Living the Whincop Cheam: An interior-designed mansion with all the furniture thrown in

In the town you grew up in, was there a road that everyone aspired to live on? It may have had the biggest houses or backed on to a luscious stretch of parkland, or it may simply have been where your MP lived, along with that guy who owned the local department store. In the suburban town of Cheam in Surrey, that road is simply named The Drive, and Whincop, a modern mansion that nods to the finest architecture of the 19th century, has just gone on sale there.

 

 

“If you were brought up in the area, had some success and want to prove your point, then The Drive is where you go,” says Martin Burrows, who is handling the sale for agent Hamptons International. The size of the house, which encompasses 7,600sqft over three floors, isn’t the only remarkable factor. Bought by a developer called Matthew Harding just over three years ago, he built it “without his commercial head on” to live in himself. He then sold it to a businesswoman who’s now moving overseas, so it’s barely lived in, designed from top-to-bottom by interiors firm Alexander James and is on sale with furniture included.

 

 

“In terms of quality and attention to detail, this one really stands out,” says Burrows,“I’ve been in the business for nearly 30 years and out of all the houses I’ve seen, it’s certainly up there with my favourites.”

 

 

Designed in a Regency style, the six-bedroom house is bedecked in fine materials like French limestone, English oak, Italian marble and Portland Stone. Modern additions include a dining room with two walk-in wine stores, a gym, orangery, solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system.

 

 

Convenient for City workers commuting into Victoria, it also backs onto the 17th hole of Banstead golf course. And it hasn’t just got local tongues wagging – it’s also gaining interest from international businessmen looking to boost their boasting rights by educating their children at one of the private schools nearby.