Wilby Hall: A Property Bursting With Potential

By Emma Morby, Director of Land Acquisition at Heritage England. This month Emma brings you a slightly more understated property. It’s not a castle, but it still has all the charm and character of one!

Wilby Hall is a beautiful Grade II listed Elizabethan Country house built in the 16th century. The hall is part moated and sits in the heart of its very own 12 acres. The house is believed to have been built by Sir Thomas Lovel and over the years has had some very well-known guests, like Oliver Cromwell and Robert Wilton. The property still has many of its original features, which include an impressive fireplace in the drawing room, original doors, oak panelling and an exquisite staircase.

The historic developer in me sees a huge amount of potential to add value to the property by converting several of the outbuildings (STPP). The main country house has a number of reception rooms, as well as 7 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a snug, a drawing room, a kitchen and a library.  The outbuildings include a 17th century long barn and associated barn, set within the north of the grounds. To the west of the house are a range of storerooms and a further range of buildings including stabling, open bay garaging, chicken run, and hay loft, all centred around a courtyard.

A former dairy building known as “The Cottage” has already been converted to a 1-bedroom cottage providing ancillary accommodation to the main house. The cottage has its own private garden, so it would be ideal as a rental property to boost income into the main house.

You access the property via a sweeping tree-lined driveway arriving at the main house and turning area. The drive spurs off to the cottage offering private parking. To the north of the house is the Elizabethan walled garden and to the south is a large expanse of lawn, leading to the moat. By one of the many outbuildings, you will even find a swimming pool.

The country home is situated in a prime location. Just 8 miles away is Diss train station, which has regular trains to London Liverpool Street (90 minutes journey time), and it’s 17 miles from Norwich City centre.

Wilby Hall is on the market for a guide price of £2,000,000 but with the right vision and tasteful conversion of the outbuildings, this could fetch upwards of £4,000,000, or perhaps with its proximity to the City centre, it could become a fantastic retreat!