This seems like it might be a cheerful bit of good news for you folks that are in the Warrenton area 
“…the property will be reopened for foxhunting for the first time in more than 30 years.”
http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab2.cfm?newsid=15329096&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506066&rfi=6
Canterbury will be ‘returned to former glory’
By John Toler
10/04/2005
After years on the market, Canterbury Farm, a 373-acre country estate on the Springs Road, has been sold.
According to Joe Allen Jr., president of Allen Real Estate Company Limited, the property was purchased by Jack and Wendy Andrews of Middleburg.
Allen Real Estate was both the listing and selling agent, and the selling price for Canterbury – owned since 1971 by Michael and Ann Susik – was $7.5 million.
The original asking price was $9.5 million, but the property was reduced to $7.5 million earlier this year.
Although Canterbury was on the market for a long time, the Andrews’ decision to purchase the estate was made very quickly.
“We had just returned home on a Saturday from Ireland, where we had attended a wedding,” said Wendy Andrews. “We saw a photo of Canterbury in a newspaper, and we liked what we saw and called Joe Allen on Monday morning.”
Less than two weeks later, on Sept. 30, the deal was closed.
According to Wendy Andrews, the land will be put into a conservation easement. Extensive restoration work is planned for the brick main house – built by Col. Albert E. Pierce between 1932-36 for $7 million – as well as the outbuildings, fences and stone walls.
“We are going to bring Canterbury back to its former glory,” said Wendy Andrews.
In addition, the property will be reopened for foxhunting for the first time in more than 30 years.
“We look forward to having hunt meets at Canterbury,” remarked Wendy Andrews, who has foxhunted in her native Ireland. “And we plan to use the English pub in the Hunt Room,” for the hunt meets, an old-time Canterbury tradition.
After the restoration is complete, the couple will decide whether to make Canterbury their home, or to sell it.
“We really love our place on Sam Fred Road in Middleburg,” she added. “We may, or may not, move to Canterbury.”
Described in an Allen Real Estate’s sales brochure as “one of the most beautiful Georgian masterpieces in America,” the three-story main house at Canterbury has 12 bedrooms (including eight master suites with fireplaces), 11 full bathrooms and five half-bathrooms.
Unique features include the three-story circular flying staircase, built of white Carrara marble; the library or “Weather Room,” which is connected to a weather vane on the roof; and the Hunt Room in the basement, designed in the style of the great hall of an ancient Tudor castle.
Outside are numerous agricultural outbuildings related to the previous owner’s herd of Santa Gertrudis cattle. There is also a swimming pool with cabana, tennis courts and a tenant house. The property has 3,500 feet of river frontage on the Rappahannock.
Just a month or so on the market, and someone put down $18 million for it! Must be nice.
Plus of course the expenses for heating, maintenance, and the like.
