Tommy Steele lived here….Montrose House, Petersham

Today I went to visit the Petersham Village Open Gardens. 8 gardens were open, all lovely and well looked after. 3 of the houses were large and very old. This house is late 17C and is on a sharp bend in the road as you come from Richmond towards Ham. It was built for Sir Thomas Jenner, Justice of the Common Pleas under James II but was named after the Dowager Duchess of Montrose who lived there from 1837-1847. It was bought by Tommy Steele in 1969 ( he previously lived on Lower Teddington Road in a much more modest house) and was sold by him in 2004. We also visited Petersham Lodge which was a grace and favour of house originally. It was lived in by Price Rupert Loewenstein, the longtime financial manager of the Rolling Stones, until his death in 2014..he purchased it in1987 for £2 million. Also nearby we visited Elm Lodge another 18C house which was a bit smaller and originally called a cottage. This was lived in by Charles Dickens and apparently he wrote much of Nicholas Nickleby when living there. There are many other big houses in this area as they are near Ham House and were accessible as country  houses from central London via the river Thames which is very near, as is Ham House. In marked contrast we visited 3 houses which are very modern and have obviously been built in the last few years. The gardens were smaller but it looked as if no expense had been spared with the amazing courtyard gardens, paved areas, pools, sculptures and expensive planting. No lawns in sight!