Site of prestigious prep school up for sale

The site of one of Staffordshire’s leading education facilities, which has been occupied as a prep school since 1938, is being put up for sale.

The Smallwood Manor Estate, which is centred around a Grade II listed manor house built over 135 years ago, has been made available for purchase to coincide with Denstone College Preparatory School’s impending relocation to a new site at Denstone College in the summer.

The 48 acre estate close to Uttoxeter features a number of buildings including a former stable block, a separate Arts block, an enclosed swimming pool, a chapel and four residential properties. The surrounding grounds also accommodate a walled garden, tennis courts, playing fields and a newly-constructed artificial turf pitch.

Originally built as a country manor residence in 1886, designed by Robert Edis, Smallwood Manor has provided the principal teaching and administrative function of Denstone College Preparatory School for the past 83 years.

In recent years the school has promoted itself as an events and conferencing venue at weekends and outside of term time, with a number of rooms in the Manor House now providing boarding accommodation to support this use.

Sadie Janes, director, in Savills’ Midlands development team, who is handling the sale, said: “The availability of the estate at Smallwood Manor presents an exciting opportunity for an occupier, developer or investor to shape its ongoing legacy.

“The site itself is in a desirable rural setting and represents a truly unique opportunity with a range of potential future uses. With easy access to nearby cities of Birmingham, Derby, Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent and an eclectic mix of buildings across the estate, we are anticipating a great deal of interest in this site.”