This house dating from c.1861 originally served as the coach house and stables to the property adjoining it. It was altered and enlarged at various times, most notably in 1928 by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Sir Roderick Jones, the chairman of Reuters, and his wife the author Enid Bagnold. The large drawing room created at garden level out of the coach house and outbuildings was used to entertain diverse foreign dignatories, such as the Moslem leader Jinnah and the Maharaja of Alwar. The latter caused a considerable flurry by enquiring in advance whether there would be meat or meat-based sauces, leather-seated chairs, curtains which might conceal an assassin, or cats to which he was allergic. Other guests included H.G. Wells, Harold Nicolson, Margot Asquith, Bernard Shaw and Joachim von Ribbentrop.
