Buying agents excel at gaining access to houses of which there’s nary a whisper on the market. In the prime country house market, a lot of transactions happen off market. ‘Most clients come via word of mouth,’ says Guy Meacock, director of Prime Purchase. ‘The wealthy are used to getting advice, based on experience. Shouldn’t that be even more the case when it comes to your home?’ In the mid and upper echelons of the housing market, buying agents are familiar faces, quietly navigating highs and lows on behalf of their clients. In the Cotswolds prime country-house market, for example, 50% of tr ..read more

Our pick of the homes to come to the market via Country Life this week focuses on a handful of absolutely magnificent homes. Combe Court and its 98-acre estate is for sale at £18m in Surrey.Surrey — £5.5 million A house on a huge scale (nine bedrooms, almost 7,000sq ft) yet which has a truly bucolic, relaxed feel to it despite being within the M25, close to the centre of Cobham. The traditional architecture belies the fact that the home is only two years old. For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property. Northamptonshire — £2.5 million The Grade II-listed form ..read more

A vast expanse of parkland is literally on your doorstep at this charming house, with five bedrooms, a study and a wonderful library. The Gate House in Englefield Green has a private gate opening out on to Windsor Great Park. At the northern end of the county of Surrey, on the east Berkshire border, stands Windsor Great Park, a 4,800-acre landscape of forests, grasslands, lakes and gardens. It is part of the Windsor estate and acts as a large rural lung for those living within its proximity. In a relatively built-up part of the world with easy access to the capital, it’s no surprise that many ..read more

At Steeple Chase Farm near Cottenham, plans are afoot to turn a former grandstand into a family home. And now for something completely different. Here, we have the former Cottenham Racecourse near Cottenham in Cambridgeshire. Have you ever wanted to live on a former racecourse? In a former grandstand? Well now you can. Land, lots of it. I remember the first time I went racing. I must have been about 12 years old, and it was at a track near my parents house in Essex. Before then, I had been conscious of horse racing only on television, principally the Kentucky Derby when I was younger, and t ..read more

This property on Mallord Street shares a wall with the home that AA Milne lived in for 21 years and is a fine house indeed. As the old saying goes, if you can’t live in the former house of AA Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, then at the very least you should live next door. Naturally this is easier said than done. An entrance hall as traditional as Winnie the Pooh itself. Or at least it was, until the recent launch onto the market of this house in Mallord Street in Chelsea, London. On the market for £6.45 million with Knight Frank, the property boasts five bedrooms and three reception roo ..read more

Sharrington Hall near Holt manages to pay homage to its past, present and future thanks to a splendid restoration programme by the current owners. There’s a certain skill in marrying the elegance of the traditional English country home with the modern fittings that make life easy, more comfortable and more bearable. Emma Sims-Hilditch is one of the great proponents of this art, which sounds easy in theory, but in reality, is much more difficult to execute. A reception room. Behold the timeless charm. That’s not to say that every Elizabethan home with a flat-screen television and induction h ..read more

Nine-bedroom Plush Manor was once the home of Alfred Brendel and sits in one of Dorset's most desirable locations. For several years, Plush Manor, which occupies an elevated position within Dorset’s Piddle Valley, hosted wedding receptions, many of which were held in a decommissioned church that stands on the edge of the property’s nearly seven acres of gardens and grounds. During its heyday, speeches were sometimes given from the pulpit. The church is no longer associated with the property. An entrance hall in which to make an entrance. Listed Grade II, Plush Manor is a Georgian home with ..read more

Arabella Youens takes a look at the aptly-named Beach Haven, in the heart of one of North Cornwall's most popular spots. If you are are house hunting in Cornwall, there is a general rule of thumb: the further you go down the A30, the further your money will stretch. Our recent look at the dramatic Porthledden, near St Just and Penzance, demonstrates this, with 10 bedrooms and 13,000 sq ft on sale at £5m; contrast this with Constantine Cottage, where the same budget ‘only’ gets you four bedrooms and 2,700 sq ft. You don’t have to be quite that rich to enjoy a house in this gorgeous part of the ..read more

Buckle up for our latest round up — and bring the trousers with the deep pockets. The Buckholt Estate in Hampshire is for sale.Northamptonshire — £1,650,000 A 19th century mill converted into a wonderful seven-bedroom house. There is garaging, stables and a paddock in this home surrounded by countryside. For sale with Michael Graham. See more pictures and details for this property. Buckinghamshire — £2,750,000 A Jacobean-style, Grade II-listed house with painted ceilings, secret passageways and murals. The mix of styles inside is something to behold, but it’s a seven-bedroom house wit ..read more

At Hales Hall near Norwich, you can live a fairytale life in this seven bedroom home that's positively bursting with history. There’s nothing quite like a proper Tudor house. As well as providing large open spaces for living and entertaining, they are steeped in history — what stories can these buildings, with their delicate pink brickwork and ancient timbers tell us? As fine an example as you will see is Hales Hall, a seven-bedroom Grade I-listed Tudor house in nine acres near Loddon in Norfolk, jointly on the market with Savills and Blue Book Agency for £3.9m. Built by Sir James Hobart, Att ..read more