May 14, 2021, 1:07pm
Somerset’s Combe Florey House, once the family home of Brideshead Revisited author Evelyn Waugh and his son Auberon, is finally for sale—and it’s pretty spectacular, looking onto parkland and water. The grounds include a twelve-bedroom home with red sandstone facades; a pool and pool house; a tennis court; several outbuildings; and a party barn, which I’ve just learned is a glamorous barn you throw parties in.
Interestingly, Waugh himself described Combe Florey House in less-than-flattering terms—despite the fact that he lived there until his death. In his autobiography Will This Do?, Auberon Waugh recalls Evelyn describing the house in a letter to his wife as a “plain, square house on a hill.” Auberon immediately corrects his father’s description:
In fact it is an extremely grand and handsome house, not square at all, finished in red sandstone in the 1740s, with an imposing grand portico on an elevated perron . . .
We know it’s “not square at all”: it has a party barn, for goodness’s sake! Auberon doesn’t give any clues to the tone of his father’s description: maybe Waugh was truly underwhelmed by the house, but it’s likely he was simply exercising his trademark satiric style. Target: check (the Combe Florey house). Clarity of purpose: check (making fun of big houses).
The house is currently on sale for $7.6 million, so consider making the purchase if you’re a Waugh fan with money to spare—or if you have some ideas for barn parties.
[via Mansion Global]