Inside the real-life Appledore: The £30m futuristic house with its own viewing tower and bowling alley that was home to Sherlock Holmes' nemesis (but its owner's wife thinks it's too flashy)

 

• The fictional home of Charles Magnussen is owned by Sir David McMurtry and known as Swinhay House
• Property, based in the south Cotswolds and designed by Roberts Limbrick, cost more than £30 million to complete
• The mansion has squash courts, a TV and games room, a fully-enclosed winter garden and a panorama room

By William Turvill
  It may have looked too grand and elaborate to be real when it hit millions of television screens across the UK on Sunday night.
But the real-life version Appledore - the home of Sherlock Holmes' latest nemesis, Charles Augustus Magnussen - is arguably even more surreal.
Owned by businessman Sir David McMurtry, the eight-bedroom mansion is set on ten floor levels and boasts a viewing tower located 14.5m above the lower ground floor level.

The real-life Appledore: This is the eight-bedroom, ten-floor mansion which played the home of Sherlock Holmes' new nemesis, Charles Augustus Magnussen

The country mansion, which boasts a viewing tower as well as a panorama room, is owned by businessman Sir David McMurtry, who spent £30 million on his home

Swinhay House - the real name for Appledore - was designed for Sir David, the head of high-tech precision engineering firm Renishaw, by Gloucester-based architects Roberts Limbrick.
Based near Wotton-under-Edge in the south Cotswolds, the property cost Sir David - who was knighted in 2001 for design and innovation - more than £30million to complete.
The building, shaped to his own vision of sustainability, has eight bedrooms, set in three separate wings, as well as an eight-bay underground garage. Around one of the bedroom wings flows a water canal that cascades into a lagoon.

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It also has a two-lane bowling alley, a 25m swimming pool and a squash court as well as boasting a fully-enclosed, glazed winter garden and a panorama room.
Sir David got planning approval to build the mansion in 2000 under guidance that allowed for the creation of houses of exceptional architectural interest within the green belt.

Swinhay House was designed for Sir David, the head of high-tech precision engineering firm Renishaw, by Gloucester-based architects Roberts Limbrick

A significant amount of Sunday night's episode of Sherlock, broadcast on BBC One, was filmed at the site in the south Cotswolds

Based near Wotton-under-Edge in the south Cotswolds, the property cost Sir David - who was knighted in 2001 for design and innovation - more than £30 million

According to Roberts Limbrick’s website, a third of the 23,250 sq ft property's floor space is located ‘partially underground behind a highly insulated waterproof concrete structure’.
It says: ‘The house is highly energy efficient with sophisticated computer controlled environmental systems.
‘It is also extremely well insulated and great care has been taken to eliminate thermal bridging. Alternative energy sources include a geothermal heating system.
‘The house contains large areas of glazing and the orientation of the building was carefully tuned to maximise passive gains. The glazing is triple layered gas filled units with integral blinds and could only be sourced and procured from Scandinavia.’

In the final episode of the third series of Sherlock, which was broadcast on BBC One on Sunday night, Appledore was the home of Charles Augustus Magnussen

It has a two-lane bowling alley (pictured), a 25m swimming pool and a squash court as well as boasting a fully enclosed and glazed winter garden and a panorama room

Its 60 acres of manicured parkland and gardens dominate an estate covering more than 230 acres of woodland, fields and orchards

Roberts Limbrick's website says a third of the 23,250 sq ft property's floor space is 'partially underground behind a highly insulated waterproof concrete structure'

Its 60 acres of manicured parkland and gardens dominate an estate covering more than 230 acres of woodland, fields and orchards.
Its principal architect was David Austin, who has won awards for his environmentally friendly approach to construction.
A striking solar-insulated glass atrium covers the mansion's indoor recreation area and the pool and leads the eye to a bow-shaped gallery capped by a glass turret with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.
The house is spread across 11 levels that incorporate several self-contained apartments, a Jacuzzi and sauna and a games and TV room.
Architect Andy Rathbone designed the parkland and gardens, the most striking feature of which is a curving lake, which has extraordinary bird sculptures and serves as an eco-friendly heat-exchanging system to control the temperature in the house.

The building, shaped to Sir David's own vision of sustainability, has eight bedrooms, set in three separate wings, as well as an eight-bay underground garage

Its 60 acres of manicured parkland and gardens dominate an estate covering more than 230 acres of woodland, fields and orchards

The property's principal architect was David Austin, who has won awards for his environmentally friendly approach to construction