Contemporary deluxe Grade 1 Listed Duplex Apartment enjoying views over the 18th hole of Vale Royal Golf Club situated in what was once a Stately Home
Circa 1800 square feet
Three double bedrooms and two bathrooms
Excellent modern kitchen
No ongoing chain
Available fully furnished (items to be specified)
Beautiful communal grounds
Cantonese and Mandarin speaker available
Legal completion available May 2024

Champneys is a fantastic modern apartment refurbished in the 1990’s on the first floor
overlooking a vast area of the golf club. There are 12 apartments in this wing - each with different dimensions, style and history as part of the original stately residence. Champneys’, is accessed through the residents’ private gardens and provide easy living. Overall the apartment is approximately 1800 sq ft.; there are 3 bedrooms - two ensuite, a designer kitchen, a specially commissioned stainless steel and glass staircase leading to the very large master suite - with ensuite and dressing room. The lounge has a magnificent feature window, approximately 15-17ft high providing a light, airy and contemporary living space within an exterior full of historic architecture with direct views onto the 18th golf hole of the Vale Royal Drive Golf Club.

Compromising communal entrance hallway with storage, contemporary style dining kitchen, magnificent reception room with double height ceiling and windows, mezzanine landing leading to large master bedroom with dressing room and en-suite bathroom, second bedroom with dressing area and en-suite shower room, third bedroom/study. Private parking for two large cars and well maintained communal ground.

Situated in the heart of the mid Cheshire countryside with road links the M6/M56 offering easy commuting to Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. Both Manchester airport and Liverpool airport are easily accessible within 40 minutes. Schools both private and public are also 2.5 miles from the apartment.

Chester which is a historic city with Roman amphitheatre and hosts theatres, restaurants and a range of high end shops is just half an hours’ drive away. Nearby are traditional pubs/restaurants, high class dining and the famous Cheshire - Hollies farm shop and eating house. The Cheshire Polo ground is located within 10 minutes of the Apartment as is Oulton Park Racing circuit, and nearby in Chester is Chester Racecourse; a historic and award-winning course that hosts a range of horse racing events.

Property Details

The property is leasehold with 122 years, of which there are over 100 years to run.

Management Fees are paid monthly to cover building insurance, landscaping, external maintenance, external window cleaning and internal cleaning of communal areas of the building. (At time of writing the budget for 2024 has yet to be published) 2022/23 was £3705.01.

Energy (EPC) rating is G

Council Tax annual for 2023/24 is £3,601

Rail links include

Hartford Train Station (approx. 2.5 miles away) which connects to Liverpool and Birmingham via Crewe
Northwich Train Station (approx. 5.5 miles away) which connects to Chester and Manchester
Runcorn Train Station (approx. 14 miles away) which connects to London

Nearby

Northwich town centre is less than 15 minutes’ drive away and boasts the multi-million pound Barons Quay Development, which includes a retail complex with shopping space, cinema, restaurants and cafés. There is also the Memorial Court Brio leisure centre, which offers a pool, dance studios and a gym.

Vale Royal Abbey

History
Vale Royal Abbey was originally a medieval abbey and later a country house.  It was founded in 1270 by Edward I for monks of the austere Cistercian order.  The King intended the abbey to be on the grandest scale however financial difficulties meant that these ambitions could not be fulfilled and the final building was considerably smaller than planned.  The project ran into problems in other ways too; the abbey was frequently grossly mismanaged, relations with the local population were so poor as to result in large scale violence on a number of occasions and internal discipline was frequently bad. Vale Royal was closed in 1538 by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolutions of Monasteries Act. Much of the Abbey, including the church was demolished but some of the cloister buildings were incorporated into a mansion by Thomas Holcroft, an important government official, during the 1540’s.
Over subsequent centuries, this house was considerably altered and extended by successive generations.  The building still contains some surviving rooms from the medieval abbey including the refectory and the kitchen.  The foundations of the church and cloister have also been excavated.
It is a scheduled ancient monument and a Grade II listed building.

Present day
Nothing remains of the great church, though archaeological work has revealed many details of its structure. A stone circular monument, known as the ‘Nun’s Grave’, traditionally commemorates a fourteenth century Cheshire nun, Ida, who tended a sick Vale Royal abbot, and on her death was buried at the site of the high altar. The monument was erected by the Cholmondeley family, possibly to lend credence to the legend of the nun. The material in its construction comes from three sources: the head made from a medieval cross with four panels depicting the Crucifixion, the Virgin and Child, St. Catherine, and St. Nicholas; the shaft, made in the seventeenth century and made of sandstone; and a plinth made from reclaimed abbey masonry.  The present country house on the site incorporates substantial parts of the south and west ranges of the abbey plus Holcroft’s Tudor house.
Vale Royal was purchased by ICI in 1947. The chemical company initially used the abbey as staff accommodation and then, from 1954 to 1961, as the headquarters for its Alkali Division. ICI moved out in 1961 and for some years the future of Vale Royal was in doubt.  There were abortive schemes to use the abbey as a health centre, a country club, a school and even a prison (this latter proposal was resisted by local inhabitants as strongly, though less violently, as the original foundation of the abbey had been, and did not occur). The building still contains some surviving rooms from the medieval abbey including the refectory and the kitchen. Today the right wing of the house is home to 12 apartments, and the centre and left wing house the Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club.