The house featured in the first ever episode of Midsommer Murders is up for sale for a cool 2million. Black Park Cottage is a 400 year old house and was a home and office of the Black Park at this time. Black Park is 530 acres of pine woods, heathland and it situated two miles from its neighbour which happens to be Pinewood Studios. It is five miles from Slough which is where Midsommer was based, except it was called Causton in the programme.

Victims have been killed in every room of the house and in the acre of garden that comes with the six bedroom house because it is not only Midsommer Murders which has been filmed here. Harry Potter, Spooks, Waking The Dead, James Bond, Torchwood and even The Professionals have all been filmed here at one time or other. The house is set in a woodland setting and is the only house situated in Black Park but amazingly it is only half an hour from central London and just twenty minutes from Heathrow airport.

The current owners bought the house ten years ago and before that it had not been touched for forty years. The couple set about opening up all of the spaces such as the fireplaces and converting storage spaces on the top floor of the property into bedrooms and they removed many walls inside. The house commands fees of around 1,500 and 2,000 from television and film companies but Adrian and Noreen, the couple who live there, had to wait eight years before they could refurbish due to costs. The job took builders two years and cost the couple 500,000 but during the eight years they had scoured antique fairs and markets for interesting things to refurbish the house with.

The panelling in the sitting room is from Kings College in Cambridge and in the library is woodwork from a gothic church somewhere in Europe. The ceiling beams are from an 11th century house in Colchester and the large patterned radiators are from a French chateau as did the arch on the staircase. Although the style inside the house is gothic it is definitely no oppressive as the rooms are light and airy with high ceilings. The piano in the main sitting room is from the Savoy hotels Foyer Restaurant and has been played many times by Frank Sinatra when he stayed there. Noreen paid 11,000 for it when it came up in auction in 2007.

The garden has also had an overhaul as there were sheep grazing on it when they initially bought the house. They set about building a pavilion and installed a waterfall and pond, Noreen uses the Pavilion as her gym but it would be a perfect office space for someone. A loggia has been added to the house which houses the outdoor kitchen and large dining area.

Compared to other houses in the area Black Park Cottage has relatively cheap, Peter Jones of Dragons Den lives next door in a 20million home. Agents in the area say that the house has potential to be made bigger to include a swimming pool and tennis court and it is not listed so it should sail through planning.

http://www.uklandforsale.org