Duke’s of Dorchester are celebrating a hugely successful sale of the contents of a historic country house.

the sale established an auction record for a painting by Algernon Newton RA.

'A Dorset Landscape' was originally bought by the grandmother of the owner - an American heiress- at the Royal Academy in 1928 for £420. At Dukes the painting sold to a telephone bidder for just shy of £300,000 setting a world record price for the artist.

It was a spectacular start for Duke’s three-day auction of the contents of Wormington Grange in Gloucestershire

Bidders from around the globe fought online and on the telephone to acquire

something from one of the Cotswold’s most beautiful houses. John Evetts, the

owner, is the grandson of General Lord Ismay, Winston Churchill’s most trusted

military adviser during the war and the first Secretary General of NATO.

The viewing was exceptionally well-attended with Duke’s staff rubbing shoulders with hedge funders and cabinet ministers. Even Boris Johnson’s decorator was spotted in the socially-distanced crowd.

Some arrived by helicopter, whilst most of the Gloucestershire set came down the

mile long drive in mud splattered land rovers. There were even unconfirmed reports

that the Prince of Wales had dropped in for a private view - nearby Highgrove and

Wormington were both designed by the same architect.

A resurgence of interest in antique English furniture was evident throughout the

auction with many items of “ brown” furniture selling for multiples of estimates. The ormolu chandelier in the dining room realised almost £30,000 and even a modern cane work waste paper bin in the drawing room fetched £200.

Interior Decorators battled for many of the lots on offer. A simple wooden log bin mounted with burrs of knotty timber soared to over £3,000 against a pre-sale estimate of £500 and a set of curtains expected to sell for a hundred pounds went to a telephone bidder for over £5,000.

Guy Schwinge of Duke's said:“ Wormington combines everything one wants for a country house auction- a

beautiful house in a sublime parkland setting - lived in by the same family for a

century.

"The fact it was the home of General Lord Ismay - one of the great unsung

heroes of the Second World War who was lauded by Churchill and two American

Presidents - gives it added resonance”.

Auctioneer Cristian Beadman added: “ Classic period English furniture is back in fashion. Competition has been strong across the board and prices are definitely on the up.”