My brush with death at Darlington's first £1m house

The 1930s property, hidden down a private drive off Carmel Road South, became the town’s first £1m property in 2004 when it was sold by entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, as Memories told last week. It is now on the market for £1.95m, and we wondered about its history.

Former Darlington Football Club owner (1960s) and former Mayor of Darlington (1970s) Harry Robinson with his wife Paddy Robinson in London in 1976

“We lived in The Lindens for about ten years from 1967,” says Peter Robinson, auctioneer at Thomas Watson. Peter’s father, Harry, was chairman of the football club, councillor, mayor and leading light in many of the town’s institutions.

“The Lindens is next to Green Gables,” says Peter. “The two properties were almost the same, and were both on the market for about £20,000 each. I remember people thinking my Dad was crackers paying £20,000 for a house.

“I think The Lindens and Green Gables were built by the Dixon brothers, who were builders, for their families, hence the design of the houses is very similar.”

One of The Lindens’ selling points is its large garden, which rolls down towards the River Tees. Now it has an adventure playground to keep the owners’ children occupied, but teenage Peter found other ways to keep himself entertained.

“There were three huge trees equally spaced half way down the bank at the bottom of the garden,” he recalls. “In some strong winds the middle one was partially brought down. The ugly remains bugged me and so while my parents were on holiday, I took on the project.

“I was carefully sawing part of the way through a branch and then attaching ropes to it to pull it down but, of course, it came down and clobbered me on the back of the head and knocked me unconscious.

“A Jack Russell making its way from the river to Baydale Road and found me, and its owner raised the alarm – it probably saved my life!

“My parents raced back from Portugal and I remained unconscious for five or six days, and it was 12 months before I was properly functioning.”

Peter Robinson on the rostrum and being filmed for Antiques Roadtrip

Harry’s mayoral year was 1976-77, in which he escorted the Queen Mother on her visit to the town. He sold The Lindens soon afterwards to travel agent Ian Hunter whose father, John, was a hairdresser in Skinnergate and to the stars – he once dashed to Scotch Corner to attend to the locks of the American nightclub entertainer, Jayne Mansfield. That must have been in 1967...

READ MORE: JAYNE MANSFIELD'S EXTRAORDINARY VISIT TO THE TEES VALLEY