The great estate

ASK Lord Rotherwick when the last time a cottage came up for rent on his 5,000-acre Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire and he’ll struggle to remember. ‘We haven’t had one come up for well over a year,’ says the 65-year-old owner, who downsized to a smaller estate house from Grade I-listed Cornbury House in 2016. ‘It’s the tranquil environment that people enjoy the most. But you have great difficulty if you want to get the cottages back —people love them dearly.’

Rupert Sturgis at Knight Frank in Cirencester (01285 882001)