Heacham Lodge, Lodge Road, Heacham, Norfolk. £800k



Have you ever felt The Peace?  The real thing, that is, not just as near as you can get to it, all things considered, through ordinary experience, which is the contentment of a sunny day, a clear sky, some beautiful music and nothing much  to worry about?  If you have ever felt the deep peace of The Lord, and it has worked its miracle on you, do you think something of it can be captured in a photograph?

I would normally have said not, don’t be silly.  Yet there are two houses on the market at the moment, where the estate agent’s photographer, walking round the house or grounds on his own and possibly experiencing it for him or herself has somehow conveyed something of the sense of what they are experiencing through the image.  This house is one of those two.  It isn’t in evidence at all in the interior, in this property, but in the grounds. I will leave you to see if you can tell which the other property is.

Heacham Lodge is listed grade ii, the front is 18th century, the back, including the octagonal bow is early 19th century. But in the brochure the vendor speaks of its origins in the 1600s.  Clearly there has been a dwelling on the site for many generations. There is something in the quality of the light, a sense that countless people over the centuries have loved the garden and something of their love remains within the garden walls.  Perhaps it is a pregnant sense that this time is coming to an end, since the last sentence of the brochure draws attention to the fact that part of the garden is to be sold separately, as a building plot.


There isn’t much to say about the interior. It is decorated in such a way as to be liveable with, no offensive colour schemes or vile wallpapers. The first floor windows have been vulgarized, the owner seems proud of having replaced the period sashes with what appear to be uPVC casements in the service wing.  But it could all be lovely again if one restored the wooden sashes and used hand blown glass, though this would be expensive and the replacement of the originals with these modern things would not really have been necessary.


Tatra glass are the only UK importers of hand blown cylinder glass from Eastern Europe.  If you buy it  through anyone else, you will be paying an extra percentage charge.  Tatra sell every type of period glass for historic property, made in all the various ways which glass has been produced, for buildings, over the centuries.  It is best to order all you need in one fell swoop, since you have to pay the pallet and transport costs.

There is plenty of reasonably priced mid Georgian and Regency furniture available at auction.  There hasn’t been such a good time to buy since the 1960s.  Prices in 1980s editions of the Miller’s Price Guide are higher in some instances than in the 2019 guide. 










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