By Megan Murray
Perhaps more than anywhere else in England, the Cotswolds feels like the backdrop to a children’s novel. It’s idyllic to the point of caricature with its limestone cottages, village greens and winding lanes.
Folly Farm, a seven-bedroom farmhouse near Bourton-on-the-Water, on the market for £4.5mn, is certainly something from a picture book, having not only a unique character of its own but a fantastical string of past owners.
Indeed, that’s how James Piesse and his family, the current owners, first came across it. Just over a decade ago, Toti Gifford, who co-founded Giffords Circus with his wife Nell, announced they were selling the site and Piesse leapt at the opportunity.
Giffords Circus was founded in 2000 with the aim of recreating the glamour of the travelling village-green circus. It soon became a cult summer event and, for a time, the family and some of the performers were based at Folly Farm. Sadly Nell died in 2019, but tales of the farm’s circus years still circulate locally — something Piesse recalls fondly. “We went to Giffords Circus every year with our children, so when I heard about the property, I rang Toti. During their time it was an extraordinary set-up, with camels and ponies, magicians and acrobats wandering around.”
With 30 acres of rolling hills, its own valley, ponds and four spring-fed lakes, Folly Farm offers plenty of scope for adventure. The current owners use the water course for wild swimming, fishing and canoeing. Before the Giffords, the estate belonged to Tom Bartlett, an eccentric duck farmer celebrated for reviving rare breeds — and creating new ones, such as the Miniature Silver Appleyard. In the 1980s, he opened the farm at weekends, welcoming families to meet his 160-odd breeds of duck.
Not every characterful owner has been a careful custodian, however. In his nine years at the farm, Piesse has overseen significant restoration of the site, including clearing 300 oak trees damaged by grey squirrels.
“When I first walked onto the land it felt like a mystical Arcadian realm,” he says. “It had become completely overgrown under previous owners, like a scene from Sleeping Beauty, where you had to hack your way through.” Today, the grounds include space for outdoor entertaining and a flock of Swiss sheep, while his wife tends a productive kitchen garden yielding plums, strawberries and winter raspberries.
Inside, the house has undergone modern renovations. There’s now underfloor heating beneath the reclaimed oak floor downstairs, and an enormous 45ft-long sitting room that’s airy and light. “The space only needs upkeep now,” says Piesse. “The farm has given us family traditions that the children will remember forever. Every Christmas we crack the ice and jump in the pond — no matter the temperature. Already, they tell me these are the moments they look back on the most.”
Photography: Savills; Alamy
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