Why buy in London when properties like this are on the market?

I’m at the age where my friends are starting to get themselves onto the property ladder. After months of hermitising themselves to scrape their pennies together and, to be honest, inheriting a reasonable sum from a family member, they have signed the contract and seized keys to their very own place. Personally, like the majority of us, I am nowhere near to this mature stage of adulthood.

At a supper party last weekend, I found myself in a conversation with two friends about pensions, houses and savings. Yes, we’re a mental bunch. Within seconds I was rendered somewhat clueless, as out of my depth as John Prescott at a beauty pageant. One was putting £200 into a pension account every month and the other was contemplating whether to sign onto a new ISA or take his money into the stock market. I, meanwhile, was still reeling from the fact that I’d got a free coffee in Pret that morning, saving me a whopping £3; and the nerves were already growing for the £14 I was going to have to spend to catch the train back to London. Buying a house, saving money for a pension, stocks and shares?! For every person I know doing this, I know at least 10 who still yearn for payday like weaned pups for their mother.

The only way I’m clawing my way towards being a homeowner is through the Euromillions or a Hatton Gardens-esque robbery. Doesn’t mean I don’t like to ogle at estate agents’ windows though, and flicking through intoxicating property pages is the main reason I still buy a certain country lifestyle magazine. (NB. If you want to see the real ways of how to be a gentleman, stick with our guide.)

And talking of ogling, this stunning property of the week, Duntisbourne House, a country house estate in the Cotswolds set within 70 acres of parkland, is worth an agape jaw or two.

The recently renovated main house consists of… a reception hall, drawing room, library, dining room, cinema, gym, wine cellar, master bedroom with roof terrace, many more bedrooms and a whole load more that starts to explain the stratospheric price tag of £17 million. But catch your breath and read on, because the list goes on.

There’s an additional lodge, pool house, summer studio, ancillary building, stable block, tennis court, outdoor swimming pool, terrace gardens, roof terrace, mixed woodland, parkland and pasture. Yup, everything you could possibly want, and then some. Modern contemporary living meets a traditional period Cotswold house, blending aesthetics and comfort.

Sod buying a house in London. Go purchase your lottery ticket now. Or, gather the troops and set about making plans to loot a Hatton Gardens jeweller. And please invite me along.

AGENT: Savills, Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409 8885