TWO country homes in the Maldon district have made it into a top ten list of the most expensive properties sold in Essex last year.

Estate agency Keller Williams carried out research on homes sold in Essex for £1 million or more in 2019. It found there were 339 residential properties sold with a seven-figure price tag.

Two properties in the Maldon district were in the top ten list with a combined price of more than £7 million.

Grove Manor, in Woodham Walter, came in fifth place with a sale price of £3.33 million in July 2019. The 11,000 sq ft newly-built house is designed in a Victorian style but with modern additions such as a gym, indoor swimming pool, tennis court, snooker room and leisure studio, and comes complete with a separate, self-contained flat.

In sixth place came Leys Manor, in Wickham Bishops, with a sale price of £3 million in January 2019. Occupying a nine-acre plot, it has six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a driveway stretching 100 metres.

The other properties in the top spots on the rich list were in areas including Epping.

Keller Williams director Russell Quirk said: “With 339 house sales at £1m and more in the past year, it shows that Essex remains a very prosperous place to live.

“It’s home to numerous high net worth individuals that despite political and economic uncertainty of late, still took the plunge and invested in the county’s finest bricks and mortar last year.

“It’s not all confined to areas closest to London – with Southend, Westcliff and Leigh-on-Sea achieving 23 high-value sales and Chelmsford’s postcode areas a very healthy and wealthy 29, including several at above £1.5 million.

“The combined value of just the top ten house sales in Essex in the last 12 months was close to £34m while the amount spent on all properties sold over the £1 million mark was an incredible £4.7 billion.”