The Car that Founded a School

I am often asked how Bruern Abbey School came to be founded. The answer is – as the result of a car. In particular, a 1973 Azure Blue Bentley T1 which I still have after some 40 odd years.

It was the early 1980s and I was living in London and practicing as an international tax attorney. I had always been interested in classic cars and was therefore particularly attracted by a client’s magnificent Bentley S1 which had been supplied and maintained by P &A Wood, then, and still today, generally considered the country’s leading Bentley and Rolls Royce dealers and restorers. I was therefore put in touch with them, and before long found myself the owner of, not a vintage S1 Bentley, but of a rather more moderately priced 1973 T1 Bentley.

Having acquired such a car the question then arose as to where to drive it, London not being the most conducive of places! At the time I had several friends who spent weekends in the county, in particular in the Cotswold’s, and I soon found myself making regular weekend jaunts there in my newly acquired car. However it was not long thereafter that I was told of a cottage for rent in the village of Bibury, which, although quite small, had the essential necessity of a garage.

So began life as a ‘weekender.’ As an Anglophile American I threw myself totally in to country life, learning to ride (never particularly well) and joining the local hunt, where on Saturdays I generally found myself at the back of the field. Still it was an enjoyable break from the Monday to Friday grind as a tax lawyer.

As enjoyable as my small cottage was, it was very small indeed and it was not long before I started looking for something a bit larger in the area. In so doing I came across an early 18th century house not far from Chipping Norton, called Bruern Abbey, being so named after a long demolished Cistercian Abbey established on the site in the 12th century.

Bruern Abbey was not ‘a bit larger’, it was immense, and I fell in love with it, and in particular with its perfectly symmetrical front façade, at first sight. The house, which had undergone significant alterations in the 1970s (before which it was even larger) was on the market for the first time since the 1940s, and at the time was rented to the Spectator columnist Taki. The day I viewed it was a Saturday and Taki was in residence so that it was not possible to even see the majority of the inside of the house, and so at that point I really had no idea how many rooms it had or their layout. All I knew is that it had the most perfect classical and symmetrical façade, something alas lacking in many country houses which have naturally evolved over time. Standing in front of the house I can still remember asking my estate agent only one question: ‘can you get it under contract at the asking price?’

His response was ‘I doubt it’ and so not surprisingly it went to sealed bids, and eventually to ‘best and final offers.’ Somehow I was able to put together financing through collateral on other assets and, miraculously, was able to secure the house.

Having transferred my horse and beloved Bentley to its new location it suddenly dawned on me what I had, perhaps foolishly, taken on. Nevertheless for a few years the house provided an idyllic weekend retreat for entertaining friends and family, including those from America.

Still there was one major problem: its size, with the vast majority of the building being neither used nor occupied, but nevertheless having to be heated and maintained.

It was at this time that a very good friend lamented the fact that there weren’t any prep. schools in the immediate area ‘with proper sports’ for her son and his friends, the closest being Oxford, a good 40 minutes drive away. She herself was a teacher (and an incredible singer) and asked if I would ever consider using part of the building as a day school, in particular the three secondary wings around the courtyard that were otherwise totally unused. Given that at the time I was still living in London Monday to Fridays, this seemed a practical idea to bring life and a sense of community back into the building, while without greatly impacting on weekend life.

And so began Bruern Abbey School in 1984 (of which more anon), something which never would have happened had I not purchased a classic car and needed somewhere to drive it. As such it can be truly said to be a school founded – by a car.