House, Chiswick, ￡18.5mn
Where On Chiswick Mall on the north bank of the river Thames, in the Old Chiswick Conservation Area. Heathrow airport is a 20-minute drive; Stamford Brook Tube station is about 15 minutes’ walk.
What An eight-bedroom, four-storey Grade I-listed house of Tudor origin, which was refronted in 1730. Entered through a wrought-iron gate and a white porch with Corinthian pilasters (visible in the picture above), the house has uninterrupted river views and 0.65 acres of Grade II-listed walled gardens including ponds. At basement level there is a gym and steam room.
Why Previous residents of Walpole House include Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland and mistress of King Charles II; Irish political leader Daniel O’Connell; and Thomas Walpole, nephew of prime minister Robert Walpole. Novelist William Makepeace Thackeray was educated at the house when it was a boarding school.