Stoke Park

A fine example of a Grade II* Listed, classic Georgian symmetrical country house, set within the Shropshire countryside with a courtyard of outbuildings, stabling and in just under 9 acres.

Description

Stoke Park is a classically beautiful Grade II* listed country house, with wonderful proportions situated within lovely private grounds. The house is surrounded by a mixture of formal gardens and paddock land, together with a courtyard of outbuildings which are very much in keeping with the main house. The early Georgian architecture provides a classic country house with the principal elevation including a beautiful ionic door case with beautiful stone masonry, classic quoin work and symmetrical Georgian sash windows with stone lintels.

The accommodation is beautifully presented throughout the house, with a wealth of traditional and elegant Georgian, Victorian and 17th century features including beautiful panelled doors, original moulding and panelling prevalent in the Georgian part and splendid joinery. The house has been renovated to enhance the best of the original features together with modern fixtures and fittings, state of the art technology and an elegant modern day finish.
Behind the Georgian façade, is an interesting combination of architecture providing a very different feel to the house. An early Victorian link provides a middle spine to the house which attaches to an older section to the rear of the house which is thought to date back to the 17th century. This combines beautifully with the rest of the house, having a formal façade with the formal reception rooms and bedrooms and the remainder situated within the early Victorian and 17th century offering for perfect family accommodation.

Stoke Park has two main points of entrance, the formal entrance which is through the main Georgian façade and leads into an entrance hall with the Georgian staircase in front of you. The elegant drawing room is on your right hand side, with original panelled walls and mouldings and beautiful sash windows. Being double aspect this room has working shutters and lovely views over the gardens which you can view from window seats. There is a wood burner with a marble surround and wide oak board flooring. To the left of the entrance hall is the formal dining room, which has Georgian panelling, a wood burning stove and a door leading into a separate office. A further door leads into a separate room which is currently being used as a Gin bar.

Flagstone steps lead down to the kitchen breakfast, which is within the Victorian part of the house. The kitchen is fitted with stylish wall and base units, granite worktops, with a solid oak breakfast bar and a Lacanche range oven. There is under floor heating throughout the kitchen and breakfast area and the beautiful Amdega conservatory, which is accessed through double doors off the kitchen. Beyond the kitchen breakfast room is the sitting room, which has a wood burning stove. There is a separate WC, a larder and a secondary kitchen, along with a boot room and a door leading outside. Stairs lead up to the principal bedroom which has an en suite shower room and a separate dressing room. Within this part of the house, are two double bedrooms and a family bathroom with a separate bath and shower.

A door leads through, back into the Georgian section of the house, where there is a further principal bedroom which has an en suite shower room and a separate dressing room, and a further double bedroom. Stairs lead to the second floor, which has wonderful views, a spacious double bedroom with far reaching views and a further double bedroom with a dressing room/bedroom and a separate family bathroom with underfloor heating.

Equestrian facilities

Off the gravel driveway, is a gate through to the stable block which has six Monarch boxes, one of which is a foaling box and four of which can be interconnecting. There is a separate, secure racked tack room with a washing machine and tumble dryer and a menage, which is 20m x 40m with a sand and rubber surface, and may be accessed off the main courtyard. There are five paddocks which are accessed from the stables via a tarmac driveway four of which have electrified fencing; the fifth which is easily able to be divided to create another four paddocks. Access to mains water in the paddocks. In addition there is a tractor/workshop store.

Location

Stoke Park is situated in beautiful and open Shropshire countryside, just outside the village of Stoke upon Tern. The village is well known for St Peter’s Church, situated just outside of the village and stands in a prominent and elevated position. The village is well placed for the A41 and the A53, providing access to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders.

The local towns of Newport (10 miles), and Market Drayton (5.7 miles), provide everyday shopping essentials, whilst Shrewsbury which is about 16 miles away has excellent schools and a wide range of amenities, from restaurants, bars, pubs, supermarkets,
independent shops and high street brands. There is also the Theatre Severn, and a train station with links to London Euston.

There are many well regarded schools nearby such as, Adams Haberdashers, Newport around 9 miles away, Newport Girls School around 9 miles away, Wrekin College and Old Hall around 14 miles away, Shrewsbury School around 16 miles away, Ellesmere College around 20 miles away, and Presfelde Prepatory School around 17 miles away.

Both Stafford train station and Crewe station are approximately 20 miles away, both with direct and fast trains to London Euston and links to onward travel.

Square Footage: 6,644 sq ft


Acreage: 8.93 Acres

Additional Info

Outside

Stoke Park is approached via a gated, private driveway which continues to another set of gates which open onto the large gravel parking area. There is a separate two bedroom granary within the grounds, which is currently being used as further accommodation and would be suitable as a guest lodge.

The traditional outbuildings are immaculately presented, set within a courtyard with a central water feature and include a garage, the old dairy which is now a snooker room and has wonderful exposed beams, the leisure suite which has an eight person sauna, a gym, shower and wc and a door through to the 12m x 4m heated indoor pool which has a Jacuzzi. Within the outbuildings are TV points and Bang and Olsen speakers connected to a sound system. The old milking parlour, is now a fantastic, party barn which has a vaulted ceiling and beautiful exposed beams. There is a spacious garage which has underfloor heating, two wc’s and a shower. Stairs lead from the garage up to the cinema room.

Gardens and Land

The pasture land sits beyond the house and near the stable block and may be accessed off the main drive or from the stable block itself. The paddock land is divided into sections for rotational grazing, and has electric fencing and a water supply connected.
The formal gardens of Stoke Park are classically designed but are also natural, offering a wonderful relaxing space and a lifestyle. To the front of the property are parterre box gardens, with a pergola and a gravel path which leads to the front door. To the side, are four separate pools with central water features, and the formal lawn which has a Ha Ha and a hedge with a built in archway leading onto the terrace, where beyond is a walled garden.

To the edge of the garden is a pretty copse, with a pathway, which was planted in 1990 and has a Wellingtonia within. A pretty stream meanders through the grounds with three separate bridges, leading to a pool and an island. The tennis court sits to the back of the garden and was completed in 2015.

History

Historic England dates the house at Stoke Park to the mid-eighteenth century and it appears the original phase of the house was constructed in the 1680s with the Georgian main house built in 1744. The celebrated Anglo-German architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner has speculated that the initials EC, on a lead rain-head, refer to a member of the Corbet family, though it was more likely a young gentleman called Edward Cook.

The Cooks were a fairly well to do family from Childs Ercall. Edward’s father, William Cook, had married Mrs Damaris White at the parish church in Childs Ercall in 1717. Edward was their only son who survived infancy, and he had three sisters, of whom it seems only one, Damaris, grew to adulthood. Edward came of age in 1743, and the house may have been built as a residence for him and his future wife and children. That was never to be, however, as Edward died in 1749 at the age of just twenty-seven. Edward’s father and mother died in 1757 and 1758 respectively, and the family estates, including Stoke Park, passed to his younger sister Damaris Cook who married her mother’s former servant, John Challenor, a man “inferior in fortune and station”. Her friends “disobliged” Damaris, so she left the gossips at Childs Ercall and set up home with Challenor in the new house at Stoke Park. Eventually, Stoke Park was left to Demaris’s daughter Elizabeth after her death in 1803.

Stoke Park had been built as a Georgian gentleman’s residence, but after nearly a century, it was transformed into a commercial entity when a farmer was installed at Stoke Park around 1830, and Elizabeth subsequently made her home elsewhere. She died, aged eighty, in 1848. Stoke Park remained as a working dairy farm until the late 1980’s; for the last three and a half decades it has been a country home with just two families before the current owners undertook a substantial renovation between 2008 and 2011.


Shropshire Council. Band G

Services: mains water, electricity, LPG gas for oven and range, private drainage by way of three septic tanks, oil central heating.

There is a right of access down the drive by the neighbouring farmer to access his barns.

Brochure prepared 2025/05 BTJ
Photography 2025/05 Cloudbase photography