Mansion that was childhood home of Jacob Rees-Mogg goes on market

Nanny not included! Georgian country mansion that was childhood home of Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg before it was turned into a hotel goes on market for £9.5m after it went bust during pandemic

  • Ston Easton Park is a Grade I listed property with Grade II listed gardens designed by Humphry Repton
  • Rees-Mogg’s father William bought the manor in 1964 and Jacob would have been nine when they left
  • It was during this time that he started catechism and attended Sunday mass at a church in Midsomer Norton
  • Rees-Mogg’s nanny Veronica Crook joined the family in 1965 so likely lived with them in Ston Easton 

A Georgian country mansion that was the childhood home of MP Jacob Rees-Mogg before being turned into a hotel has gone on the market for £9.5million.

Ston Easton Park is a stunning Grade I listed property with Grade II listed gardens designed by 18th century landscape gardener Humphry Repton.

Rees-Mogg’s father and former-editor of The Times William bought the country manor in 1964 and the Somerset MP – who was born in 1969 – spent around nine years of his life there. 

It was during this time that Rees-Mogg started catechism – a summary of Catholic doctrine taught to children ahead of their baptism – and attended Sunday mass at nearby Church of the Holy Ghost in nearby Midsomer Norton.

A Georgian country mansion that was the childhood home of MP Jacob Rees-Mogg before being turned into a hotel has gone on the market for £9.5million. Pictured: The property has an incredible seven reception rooms

Ston Easton Park is a stunning Grade I listed property with Grade II listed gardens designed by 18th century landscape gardener Humphry Repton. Pictured: Another one of the property’s reception rooms

Rees-Mogg’s father William bought the country manor (a bedroom pictured) in 1964 and the Somerset MP – who was born in 1969 – spent around nine years of his life there

It was during his time in the manor (a dining room, pictured) that Rees-Mogg started catechism – a summary of Catholic doctrine taught to children ahead of their baptism – and attended Sunday mass at nearby Church of the Holy Ghost in nearby Midsomer Norton

On the lower ground floor there is a games room, garden room, billiard room, studies, stores and the original kitchen, which has an Edwardian style (pictured)

The current leader of the House of Commons talks openly about how his nanny Veronica Crook (pictured together) – who joined the family before Rees-Mogg was born in 1965 so likely lived with them in Ston Easton – made him the man that he is today

 Rees-Mogg (pictured aged 12) said he is influenced by his father’s parenting style. He said he wants ‘to hear my children’s views’ because his father ‘always thought his children were as likely to be as interesting as anybody else’

There is also a Grade II-listed coach house (pictured) in need of renovation which already has planning permission to be turned into a hotel function suite

‘The most remarkable woman’: How Jacob Rees-Mogg’s nanny has worked for the family for more than 50 years

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s nanny has worked for the family for more than 50 years where she is still bringing up the second generation today – while somehow finding time to cook the MP his supper.

Veronica Crook once famously campaigned in his 1997 general election bid for Central Fife with Rees-Mogg in his mother’s Mercedes. 

She was initially hired by Jacob’s parents in 1965 after the birth of their second daughter Charlotte, to look after his sisters before Jacob was even born. 

She regularly takes pride of place in the family photo albums. She was even portrayed in three comedy sketches on BBC show Tracey Ullman Breaks The News in June this year.

She took regular trips to Eton during Jacob’s schooldays apparently to change her former charge’s bed sheets – he preferred linen to the standard-issue school ones, friends say.

And she clearly is just as protective of Rees-Mogg’s own children after she was filmed wrestling them away from the Class War activists in 2018.

Rees-Mogg himself has described her as being like Mary Poppins, with ‘a bag filled with almost anything that can be needed.’ He credits with making him the man that he is today.

She remains ‘on duty’ for the MP for North East Somerset, now looking after their sixth child Sixtus, born in July 2017.

Rees-Mogg said: ‘She’s the most remarkable woman and as you can imagine, incredibly good with children – but she might say it’s jolly hard work.’

Previously, Miss Crook has described the young Jacob’s behaviour as ‘perfect – or for most of the time perfect’.

‘He wasn’t really naughty, he was a one-off,’ she said in 2015. She added: ‘He did his own thing, he didn’t copy. He had that sort of attitude.’

Rees-Mogg has also previously described his nanny’s bond with his family as rare, and he said that she provides a ‘continuity and stability’ that is of ‘inestimable value for the child and, indeed, the man’.

Miss Crook, from Somerset, is a descendant of Rector Samuel Crooke who baptised English philosopher John Locke. 

She worked for one family before joining the Rees-Moggs in 1965.

The current leader of the House of Commons talks openly about how his nanny Veronica Crook – who joined the family before Rees-Mogg was born in 1965 so likely lived with them in Ston Easton – made him the man that he is today.

She has remained particularly close to Rees-Mogg across the years and now cares for his own six children: Mary, Anselm, Thomas, Alfred, Peter and Sixtus.

William Rees-Mogg wrote a book in 1997 called The Sovereign Individual. This predicted the world would be fractured and chaotic in the coming digital age and the way to thrive was to be self-reliant, master technology and stand out from the crowd. 

Rees-Mogg said he is influenced by his father’s parenting style. He said he wants ‘to hear my children’s views’ because his father ‘always thought his children were as likely to be as interesting as anybody else’. 

He also holds quizzes for his children around the Sunday lunch table after church, as his father used to do.

Speaking to Event Magazine in 2019, he said: ‘One of the quizzes we have is that we do the catechism, because the three eldest are all taking their First Communion soon. 

‘Sunday lunch, if we haven’t got guests – I don’t inflict it on guests – we go through the Penny Catechism, and the children know the answers.’ 

As a teenager, Rees-Mogg shunned scruffy posters of models in bikinis and film stars favoured by his schoolmates and instead put up pictures professionally-framed pictures of Queen and Margaret Thatcher while at Eton.

The 22,000 sq ft Ston Easton Park was later converted into a hotel but the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic saw the business go into administration in June.

Now estate agents Strutt & Parker say it could become a ‘commanding family home’ again.

Ston Easton Park, near Bath, Somerset, was built in the 1760s on the site of a Tudor manor and stayed in the Hippisley family until 1956 and was saved from being demolished in 1958.

William Rees-Mogg saved it from demolition and began restoring it in the 1960s. He sold it to millionaire Peter Smedley in 1978, who converted it into a hotel. All staff have now been made redundant.

The closure has left those who had booked events at the venue completely heartbroken.

Administrators Portland Business Recovery (PBR) told couple Lucy Lowe and Sam Money that they may not get their £7,000 back after they booked their dream wedding.

PBR director Mike Fortune, told BBC News: ‘The hotel sector has been especially vulnerable to this pandemic, due to it being predicted to be one of the last sectors to have any restrictions eased.’ 

The property was also used for filming some scenes in the staff quarters in the 2001 film Gosford Park.

Revered architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the house as ‘exceptionally sumptuous’ and it has lots of incredible architectural details including stone floors, fine fireplaces, decorative ceilings and classical wall paintings.

The house (pictured) has 22,097 square feet of living space spread over four floors and is currently laid out with seven reception rooms and 20 bedroom suites

The house has 22,097 square feet of living space spread over four floors and is currently laid out with seven reception rooms and 20 bedroom suites.

On the lower ground floor there is a games room, garden room, billiard room, studies, stores and the original kitchen, which has an Edwardian style.

The grounds cover 28.4 acres with the River Norr running through it. The formal gardens are impressive with a rose garden, cutting garden, kitchen garden, an orchard and a tennis court.

Within the grounds are several other buildings, including the very pretty three-bedroom Gardeners Cottage which is accessed over a bridge and has a high castellated stone wall, complete with cruciform arrow slits which forms a screen to the walled garden beyond.

The house (its gardens, pictured) is in between Bath, Bristol, Bruton and Frome. Babington House, which is in the Soho House group, The Pig near Bath and the Newt are all nearby

The property – which is on the market for £9.5millin ‘would make someone the most commanding family home’, according to James Mackenzie, from estate agent Strutt & Parker

Ston Easton Park (pictured), near Bath, Somerset, was built in the 1760s on the site of a Tudor manor and stayed in the Hippisley family until 1956 and was saved from being demolished in 1958

William Rees-Mogg saved the property (its floor plan pictured) from demolition and began restoring it in the 1960s. He sold it to millionaire Peter Smedley in 1978, who converted it into a hotel. All staff have now been made redundant

Revered architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the house (the outbuildings’ floorplans pictured) as ‘exceptionally sumptuous’ and it has lots of incredible architectural details including stone floors, fine fireplaces, decorative ceilings and classical wall paintings

There is also a Grade II-listed coach house in need of renovation which already has planning permission to be turned into a hotel function suite.

James Mackenzie, from Strutt & Parker, said: ‘Ston Easton park is one of Somerset’s most iconic country houses.

‘It is in between Bath, Bristol, Bruton and Frome. Babington House, which is in the Soho House group, The Pig near Bath and the Newt are all nearby.

‘It’s where everyone is headed. It used to belong to the Rees-Mogg family and the kitchen was used in the film Gosford Park.

‘Its impressive stature would make someone the most commanding family home.’    

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