Former home of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon listed for £3.95 million

Old House, the historic West Sussex residence linked to Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, has gone on the market publicly for the first time, with an asking price of £3.95 million.

Located on the historic Nymans estate in Staplefield, the house dates to 1481 and has been built up and altered over more than five centuries. It retains Tudor beams and fireplaces, Georgian wood paneling and bow windows, alongside changes made by its current owners over the past 20 years.

The 2.23-hectare property forms part of the landscape created by Ludwig Messel, a German-born financier and gardening enthusiast who acquired Nymans in 1890 and developed it into a celebrated Arts and Crafts setting. In 1958, Messel’s grandson, the stage designer Oliver Messel, gave the house to his nephew, Lord Snowdon, shortly before Snowdon married Princess Margaret in 1960.

At the time, the house had charm but had fallen into disrepair. Its roof needed work, and it had neither electricity nor toilets. Over the following decades, Snowdon turned the house and grounds into a peaceful retreat away from public life. Weekends there in the mid-1960s attracted figures including Peter Sellers, John Mills, Margot Fonteyn, Bianca Jagger, Evelyn de Rothschild, Kenneth Tynan, Issey Miyake and Edna O’Brien, as well as members of the British royal family.

The house includes a double drawing room overlooking the garden, a Georgian-style wood-paneled sitting room and a family kitchen centered on an Aga range. Snowdon expanded the kitchen and added a mezzanine, while his playful design touches remain visible across the grounds, including arched windows added to the Georgian buildings.