It is the latest Sunday night period drama to grip the nation. E. M. Forster’s Howards End – starring Hayley Atwell, Matthew Macfadyen, Tracey Ullman and Julia Ormond – started its four-episode run on BBC1 last week and continues tonight.
Time will tell whether it will rival what has come to be seen as the definitive screen version of the Edwardian novel about class divisions – the film from a quarter of a century ago that earned nine Oscar nominations, winning three, including Best Actress for Emma Thompson.
That movie starred Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave and Prunella Scales.
The role of Howards End – the country house at the centre of the story – was taken by the South Oxfordshire property Peppard Cottage, which has now come on the market for £3.95 million
But the role of Howards End itself – the country house at the centre of the story – was taken by the South Oxfordshire property Peppard Cottage, which has now come on the market for £3.95 million.
Numerous scenes involving the main actors in the 1992 film were shot at the nine-bedroom house, with Peppard Cottage’s interiors, exteriors and gardens heavily used.
The opening sequence shows Vanessa Redgrave’s Ruth Wilcox strolling through the garden towards the front of the house and peering through the lounge window, where her husband Henry (Anthony Hopkins) is playing cards with guests.
Further sequences show the couple discovering pig’s teeth embedded in the bark of a large chestnut tree in the garden.
The house is also the scene of the movie’s climax. Samuel West’s Leonard Best enters the building and is surprised to find Helena Bonham Carter’s Helen Schlegel heavily pregnant with his child.
Helen’s brother Charles (James Wilby) is outraged by Leonard getting his sister pregnant and attacks him by hitting him several times with a large sword that was hanging above the fireplace.
The ensuing argument causes a bookcase to fall on Leonard, killing him.
The next scene shows police outside the house and Leonard’s body being wheeled away on a cart. Charles is jailed for manslaughter.
The movie(pictured) starred Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Helena Bonham Carter, James Wilby, Samuel West, Jemma Redgrave and Prunella Scales
It’s appropriate that Peppard Cottage is shown as a crime scene, as it has also been used as a location in episodes of the detective dramas Poirot and Inspector Morse.
But crime would be the last thing on your mind if you were to visit the house in its idyllic country location.
It is surrounded by private gardens and grounds that encompass a heated swimming pool and orchard.
The property stands in the village of Rotherfield Peppard, near Henley-on-Thames, but Forster based his description of Howards End on a house called Rooksnest near Stevenage in Hertfordshire, his childhood home from 1883 to 1893.
The house had, as in the novel, previously been owned by a family named Howard, and the house itself had been called Howards in their day.
Peppard Cottage has exposed oak beams, carved wall panelling, tiled fireplaces and flagstone floors.
There’s an entrance hall, sitting room/study, dining room, drawing room, utility room and linen store.
The country-style kitchen/breakfast room has an oil-fired Aga with a large pantry, larder and cellar.
The first floor has eight bedrooms, including a master bedroom suite with roll-top bath and a guest suite with sitting room and marble washbasin.
There are three family bathrooms, a separate cloakroom and a linen store.
The property is approached over a gravelled drive with cottage gardens providing year-round colour.
Pathways lead to different seating and grassed areas, making the most of the sun throughout the day.
A large grassed area (formerly three tennis courts) offers building potential, subject to planning approval.
The outbuildings include garaging, store rooms, stables, tack room, hay loft, gardener’s store, and potting and log stores, all set in more than two acres.
The owners of Peppard Cottage, chartered accountants who prefer not to be named, have lived there for 23 years. They have four grown-up children who have flown the nest.
‘We are looking to downsize, although we’re keen to stay in the area,’ they say. ‘It’s a wonderful family house with excellent schools and country walks.’
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