It was the home away from home for screen queen Vivien Leigh, but now this quintessentially English grade-II listed manor house could be going ... going ... Gone With the Wind.
The farm tucked away in Zeals, Wiltshire, which was owned by the first husband of the Oscar-winning actress, has come to the market following the death of the couple’s only daughter, Suzanne Farrington.
Manor Farm House was leased for 21 years by barrister Leigh Holman in 1959, nearly 20 years after Vivien Leigh, made famous by the role Scarlett O'Hara in the screen classic Gone With The Wind, had divorced him to marry the great actor Laurence Olivier.
Nonetheless, it was Leigh who helped him to choose the house and who remained a frequent visitor there until her death in 1967, using the home as a country getaway from the hectic celebrity world.
Olivier never visited the house. The couple divorced in 1960, after which, Leigh's grandson Neville Farrington told The Daily Mail, the star would often stay in the house's blue room with her then-partner Jack Merivale.
Estate agent Savills, which is marketing the property, points out that Leigh remained such a close friend to her former husband, whose first name she took as her stage name, that her name appears on every other page of the visitor’s book until her death.
Spread out over nearly 16 acres, the farm includes the original seven-bedroom, Queen Anne-style farmhouse complete with period fireplaces and an oak staircase as well as two cottages, a walled garden, orchard and tennis court. There are also four 17th century stone barns, which have been restored by the owners in the past few years, with consent for four live/work units.
According to Savills, the property comes with a £2.6 million (Dh14.1m) price tag or is available in four lots with the main house, tithe barns, some outbuildings and seven acres of land as one lot for £1.75m, with both cottages and an eight-acre field available separately.
Q&A
How old is the house?
The estate is mentioned in the Domesday Book, however the early history of Manor Farm is hard to trace – it seems that from the late 17th century it grew to be one of the wealthiest farms in the area, but much of the building dates from the 18th century.
Who is selling it?
Vivien Leigh’s three grandsons are selling the estate after their mother Suzanne Farrington, who owned and lived in the house, died there last year. She and her husband bought the house in 1980.
Does the house have any other interesting history?
Photographic evidence collected by the current owners shows a house decorated in 1902 to welcome home the owners from the Boer War. Later a lawn tennis court was laid out in the walled garden for Wimbledon competitors, the White sisters.
What about Laurence Olivier?
Leigh started an affair with Laurence Olivier in 1937 while the pair were acting as lovers in the film Fire Over England. They were married three years later in 1940.
What is Gone With the Wind?
The film is an epic-historical romantic adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel about the American South during the country’s civil war. Leigh plays Scarlet O’Hara, the strong-willed daughter of a Georgia plantation owner. When adjusted for inflation it is the most successful film in box office history.
lbarnard@thenational.ae
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