A grand Victorian rectory that has inspired numerous thriller books has gone on the market for £2.85million.
The Old Rectory was the inspiration for the best-selling ghost story The House on Cold Hill. It also featured as the home of crime-fighting Detective Superintendent Roy Grace.
The four-bedroom house in Woodmancote, West Sussex, is the home of author Peter James, who writes in an office above the garage.
The grand Victorian rectory (pictured) that has inspired numerous thriller books has gone on the market for £2.85million
The four-bedroom house in Woodmancote, West Sussex, is the home of author Peter James, who writes in an office above the garage
Since he and wife Lara moved there in 2011, the house (pictured, the living room) has featured in eight or nine novels and James has written 14 books while living there
The house has 3,492 sq ft of accommodation with a dining room, sitting room, library, kitchen/breakfast room and attached family room, conservatory, four bedrooms and three bathrooms
The property in Woodmancote, West Sussex, is the home of thriller writer Peter James (pictured left and right) and his wife Lara
Since he and wife Lara moved there in 2011, the house itself has featured in eight or nine novels and James has written 14 books while living there.
He has sold more than 20million copies worldwide and his novels have been translated into 37 languages and many have been adapted for film, TV and stage.
The property also has 7.68 acres of land, including paddocks where the Jameses have kept alpacas and emus.
The house has 3,492 sq ft of accommodation with a dining room, sitting room, library, kitchen/breakfast room and attached family room, conservatory, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
There is also a basement which could be a self-contained flat with a bedroom and living room with a kitchenette and shower room, but Mr James has used it as a cinema room and wine cellar.
The traditional conservatory has a bar with stools and the couple have used it as their ‘party room’. The modern family room attached to the kitchen opens up to the garden completely on two sides.
The property also has 7.68 acres of land, including a swimming pool (pictured) paddocks where the Jameses have kept alpacas and emus
The house is extremely private and not overlooked, surrounded by beautiful countryside. Woodmancote is a little hamlet and the village of Henfield is two miles away
It also houses his collection of police memorabilia, built up from his book promotion travels where police officers often give him things like badges, helmets or even entire uniforms. Pictured: The library
The traditional conservatory has a bar with stools and the couple have used it as their ‘party room’. The modern family room attached to the kitchen opens up to the garden completely on two sides
The stunning house also features a gym with a sauna and a pool house, with a swimming pool, tennis court (pictured) and lake outside
It also has a gym with a sauna and a pool house, with a swimming pool, tennis court and lake outside.
When he bought the house, it had lapsed planning permission for a four-car garage with offices above so he worked with an architect to apply for permission again and build the space which became the office where he writes.
It also houses his collection of police memorabilia, built up from his book promotion travels where police officers often give him things like badges, helmets or even entire uniforms.
The house is extremely private and not overlooked, surrounded by beautiful countryside. Woodmancote is a little hamlet and the village of Henfield is two miles away.
Besides the swimming pool out the back of the house sits a modern, stunning pool house and is in an extremely private location
The house is extremely private and not overlooked, surrounded by beautiful countryside (pictured). Woodmancote is a little hamlet and the village of Henfield is two miles away
Mr James said: ‘I’ve always loved period properties, and particularly Victorian rectories which were built with wonderfully high ceilings, and with the church being wealthy back in those days and really looking after its clergy, no expense tended to be spare in their construction.’ Pictured: The kitchen
The crime writer continued: ‘Victorian houses tend to have cellars, which this one does, which has made a perfect room for my wine collection as well as a great home cinema’
When he bought the house, it had lapsed planning permission for a four-car garage with offices above so he worked with an architect to apply for permission again and build the space which became the office where he writes (pictured)
Mr James said: ‘I’ve always loved period properties, and particularly Victorian rectories which were built with wonderfully high ceilings, and with the church being wealthy back in those days and really looking after its clergy, no expense tended to be spare in their construction.
‘Victorian houses tend to have cellars, which this one does, which has made a perfect room for my wine collection as well as a great home cinema.
‘My wife, Lara, and I are big animal lovers and the grounds, with its very pretty lake and 4-acre paddock as well as a smaller paddock, were perfect for our dogs, alpacas, emus, ducks and hens.
‘I’ve used all the homes I’ve lived in in my books, in various guises. I think every house has a feeling and I’ve often walked into houses and thought to myself, for whatever reason, I could not write here.
Mr James said: ‘My wife, Lara, and I are big animal lovers and the grounds, with its very pretty lake and 4-acre paddock as well as a smaller paddock, were perfect for our dogs, alpacas, emus, ducks and hens’
The author continued: ‘I particularly love the mix of old and modern with the house’s architecture, which I’ve been able to borrow from for many of the fourteen novels I’ve written during my time there’
Inside the stunning Old Rectory in Woodmancote, West Sussex, there is a mixture between modern and old, according to Mr James
The best-selling author has used his home since 2011 to inspire many of his popular novels, including The House on Cold Hill
The idyllic property comes with a swimming pool, plenty of land, as well as a beautiful pong that is visible from the house
‘But the very first moment I went into this house I just knew it would be a wonderful place to write. Countless guests have remarked on just how ”friendly” the house feels.
‘I particularly love the mix of old and modern with the house’s architecture, which I’ve been able to borrow from for many of the fourteen novels I’ve written during my time there.
‘It is a wonderful house for entertaining. The house provides real country lifestyle, in what I think is some of the most beautiful parts of England.
‘It is a great and very rare period property and would make a wonderful family home. For animal lovers like ourselves there is endless scope.’
The Old Rectory is on the market with House Partnership.
Mr James said: ‘It is a wonderful house for entertaining. The house provides real country lifestyle, in what I think is some of the most beautiful parts of England’
An old car that has been left to rot bears the sign ‘rust in peace’ as it stands guard on thriller-writer Mr James’s land in West Sussex
The author said: ‘It is a great and very rare period property and would make a wonderful family home. For animal lovers like ourselves there is endless scope’
The house combines old and modern architecture throughout, with this shot of the kitchen showing a restored rayburn
Mr James and his wife Lara have kept emus and llamas on their land at the stunning Old Rectory near the village of Henfield
