Sculpture mansion up for £1.75m

A manor house featuring a garden full of unique sculptures in a Staffordshire hamlet is close to being sold for about £1.75 million.

Garmelow Manor was sculptor Arnold Machin's home for many years. He designed the iconic portrait of the Queen which has appeared on postage stamps since 1967.

Arnold, his wife Patricia – a flower painter – and their artist/architect son Francis created some amazing sculptures and buildings combining the countryside and modern technology.

The family moved to the manor at Eccleshall, near Stafford, from a cottage at Offleyrock, near Bishop's Offley, where Arnold, who received the OBE, had previously created a magical garden full of intriguing vistas and sculpture.

Garmelow Manor, a grade-II listed early 19th century building, has six double bedrooms and more than 30 acres of gardens and fields and a range of red brick farm buildings in an enclosed courtyard. The old millpond has been converted into an ornamental lake with a boathouse and a fountain.

Among the unusual items in the gardens are a Second World War Jeep and a blue Mercury telephone booth, which was designed by Francis who was chairman of Machin Designs in Stone.

He also designed the garden seats including one with a trellis front like the ace of spades.

There are also grottos and a topiary garden.

The estate was put on the market following the death last year of Francis at the age of 57.

He had been working with Royal Mail on a number of projects connected with the 40th anniversary of his father's portrait but suffered a sudden heart attack whilst on holiday in France.

He had written the text for a presentation pack and contributed his own sculpture of his father for a medal cover.

Francis was a brilliant designer of garden buildings and he had had some of the farm buildings restored and turned into an art gallery overlooking the lake. He also created studios for resident artists as part of his tribute to his Stoke-born father who died in 1999 aged 87.

Arnold, who taught at the Royal College of Art and Royal Academy School, also worked as a designer for Wedgwood and Royal Worcester Porcelain and his iconic image has been reproduced more than 200 billion times on stamps and coins.

His son, who left three children, set up the Machin Arts Foundation, an initiative providing studios for students studying figurative art on and near the family estate.

A garage on the estate houses a massive Rolls Royce Merlin engine, which was used in the Spitfire, which Francis had been working on restoring to working order before his death. The attic also contains a large unfinished model train layout.

The property, which also includes a two-bedroom staff flat, two studio cottage, two fields and a paddock, was put on the market through the Telford office of agents Savills.

A sale has now been agreed but not completed for close to the asking price of £1.75 million. The property has been taken off the market as it is under offer.

In 1990 thieves made off with a pair of antique heavy 2ft tall stone reclining lions from the entrance to Garmelow Manor.