Equine inspiration at The Stables, Balls Park
As excitement over the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton subsides and the pair settle down into their newly married life, ‘The Other Royal Wedding’, between Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, is set to inspire a rise in British rural traditions, including a surge in horse-related fashions in homage to champion equestrian Zara herself.
Horse riding and hunting are the iconic pastimes of rural Britain, and award-winning restoration specialist, City & Country Group, has included aspects of equine décor in its range of properties at The Stables, Balls Park in Hertford, in a celebratory nod to traditional Britain and the heritage of the building itself.
The stunning properties at The Stables have been carefully restored from the Grade II listed Coach House and Stable buildings on the estate of the Grade I Listed Mansion House, and have been dressed to a superior standard by City & Country’s team of interior design experts. Boasting a range of equestrian-themed furnishings, including high quality leather furniture, ironmongery wall scones, engineered oak floorboards and artistic paintings and statues of horses, residents at these homes do not need their own horse to enjoy the effortless sophistication and refined style that equestrian fashions evoke.
David Walker, Head of Sales and Marketing at City & Country Group, comments: “City & Country takes pride in its ability to preserve the heritage of historically-important buildings whilst creating modern family homes, and the properties available at The Stables, Balls Park are testament to this. The subtle equine trends included in the interior decoration of these homes reflect the former use of the buildings as stables, helping to retain the history of the building, as well as the natural class and sophistication associated with traditional rural Britain. Balls Park is a beautiful site that has already proved incredibly popular with a wide range of home buyers, and with royal mania attracting a renewed interest in all things quintessentially British in character, we expect these homes to receive an equally positive response”.
Set amidst 63 acres of picturesque Grade II Listed parkland, featured on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, residents at the Balls Park properties are given the rare opportunity to live within a historic country mansion without all the usual maintenance responsibilities of an estate its size. Used as a location for the films ‘The Young Victoria’, ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘The Golden Compass’, as well as several television series, including ‘Foyles War’, ‘The Inspector Linley Mysteries’ and ‘Bleak House’, homes at The Stables make a statement and are ideal for those who want a home with an interesting past.
The external architecture of the homes available at The Stables demonstrates the building’s previous use, with a large central door and evenly spaced windows originally intended to let in the maximum amount of light, and the remnants of brick arches at one end of the building marking the section where the horse coaches were kept. The development is located in an area particularly popular with horse lovers; there are several renowned equestrian centres in the near vicinity, including the Contessa Riding Centre and the Welwyn Equestrian Centre, as well as plenty of grassland on which horses graze.
Balls Park is an exclusive community, and provides the perfect location with Hertford town centre just a short 10-minute walk away, where there are a variety of shops, restaurants and cafés. Kings Cross, Moorgate and London Liverpool Street are all accessed easily in under 50 minutes by train from Hertford with two separate train lines.
Prices at The Stables at Balls Park start from £232,500 for a one bedroom apartment, and £315,000 for a two bedroom apartment. For more information about the properties available at the development, visit: cityandcountry.co.uk
