‘extensive reading’ amongst his list of desirable traits in women. 

What Makes A Home Jane Austen Worthy?

At 1,074 acres, it’s no wonder Mrs Bennett was so desperate for Jane to marry into the Bingley line. At the centre of the estate sits the Grade I listed Edgcote House – beyond, Capability Brown gardens, parkland, woodland, 31 properties, equestrian facilities, plus 1,149-acres of commercial farmland in a second lot. We must note that there is a lake. Though not the same lake where Colin Firth took his iconic dunk in the BBC series (that was in Lyme Park), surely the scene demands recreating here as well. 

One of the finest country houses in all of Northamptonshire, Edgcote House is a masterclass in Georgian architecture, pompously constrained by a strict sense of symmetry, balance and proportion. Unlike many of its period counterparts, for a home constructed between 1748–1754, the stonework has experienced little weathering – a testament to the high quality of its construction. 

Extending to nearly 26,000 sqft, the home is arranged over four principal floors, with all the grand entrance halls, reception rooms, gun rooms, wine cellars, servant quarters and historic details required of a period-drama worthy home. From hand-decorated wallpaper and wood panelling, to decorative wall mouldings and ornate cornicing, this is a portal back in time to Jane Austen’s world. 

The History Of Edgcote Estate

Edgocote Estate started life nearly 1,000 years ago – granted to Geoffrey of Mowbray after the Norman conquest. Passing to Isabel de Bruce (grandmother to Scottish king Robert de Bruce) and then back to the English crown in the 14th century, it earnt its place in the history books with the Battle of Edgcote in 1469 – one of the most decisive conflicts in the War of the Roses. 

Its most famous residents? Sir Thomas Cromwell and, later, Anne of Cleeves, the latter receiving the estate as part of her divorce settlement from Henry VIII. Then held by the Chauncy family for 270 years, it was them who carried out the major 18th-century rebuild we see today. More recently, Raymond Courage acquired the estate in 1926, transforming Edgcote into an important horse-racing establishment, while its most recent owner, David Allen, had continued to carefully conserve the property and revitalise the land, buildings and communities. 

On the market for £45m. Find out more at search.savills.com