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To rent: homes where the Royal Parks will look after your garden
Rashid Razaq, Evening Standard26.08.08
They boast some of the best views in London, have enviable addresses ... and you won't need to bother to mow the lawn.
Complimentary gardening is just one of the perks for tenants who take on one of the gatekeeper's lodges in the royal parks, which are being rented out for the first time.
New Lodge, in the centre of Hyde Park, will be on the market in September. Its weekly rent is £4,950. Built in 1876, the three-storey, five-bedroom building has been refurbished and modernised, and boasts a large secluded garden that will be maintained by park ground staff.
Tenants will get their own key to the park gates, which are locked at night. Royal Parks chief executive Mark Camley and trustee Joel Cadbury will host a viewing for potential tenants vetted by letting agent Knight Frank.
Blackheath Gate Lodge in Greenwich Park and Richmond Gate Lodge in Richmond Park are being refurbished and will come on to the market later this autumn.
Five other properties have already been let: Prince of Wales West Lodge in Hyde Park; Queen's Gate Lodge in Kensington Gardens; two lodges in Regent's Park; and a flat in Bushy Park.
Prince of Wales Lodge, a one-storey Grade II-listed house, was offered for rent at £650 a week.
A five-minute walk to Knightsbridge, it underwent a £40,000 renovation after lying empty for years. Queen's Gate Lodge, a twostorey, two-bed house, was advertised as ideal for a "modern family or couple who enjoy the hustle of Kensington living".
Selected properties from among the 56 lodges have been let out as part of the Better Buildings programme. The commercial venture was launched to help fund an estimated £60 million maintenance bill.
The rental scheme comes after Royal Parks, a charitable trust, was criticised by the Commons public accounts committee for failing to exploit its resources financially.
A Royal Parks spokeswoman said: "Ensuring the buildings are occupied is an excellent way of keeping the lodges conserved while delivering best value to the taxpayer."
The lodges are being let on short-term licenses of between two and three years. Blackheath Gate Lodge was built in 1840. It has two floors, four bedrooms, and a large garden.
Two-storey Richmond Gate Lodge, built in 1750 under George II, is Grade II-listed and has two bedrooms and a medium-sized rear garden.
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