Spring Lane, Maidenhead, Berkshire

Having been owned by the current family for the past 50 years, The Mount now represents an exciting opportunity to own a grand period house, with a rich literary and artistic history, providing the potential to fully renovate and improve. With the most original parts of the house believed to date back to the 16th century, the house was significantly extended with a vast, late 19th century addition, creating a far more imposing and grand country house with notable “Tudor revival” architectural flourishes and a bell tower. It currently offers a vast nearly 7,500 square feet of living space across three floors.

As well as representing one the most striking period houses in the area, it’s a property steeped in fascinating history. Firstly, as the childhood home of the author Kenneth Graham, whom it is said as well as spending a great deal of time in the loft of the house, took a great deal of inspiration from the nearby River Thames and particularly Quarry Wood when he wrote the literary classic, Wind in the Willows. Secondly, the acclaimed early 20th century painter, Sir Stanley Spencer, whom already has a deep connection with nearby Cookham, painted several of his works at the house. Amazingly the partially remaining Victorian floor tiles in the current greenhouse appear to be those in his work “Greenhouse Interior.”

Whilst the house would benefit from a full programme of renovation to modernise, the rich tapestry of historic character and period features runs throughout. No more so than in the grand and ornate 600 sq ft, wooden panelled drawing room with bay window overlooking the gardens. Moving into the more historic part of the downstairs, there’s a bright formal dining room with a feature fireplace and original wooden flooring. Further along exists a more informal and very cosy sitting room which currently makes for a lovely television / family room with a large open fire. In addition to the current kitchen, there are a number of spacious rooms at the rear of the house which would traditionally have been the servant’s wing of the house required for the everyday practicalities of operating a house such as this. This now present an ideal opportunity to carefully re-configure to utilise for better modern day living, with a boot room, laundry, utility, larder, wine store, study, games room, all immediately obvious choices.
There is also a small cellar.

On the first floor, there are an impressive eight bedrooms currently, served by three bathrooms with the grander bedrooms benefiting from impressive views onto the beautiful gardens and over the mature tree tops out east, taking in the surrounding countryside. With two staircases and a great deal of available space, there is plenty of opportunity to reorganise the bedroom and bathroom ratios and adjust the bedroom sizes. A back staircase then leads up to the not insignificant 2nd floor which in all likelihood would have been the servant’s accommodation at the top of the house with a further four bedrooms, one bathroom, a study / living room area and a kitchen. From this floor the views out east only improve further.

We understand that the attractive formal gardens which exist today were the result of a re-design in the late 1800s, possibly at a similar time to when the house was extended. A large lawn is flanked to one side by an Italian sunken garden boarded by stunning, shaped yew hedging that encloses a mature Wisteria with a gravel path leading down to an ornamental pond. Some notable specimen trees exist, in particular, two striking, very tall Cedars. A pathway has been created to allow you to easily walk the entirety of the grounds taking in many well planted flowerbeds, vast Rhododendron and Azalea bushes and through wooded areas, all adding to magical and adventurous feel of The Mount; not to mention its complete privacy. There is an outdoor, heated swimming pool, historic greenhouse, a triple garage and store and some now dilapidated outbuildings which could be reinstated subject to planning permission and consents. The house is approached via a long, gravel drive flanked by woods, leading up to a spacious parking area to one side of the house. The entire plot measures 3.5 acres.

Spring Lane, Cookham Dean, is a semi-rural location, nestled conveniently on the fringes of the sought-after towns and villages of Marlow, Cookham and Maidenhead and close to the River Thames. Nearby Cookham has a pharmacy, some independent retailers, popular pubs and restaurants as well as a station that connects via Maidenhead for London bound services and the new Elizabeth Line. A larger selection of shops and facilities can be found in Marlow and Maidenhead. In addition to a number of local schools nearby, including the high-performing, Sir William Borlase Grammar School in Marlow, other independent settings include Saint Piran’s, Claires Court and Herries. Junction 8 of the M4 is accessible by car using the A404 bypass in roughly 15 minutes.