entrance is believed to have survived from Jennings’s original design. In 1890, Ovey acquired the Hernes Estate in Rotherfield Greys, to which the family moved around 1902. They retained ownership of Badgemore and leased the house to Richard James Mead, Admiral of the Fleet, the 4th Earl of Clanwilliam. In April 1905, Clanwilliam received a visit at Badgemore from Queen Carola of Saxony. He died at Badgemore in August 1907. In 1916 Ovey sold the house and the estate to Augustas Vlasto, part of a family of successful international merchants originally from Greece. He found the house too large, however, and between 1939 – 41 set about building a replacement immediately to the north. This is the current Badgemore House that sits adjacent to the eighth tee. It was built in the Georgian style and incorporated some doors and fittings from the original building. During World War II both houses were requisitioned, with the older of the two eventually being demolished in 1946, the year that Vlasto died. On the death of Augustas Vlasto in 1946, the house was taken over by his son Michael who lived in the new house until 1950. The eagle-eyed may have spotted the monogrammed rainwater hoppers on the side of Badgemore House facing the eighth tee. One carries the initials AV; the other MV. By 1950, the property and its grounds were in the hands of the McAlpine family, owners of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd., the civil engineering company. William Hepburn McAlpine, the second son of Sir Robert, was living at Badgemore Park
with his wife Margaret Donnison and their daughter Margaret Elizabeth Henderson McAlpine (Miss) and her two adopted daughters Elizabeth Ann and Margaret Lynn. On William’s death in 1951, his widow (affectionately known by the family as ‘Great White Granny’), his daughter and two adopted granddaughters continued to live at Badgemore. William’s widow passed away in 1970 and the family put the estate up for sale (in October 1970). It included Badgemore House, a coach house (a stable and garage block with two flats over), an indoor riding school, The Shetland Stud (adjacent to the walled garden), The Lodge, Garden Cottage, West Lodge, and Home Farm (known as Badgemore Stud Farm) together with 120 acres of surrounding woods and parkland. The Coach House, now the clubhouse, was a six-car garage with staff accommodation above. One of WH McAlpine’s sons, Robert Edwin (Lord McAlpine of Moffat) was an enthusiastic racehorse breeder and ran a stud at Brackenhill, just outside Henley-on-Thames. It was there that his son Sir William built the current house Fawley Hill in 1960. In addition to the stud, the estate is shared with over 20 animal species, a restored Victorian railway station and a steam railway. In conversation with Lady McAlpine at Fawley Hill, we learned that when the Badgemore Park estate was sold, Miss McAlpine moved to another of the local properties owned by the McAlpine family, Westfield Farm (which they had purchased in 1948). Within two years, Badgemore Park Golf Club was open for business. But that’s another story.
MICHAEL VLASTO
In World War II, Michael Vlasto was awarded the DFC and Bar. On 28 April 1943, he piloted a Dakota aircraft, which landed 150 miles inside enemy territory in the Burmese jungle and rescued 18 wounded and sick men. To assist with the landing, the words ‘PLANE LAND HERE NOW’ and a white line had been painted on the ground. This was the first time an airborne rescue mission had been attempted and it led to the air recovery of the sick and wounded all over Southeast Asia. One description of the take-off from the jungle recounts ‘Michael Vlasto gripped the control column as the end of the field rushed towards his plane. The runway was too short and they were overloaded. With knuckles white and his face dripping with sweat, he pulled back on the stick and the plane staggered into the air, brushing against the treetops below.’ In 1972 Michael presented the newly formed golf club with its first competition trophy, The Vlasto Trophy.
9 / THE LIMES
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