Tichborne House, £6,850pcm (From Hampshire Society)

Tichborne House, £6,850pcm

2:56pm Thursday 2nd April 2009

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Tichborne House, a stately house a stone’s throw from the Georgian town of Alresford, has recently been refurbished to modern standards without detracting from its period features. Should you become tenant, you will get a small part in history, and probably one of the strangest buildings insurance premiums yet devised.

On March 25 each year, Lady Day, the Tichborne Dole is handed to parishioners. It dates back to when terminally ill Lady Mabella de Tichborne implored her husband, Sir Roger, to give the poor a “dole” of bread.

He gave the value of as much land as Lady Mabella could crawl round carrying a flaming torch.

She managed 23 acres and laid a curse that if the dole stopped there would be a generation of seven sons followed by seven daughters, before the family line died out and the house fell down.

The custom stopped in 1794 — later a wing of the house fell down and only one son and heir was produced. He died, aged six, so the dole was reinstated in the 19th century and has continued ever since and the house is still standing!

Understandably, the current owners are keen to keep up the tradition, so the new tenants must agree to the ceremony taking place on the front steps of the house.

But they’ll also enjoy a very stylish and spacious home.

Tel: Zaza Patterson at Dreweatt Neate on 01962 876838.

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