Beguiled by a place

IN late May 1944, COUNTRY LIFE published a pair of articles on Hall Place, which stands in the intimate chalkland valley of the River Meon. This ‘delightful house’, begun in the early 18th century, had been remodelled on the eve of the Second World War by the architect Ernest Barrow. The accompanying black-and-white illustrations show a series of stylish interiors with chintz-covered furniture and eye-catching paintings and sculpture. They represented, in the eyes of the article’s author, Christopher Hussey, ‘the last years of civilised life as enjoyed during the 1930s’.

The renovation of the house had been undertaken for its most recent owners, the Hon Ronald Cubitt and—the real figure behind the project—his wife, Sonia, née Keppel. Sonia was the daughter of Alice Keppel, the sociable and cosmopolitan mistress of Edward VII. The Cubitts were divorced in 1947, but Sonia thereafter continued to live at Hall Place, lavishing care on the property. As a consequence, the house became well known to the Cubitts’ granddaughter, Camilla Shand, now The Duchess of Cornwall.

Hall Place remains immediately recognisable