Peter Kay wasn’t sure whether he wanted to move back to the UK back in 2011. The former banker at Standard Chartered was living in Asia, but whilevisiting his parents in England,he saw a newspaperadvertisem*nt for Lea Hurst. Thestone manor was the childhoodhome of Florence Nightingale, widely considered the founder of modern nursing.
Kay liked the house’s eye-catching position on a hilltop overlooking a valley and the privacy it offered while still being close to a village with primary schools. But it was Lea Hurst’s famous former resident that made him decide to make an offer.
ADVERTIsem*nT
CONTINUE READING BELOW
“I didn’t want to miss my chance to own a piece of British history,” Kay says.“Nightingale’s one of the most notable British female figures ofthe modern age, and I fell in love with the idea of following in her footsteps.”
More than 13 years after reading that advertisem*nt and buying the property for £1.7 million ($2.16 million), he’s listed Lea Hurst with Blue Book Agency for £3.75 million. For that price, a buyer gets 12 840 square feet of space with 13 bedrooms and seven bathrooms situated on 19.3 landscaped acres of rolling green countryside. Kay says he’s selling Lea Hurst because he’s moving to his wife’s home country of the Philippines, where they own a resort.
The house itself isin the small Derbyshire village of Holloway (population 520), and hasan imposing gray stone façade decorated with wisteria and ivy.
The layout is set over three floors, with a gothic arched front door opening to theground floor, which has a formal reception room. Amodern kitchen has granite countertops, an Aga stoveand a butler’s pantry.
There’s also a playroom on this level for Kay’s three young children, as well as a room with a snooker table, a dining roomand a light-filledbreakfast room.
Kay appreciateshow much space the place had for his children. “We’ve turned the house back into a family home for the first time since the Nightingale daughters were running around here in the 1820s,” he says.
A stone staircase leads up to the 13 bedrooms split over two levels, including the principal bedroom with a large walk-in dressing room, as well as an en suite bathroom with a roll-top bathtub and walk-in shower.
Kay says he was always interested in history—it’s what he studied atuniversity—but since he moved into the house, he was eagerto learn more about Florence Nightingale’s life and legacy.
“I’ve become a trustee of the Florence Nightingale Museum in London, and it hasopened my eyes to all her achievements,” he says.“I was unaware that she was a genius statistician.”
He’s since started collecting itemssuch as a statue of Nightingale that has a twin at No. 10 Downing Street. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid tribute to her with the statute in the background during her 200th birthday in 2020.
Kayhas references to Nightingale throughout the house. In a hallway hangs acopy of the Jerry Barrett painting The Mission of Mercy, which depicts her receiving wounded soldiers atScutari Hospital in Istanbul during the Crimean War.
Lea Hurst was originally a 17th century farmhouseand came into the possession of Nightingale’s father in the early 1800s. He“extended the home considerably,” according to Kay. In her writing, Nightingale described Lea Hurst as a “smallcounty house.” With its 13 bedrooms, it’s very large bymodern standards, though perhaps not to Victorian aristocrats.
ADVERTIsem*nT:
CONTINUE READING BELOW
The Nightingales moved to an 80-bedroom manor in Hampshire in 1826and used Lea Hurst as a summer retreat,spendingseveral months a year there. Friends frequently visited, and Victorian novelist Elizabeth Gaskell finished North and South while staying at Lea Hurst.
The house, however historic, wasn’t kept in great condition by previous owners, Kay says. It was used as a nursing homefrom the 1950suntil the early 2000sand needed five years ofextensive work and“north” of£1 million tomake it a livable homefor his young family.
“Amazingly, all the original period features survived it being a nursing home, likethe oldfireplaces and shutters and floors,” Kay says. “But we really had to knock it into shape because it had sadly become quite neglected over the years.”
Thatrenovation included redoing the electric and plumbing systemsand restoring originalJacobean stone fireplaces. Kay says he also restoredthe gardens to how they were in the Victorian age.
“I was basically naive about how much work it would take,” Kay says, noting that it was stressful to have builders in and out alongside his growing family. “But turning it into a family home again has been really satisfying.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his favourite part of the house is a room that was frequently used by Nightingale herself. It’s his office, which used to be her private sitting room. It has expansive views of the rolling hills outside and a large balcony.
“You can really feel her essence in here,” he says. “It’s where she would receive visitors like cabinet ministers and where she held the meetings about setting up the first nursing school.”
As for who he thinks would be interested in buying the house, Kay says the title deed permits up to five bedrooms to be used for bed-and-breakfast purposes and that he has occasionallytaken in guests. But he hopes he can “handthe baton” toanother family, one that can enjoy it like his children and the Nightingales did.
Kay says Nightingale once wrote that it broke her heart to leave Lea Hurst.“I could be saying that quite soon as well,” he adds.
© 2024 Bloomberg
