A physicist who had a hand in the development of the Seawolf surface-to-air missile system is selling the house he built for his family 30 years ago.
Main Court in Main Drive, Gerrards Cross, is for sale at the Beaconsfield branch of Bovingdons with a guide price of £6 million.
The family home of Jeff McManus and his wife Wendy has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, two orangeries, ten reception rooms, wine cellar, indoor pool, tennis court… the list goes on and on.
From outside you might think the house is Victorian. That’s because the main structure is largely built with reclaimed materials.
Jeff travelled all over the country visiting salvage yards to find the exact bricks, tiles and other features that would provide the genuine character of a house built a century ago except of course this one is bang up to date.
Hidden in the walls is the wonder of 20th century technology.
The overall living area is almost 18,000 sq ft. Compare that with the average size of a four bed detached in England - 1,582 sq ft – and you’ll get some idea of the scale of this place within walking distance of Gerrards Cross station.
Trains from here get into Marylebone in 18 minutes.
Jeff’s first introduction to the construction industry goes back to his student days when he worked on building sites during holidays while he was at Manchester Uni doing a degree course in physics.
He’s built several houses over the years as a sideline to his main career in the business sector.
“I’m a serial entrepreneur,” he laughs.
The house he built 30 years ago has a garage in the basement large enough for ten cars.
The excess heat from all the sunny south facing rooms upstairs and down is syphoned off to add warmth to the kitchen.
“That’s where we spend most of our time during the day,” Jeff says.
“I designed the house to be multi generational. My father and father-in-law were living with us in the early years.
“The rooms are spread over four floors. The average ceiling height is ten feet.
"One of our children is a DJ. He has a suite of rooms on the same floor as the master suite. The layout of the three suites on the first floor is designed to stop noise travelling between rooms.
"Each suite has two doors at the entrance off the landing. The first opens onto a private hall where there’s a secondary door into the bedroom.
"Our son can be playing his music at concert pitch but if I’m in my bedroom I never hear it.
“The house is energy efficient. There are three layers of heat insulation in the roof to reduce energy bills."
One of the main attractions for Jeff and his wife Wendy when they bought the site was the amazing view over the countryside towards Bulstrode Park from what is now their terrace.
“Wendy has always told friends our main motivation for buying the plot was the view. She always says 'we bought the view'; the plot gave us the chance to enjoy the outlook everyday we’re at home.”
The couple say they’re only selling because they want to downsize. “We’ve reached the age when we don’t need so many rooms.”
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