Country home could make a perfect hotel

A sprawling West Sussex country home, known as 'the home of polo', is being sold for £25 million, with experts predicting that it will likely be turned into a country house hotel.

Cowdray Park House is 44,000 sq ft, with 13 bedrooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, wine cellars, tennis courts, 110-acre grounds and even a bowling alley.

The 19th century home is being sold by its current owner, Lord Cowdray, who is seeking to downsize with his wife, Marina, to a smaller property on his estate.

Edward de Mallet Morgan, of estate agent Knight Frank, said it had every amendment and facility that is expected of a house of such grandeur nowadays.

"For anyone keen on polo, this has to be the ultimate property as it literally adjoins to the polo club which is the British home of the sport," he said.

"Essentially, it has all the toys and ticks all the boxes for a house of this sort of calibre. Someone could have a lot of fun with the place and at £25 million, it represents something of a bargain."

The sale will not include the estate’s famous polo club, which hosts 450 matches a year, including the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup. It does, however, include the original practice ground where the sport was first played 100 years ago.