Langsmeade House was built under architecture in 1924 in typical Arts & Crafts style. Most of the furniture and decorations date from the twenties and thirties. It is surrounded by 3.5 acres of mature gardens and can boast lovely views,
spacious rooms, fire places and oak panelling. Guests can walk around, relax in a hammock between
old fruit trees or sit on a large terrace overlooking the Muswell Hills amidst a great variety of
herbs and perennials. Wildlife galore as the garden is frequented by badgers, foxes, munjaks, rabbits,
squirrels and weasels. Bird lovers can borrow our binoculars and study song thrush, green woodpeckers,
pheasants and partridges. The red kite from the Chiltern Hills is a regular guest, albeit high overhead.
Illustrious people have resided here. Band leader Jack Hilton (Tiger Rag & We're in the Money)
lived in Langsmeade House during World War II. His orchestra practiced in the big barn nextdoor
whilst comedian Arthur Askey ("Hello Playmates!") lived in Langsmeade Cottage. Jack Hilton organised
wild parties at regular intervals to which London theatre celebrities from the thirties and forties
were invited. Some older village people still remember the odd scandalous detail.
World motorbike champion Mike Hailwood was born in Langsmeade House. The family moved to Nettlebed
in Oxfordshire soon after. Sadly the much loved Hailwood was later killed in a tragic car accident when
he was in his forties. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), war hero from World War I and author
of "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", stayed with General Fuller and his Russian princess wife
in Langsmeade House till a few days before his mysterious death. The house maid from those days,
in her nineties and living in the next village, vividly remembers polishing his boots and receiving
a tip worth a month's wages from the eccentric Lawrence.
Langsmeade House is a house full of noises when the wind plays around its corners, as can be expected
from an old place. Some of the noises could be interpreted as footsteps or the clearing of throats.
A few guests have seen a young boy in old fashioned clothing cross the corridor on the first floor.
Others reported an army officer standing next to their bed, lost in his thoughts. However, strangely
enough, nobody has felt uncomfortable. If indeed there is a spirit in Langsmeade House, it surely
is a benign character who obviously so loves the house that he has no intention to move on.
On July 3rd 2003, Carlton TV used Langsmeade House to re-unite 34 year old Michael Shirley, given a life sentence in January 1988 for the "Cinderella murder case", with his family a few hours after the Court of Appeal in London quashed his conviction for the brutal murder of Linda Cook in 1986. Scientific evidence finally proved his innocence. The emotional event was broadcasted on Central News.
In April 2014 Langsmeade House featured in Channel 4's Four in a Bed programme, series 6, and emerged as the winner.
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