58 Nevill Road, Rottingdean, Brighton BN2 7HG
Hello I’m Clive Bonny, with my wife Sue, current owners of Windmill Downs.
We fell in love with Rottingdean when we were children. It’s strong sense of community, history of arts and crafts, and unique location overlooking the City, the sea and the South Downs.
We were living in Richmond London and travelled to this coastal village almost every weekend with our children to enjoy walking across the South Downs, the coastal sea paths with all the benefits of a seaside holiday resort.
Our two children went to Brighton University graduating in Business Studies and are both now leading happy independent lives in Sussex. Windmill Downs has been a wonderful family home and we spent a six figure sum modernising it, adding space and planting the garden when we moved in. However we no longer need 6 bedrooms with a very large garden so we are now looking for something smaller in the same area.
When we moved here we had already done a lot of research on what we wanted in our ideal home. A vibrant local community, amazing environment, total privacy, easy access to Brighton City Centre, London, airports, award winning local schools and colleges, healthy lifestyle resort facilities and thriving local business networks. Windmill Downs uniquely ticked all the boxes.
So now we are just sharing why we chose this home and how it has improved our quality of life in so many different ways. It’s impossible to share all these on a standard estate agency brochure. So I hope you enjoy our narrative and all the photos we’ve taken to show you why this home is so special.
With our best wishes
Clive and Sue Bonny
Property Particulars:
Stunning views over Brighton City, detached, 6 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms, 3 Receptions, conservatory, hydrotherapy spa
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Built 1990 to modern standards: 360 cliff top views over the City, sea and South Downs National Park
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Tenure: Freehold; 3 Floors: Double glazed windows and privacy on all sides
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Security alarms in all rooms with 70 MBS wifi BT broadband
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6 Bedrooms: 4 Bathrooms: 4 Receptions, Dining, Study, Cineroom
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Shaker granite Kitchen with centre island; double oven gas and electric
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Internal area: 4074 sq ft Parking 10 cars: Double garage, remote access
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1800 Sq Metre Garden; grass lawns; brick garden summer house with electrics
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Heating: Radiators all rooms; mains gas; kitchen gas and electric
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Water: Mains (metered) Drainage: Mains; Brick boundary walls on all sides
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Hydrotherapy Spa installed 2020 for 6 persons; large conservatory
Additional features: Unique old world Rottingdean village location inside Brighton City with fast trains to London. Protected from future adjoining devlopments. Gated entry, laundry/utility room, rear entrance onto South Downs National Park and Smock Mill with 60 acres of open protected nature reserve. Full privacy with no overlooking neighbours and no external planning approvals allowed outside the house boundary walls.
Brighton Station 10 min drive, 3 minute walk to shops, pubs, restaurants, 1 min walk to bus stop every 15 minutes to City centre, Roedean School and Brighton College 5 minutes drive, 3 minutes to Brighton Marina
Description of home: Windmill Downs 58 Nevill Road was originally built in 1922 for Lord William Beauchamp Nevill the Marquess of Abergavenny, and passed onto Lord Richard Plantagenet Nevill the Deputy Lieutenant of Sussex and Marquess of Camden. The house was rebuilt 1990 with more space, cavity brick walls and strengthened foundations after the great storm of 1987, adding a double garage, conservatory and independent living annex and home office. 58 is the first house in Rottingdean from Brighton on a corner plot with uninterrupted views across the English Channel and South Downs over Rottingdean Windmill and Beacon Hill. The Isle of Wight 45 miles away is visible on a clear day.
Best things about home: Windmill Downs 58 Nevill Road is on the southerly edge of the South Downs National Park as a designated protected area with clear views to Beachy Head and over Brighton Marina and the City. The village centre is just 5 minutes walk. The house sits alongside Rottingdean's signature Windmill known as Smock Mill built in 1802 on Beacon Hill where in 1588 the fire warnings of the Spanish Armada invasion were made.
Beacon Hill is an open nature reserve with 60 acres of chalk grassland and includes a Neolithic long barrow burial site. 150 years ago Beacon Hill sported public Bare Knuckle Boxing contests and the original Cricket Club. The area is listed in the Domesday Book and was given to the Lord of Lewes after the Norman invasion of 1066.
The BN2 area of Rottingdean is well recorded as a centre of heritage and cultural learning. 3500 years ago our Neolithic ancestors set up a community after discovering local flint for toolmaking. A Benedictine Cluniac Priory was formed in 1077 by William de Warenne and St Margarets Anglican Church dates from 1237 AD. In 1377 French raiders burned the Church with the villagers inside. The Beard family set up the Quakers circa 1650.
Nestling within Brighton City with spectacular cliff views, Rottingdean is a small quintessential English village with just 2500 inhabitants Rottingdean has been home to many celebrities. These have included Sir Edward Burne-Jones, pre-Raphaelite artist and designer, family of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, novelists William Black, William Nicholson and Angela Thirkell, poet Rudyard Kipling, music hall entertainer GH Elliott, world tennis and table tennis champion Fred Perry, folk singer Bob Copper, playwright Enid Bagnold and husband Sir Roderick Jones Chairman of Reuters.
The Black Horse Pub dated 1512 is 4 minutes walk. Rottingdean Cricket Club is one of the world’s oldest dated 1758. In 1896 the village became the terminus of the world’s first electrically driven marine railway called Daddy Long Legs which travelled to Brighton Palace Pier over the sea. An open-air theatre now sits on the beach entrance to the village where smugglers offloaded their bounty into tunnels under the village. Brighton Football Club, a top 10 Premiership side with 32,000 seats at the American Express stadium is in Falmer just 3 miles away on the bus and railway. The coast road gives easy access in 10 minutes to Brighton City centre leisure, health, hotels, shops and restaurants, business centre, schools, 60 minute trains to London and 20 minute trains and buses to London Gatwick airport.