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VIEWS Drivers, Divas & Dictators: A history of The Wentworth Estate Surrey’s Wentworth Estate is one of the most valuable residential enclaves in Britain. It has, as you might expect, had its fair share of savoury residents since Thomas Telford began developing it in the 1920s: lifetime local James Wyatt of Barton Wyatt shares his memories of the Estate’s evolution, from saluting Diana Dors and Barry Gibb to managing General Pinochet’s cess pit… Wentworth has been called many things over the years: ‘Exclusive’ ‘Estate of the stars’ ‘World renowned’ and so on, but the story of Wentworth has changed over the years, since it was first developed by Walter Tarrant in the early 1920’s. Wentworth continues to evolve today with nearly 50 new houses currently under development, it’s clear that Wentworth has lost none of its appeal. Tarrant has often been called a visionary, as the first developer to construct golf courses with houses dotted around them. His marketing was aimed at City gentlemen looking for weekend homes not too far from London with the added lure of a golf club close to your house. This recipe has since been repeated all over the World. St George’s Hill in Weybridge which he started developing in 1911 was a resounding success and Tarrant set his eyes on an even larger prize by purchasing Wentworth in the early 1920’s. The Wentworth Estate covers 1,750 acres – almost twice as big as St George’s Hill and Tarrant set about instructing Harry Colt to design the first golf course – now the East Course and started building houses, albeit slightly smaller than some of the enormous piles he had built in Weybridge. Tarrant also designed and constructed the early parade of shops in Virginia Water where my office is now. The original plans which I have show the bank to be where Barclays Bank is, a furniture shop where Barton Wyatt is, an estate agent where the Wentworth Patisserie is now, a butcher where the Viceroy Indian restaurant is, a fishmonger where the Glasshouse is now and beyond that, a greengrocer which is now an estate agents. All of these modest sized shops came with residential accommodation behind and above the shop. p.10 this is just a small selection of highlights from August’s views on PrimeResi.com there’s more at www.PrimeResi.com/views
Image courtesy of Waterfords Indeed, when my grandfather bought the old estate agency practice of Gosling and Milner in 1965, the offices still had a two bedroom flat above it which my parents moved into. My bedroom as a small baby is my office today! Tarrant went on to construct the West Course, often known as the Burma Road, which is now used for the BMW PGA Championship in May. War time bought a huge change to Wentworth with the Clubhouse being requisitioned at the outbreak of the war. Soon after, the infamous but little known tunnels were constructed underground next to the Clubhouse, for the General Headquarters (GHQ) Signals. The tunnels were constructed in cast iron in the same style as the London Underground and were designed to be the Signals headquarters if there had been a devastating invasion of London. At the same time, the Clubhouse was occupied as the GHQ Home Forces who also lived in many of the houses around the estate. I do wonder whether golf matches carried on as normal? The tunnels are well guarded these days, although in the 1970’s my friends and I would often visit them as someone had thoughtfully chiselled out a hole in the back of the concrete entrance. It is rather fitting given Wentworth’s story during the war that our current local MP is the Rt. Hon. Phillip Hammond who was until recently Secretary of State for Defence. The estate has seen various changes in the type of homeowner over the years that I have lived here. In the 70’s glamour, pop stars and entertainers poured into the estate with Elton John, a couple of Bee Gee’s, Bruce Forsyth, Chris Squire of the rock band Yes and Diana Dors all living on the estate. A frequent sight was seeing the blonde bombshell of Diana Dors driving through the village in her open top azure blue Rolls Royce with the flowing locks of Barry Gibb next to her. Similarly, I would think nothing of bumping VIEWS A frequent sight was seeing the blonde bombshell of Diana Dors driving through the village in her open top azure blue Rolls Royce with the flowing locks of Barry Gibb next to her. this is just a small selection of highlights from August’s views on PrimeResi.com there’s more at www.PrimeResi.com/views p.11
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