'We bought it on the spot': Michael Caine's former Oxfordshire home for sale for £10m

Rectory Farm House dates back to the 17th century - (Savills)

“The house was gorgeous – about two hundred years old, with gabled windows and beautiful oak beams and it was surrounded by what had once been a magnificent garden with —I could hardly believe our luck— two hundred yards of river frontage,” wrote Sir Michael Caine in his autobiography, describing the Oxfordshire house that would become his home of 15 years.

In the summer of 1984, the actor and his wife, Shakira, were property hunting in the south of England, looking to relocate from Hollywood.

They were struggling to find a home that would meet their “list of criteria” and had just been gazumped on another house in the same village of Wallingford.

Then they saw Rectory Farm House, with its leaded windows and gable roof.

The Caines were so enchanted by the house when they first saw it that they made an offer on the spot (Savills)

“As we drove up through the gates marked ‘Rectory Farmhouse’, Shakira leant over to me and whispered, ‘We’ve got to have it!’ ‘We haven’t even bloody seen it,’ I grumbled – but I should have known better,” Caine wrote.

“We bought it on the spot – and what’s more, we arranged with the owner to rent it from her for the summer until the purchase went through.”

The Grade II-listed country house, which sits on the Thames, needed “just about everything doing to it”, according to Caine.

The couple wanted to remove the old extension, which had been added in the 1950s, and replace it with a new one.

Caine added an extension to the house, which today is home to the

The garden was “shabby and neglected”, too overgrown to see the river, and with a croquet lawn “ready to spring back to life”.

Shakira was responsible for redesigning the old part of the house, while Caine would tackle the new extension and the garden.

For Caine, the renovation became the priority. He wrote: “The movies I worked on in 1984 were taken on, more with the new conservatory at Rectory Farmhouse in mind than their critical reception.”

Starring in Woody Allen’s Hannah and her Sisters, though, took him back to the US and away from the house.

With 600 feet of river frontage, the property also has its own boathouse (Savills)

Renovations continued slowly in the background, and in the summer of 1987, the Caines were finally able to relocate.

As well as restoring the original 17th century gabled house, the couple added a new, modern extension that today features a vaulted-ceilinged reception room, bar, cinema room, games room and library, with an indoor swimming pool, spa and 16-person sauna housed in a grand, Victorian-style glass pavilion.

Caine kept his port collection in a hexagonal Georgian dovecote, one of the house’s many outbuildings, with the shelves still bearing his labels. The whole project cost “twice as much as I thought it would”, Caine wrote.

The family lived at the house for 15 years, with Caine travelling regularly for work. They had also bought a flat in Chelsea Harbour as a London base.

(Savills)

They eventually sold Rectory Farm House in 1998 and moved temporarily into the London flat – partly because of the traffic to London, and partly because it felt like the time for a change.

Since Caine, the house has had two different owners, with the most recent having bought it for £5.5 million in 2021.

Today, the house is back on the market for £10 million with Savills, and looking for a new owner.

Approached from a driveway —the same one where Shakira Caine said she wanted to buy it— the 11,660 square foot main house has six bedrooms, several reception rooms, a boot room, library, two kitchens, music room and wine store.

The property has a leisure complex set within a Victorian-style glass pavilion (Savills)

Outside, in its 8.3 acres of grounds, there are numerous outbuildings, including Caine’s dovecote, a two-bedroom cottage, lodge used as staff accommodation, three-car garage and “party barn”, which also has its own kitchen and toilet.

A tennis court, croquet lawns (back in action, thanks to Caine) and an outdoor kitchen lie in the gardens, along with flowerbeds, a vegetable garden, an orchard and greenhouses for green-fingered buyers.

Best of all, there are three lakes, all with islands. One, accessed by two wooden bridges, even features a summerhouse and terrace. Beyond the gardens lies the Thames, with its boathouse and mooring jetty.

The features that first enticed Caine —the building’s architecture, gardens, access to the river— are still in place today, along with the fruits of his costly renovation. One of the walls also bears an inscription from The Italian Job, in celebration of its previous owner: “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.”

“Architecturally interesting, this quintessentially English country house affords its future custodian a true Swallows and Amazons lifestyle,” says property agent Hugh Maconochie.

“Marrying period charm with the convenience of 21st century living, Rectory Farm House provides the opportunity to entertain on a grand scale. It is a perfect country retreat for those seeking a private edge of village estate, hidden from view.”