Part of a distinctive Victorian mansion, with access to 20 acres of parkland, is on the market at a guide price of £1.58m.

Seven-bedroom Barcote House, just off the A420 near Buckland, is a substantial part of the former Barcote Manor.

Built in 1876 for the Duke of Westminster’s daughter Lady Theodora Guest, the manor was sold in 1881 to a director of the Great Western Railway.

It remained in that family for 70 years before being sold on to a bank and later used as a school.

In 1996 the manor was converted into four homes and the stable block, Westminster Court, into another eight.

Charles Crawford, his wife and three children, moved to Barcote House in 2007 following his retirement from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Mr Crawford said: “We chose to live here to be near Radley College, where our sons James and Robert were at school, but they are moving on and we need less space.

“It’s a superb airy place for children to grow up and they have acres of grounds to play in safely.

“One of the attractions for us was the ready-made community, with 11 other professional families sharing the estate. And it’s a wonderful place to entertain guests.”

As well as exterior architectural detail including carved stone window arches, intricate brick chimneys and two gargoyles, original features inside include ornate moulded ceilings and cornices, high bay windows with original wooden shutters, heavy original doors with fine brass fittings and several open fireplaces.

A highlight is the Gothic revival dining room, with its embossed leather wall covering originating from early 19th-century Florence and brought to Barcote Manor from Queen Victoria’s Killarney House in Ireland.

Another is the original drawing room with unique original decorative ceiling and moulding.

The kitchen and breakfast room were originally part of the butler’s quarters and lead to a terrace, private gardens and the parkland.

On the first floor are four bedrooms, including the master with its own dressing room and en-suite bathroom and another bedroom with bay windows.

The second floor has a shower room and attic space plus two more bedrooms and a loft-style bedroom with balcony overlooking the gardens.

Mr Crawford added: “We really live in the middle of a private wildlife park and even have a red kite nesting in one of the tallest trees just back from the driveway.”

The house is approached via security gates and a tree-lined driveway and at the back of the property two acres of private landscaped gardens includes a large lawn and wooded area. The shared parkland, Barcote Park Estate, includes a Victorian fern garden.

For more information or to arrange a viewing, contact Savills on 01865 339700 or visit savills.com