Uncle George Remembers X

“We were living at that time near Old Windsor in a house which we had bought just after the war. It was my dream house. At the very first sight of it from afar I knew it was everything I wanted, everything I had hoped for. Consumed by dry-rot, rising damp everywhere, doors off their hinges, windows with no glass, derelict, a ruin, “Pull it down,” said the architect on his first visit. But to me it still looked lovely, with all the grace and charm of the eighteenth century, which was in fact when it was built – as a dower house for the mansion a few hundred yards away. Amongst the various papers I acquired together with the title deeds was a house-agent’s advertisement sheet of over a hundred years before which described the house as a “Cottage Orné” which “might be very useful as a retreat of great quietness where young gentlemen attending Eton College  could study during their holidays; or for accommodating an excessivity of guests from the mansion house”. It was called “orné” no doubt because of its front-door and windows, which were of the purest Strawberry Hill Gothic pattern.

The setting of this little gem was no less than worthy. Protected by old brick walls it stood back two hundred yards or so from a minor road, and its own few acres were bounded either by fields or Windsor Park. The ancient oaks of Windsor which grew round it gave it the ambience of a stately home, without the dreaded size.

I spent more money than I could afford just to patch it up and make it habitable, but it began to look entrancing. Then during the next ten years, the best ten years of my life as it happened, I added to it from time to time, embellished it, and I think improved it, so that in the end it looked perfect, was perfect, and such things as a new old-tiled roof, copper damp-course throughout, oil-fired Aga, central heating, additional land, new drains and all. Then, though my wife and I had hoped to end our days there, and my son would like to have lived there after us, we sold it.

Something which we found we could endure no longer, since for us it destroyed all peace and quiet, and which we could do nothing about whatever, made up our minds for us. You have guessed what it was? Yes, we were right in the middle of what had become over the years London Airport’s favourite flight-path or, to put it another way, we eventually found ourselves in a continuous air to ear bombardment situation of quite unbearable intensity. It was not as if we hadn’t got there first. When we originally came there the only sounds were the sounds of the deep country, like cows, crows, and old cock-pheasants, but it gradually changed to ear-splitting roars and reverberations, and so we left, unhappily.”

(To be continued)

The Hon, Sir George Bellew, KCB, KCVO, KStJ, FSA.

“Tony (Forwood) fetched him the next morning, and by the afternoon they were on the road again, inspecting Woodside Dower House, a “miniature Regency-Gothic manor” at Old Windsor, with a coach-house, lodge, and extensive gardens, for which the owner, Sir George Bellew, wanted £50,000. Woodside was very much what they had in mind, although the coach-house was unnecessary. They offered first £40,000, then £42,000, but negotiations stalled. It was back to Ladbroke Grove and square one.” (Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography, by John Coldstream)

“Fancy being Elton John’s neighbour? The Dower House at Old Windsor is up for sale, next door to his ‘Woodside’ home. POA, so must be a small fortune. It’s an interesting building, said to be “the most successful example of Strawberry Hill Gothic architecture on a domestic scale in the country” – no doubt influenced by Richard Bateman’s work at the Priory nearby. Or was it the other way round?” (Royal Berkshire History on Facebook)

The Dower House was sold in 2016 for £4,850,000 through Knight Frank.