For sale: F1 star James Hunt's London home "Bathgate Road is a bit quieter and more rural than some roads in Wimbledon," says Diana Wormal of the selling agents Knight Frank. It is great for the village, but what really sells it is the sense of lateral space. You get so many rooms over two floors, rather than over five floors as you often see in central London. The heart of the house is the kitchen/breakfast room and family room, which are linked to create a large open area. Wall-to-wall windows bring in light and the exposed brickwork sets off the oak flooring and enough space to entertain an entire F1 team. You can imagine the scene: Hunt in one corner in his trademark scruffy jeans, white T-shirt and bare feet; motorcyclist Barry Sheene, his friend and fellow world champion, in the other. Both of them surrounded by beautiful women. Part of the spacious living area Next year, a film called Rush will recreate such moments as it charts Hunt's famous rivalry with Niki Lauda in the 1976 Grand Prix season. Pool parties are bound to feature. But the indoor swimming pool at Bathgate Road is a recent addition, installed by the present owner. It is heated and equipped with swim jets, making it ideal for exercise. There is also an adjoining sauna and changing room. The pool overlooks half an acre of mature, landscaped gardens: another of the property's big attractions. To one side of the main lawn, there is also a "garden house." This is more of cricket pavilion than a shed, complete with a shower and WC. It would make a fine space for entertaining. If the weather is too cold for a garden party, however, there are plenty of options inside. As well as a large drawing room with a stone fireplace, there is a library and a dining room. The indoor swimming pool "I am going to miss the rural setting," says Simon Clough, the present owner, who bought the property in 1993 and has expanded it by about a third. He is downsizing now, because his children have grown up, but he plans to stay in the area. "The road is one of the prettiest around," he explains. Capability Brown planted out some of the older trees. I will miss the garden and the sense of space indoors, too. Most of Hunt's wildest days were spent at another London property in Barons Court, where he lived before moving to Wimbledon. There he installed a domed roof in the master bedroom, a 19th-century spiral staircase and that essential Eighties feature for any self-respecting party-lover, a sauna. But he passed some of his happiest time in Wimbledon. He bred budgerigars, walked his Alsatian dogs on the Common and enjoyed a second career at the BBC. James Hunt in his heyday Characterised by his eloquent, public school voice, his commentary won a huge following with his mix of wit, charisma and harsh, no-nonsense views of other drivers. He loathed the Italian driver Riccardo Patrese, whom he held responsible for a pile-up at the start of the 1978 Italian Grand Prix. He also once branded another Italian, Andrea de Cesaris, an "idiot" when he nearly took out a lapping Nigel Mansell in the 1990 Imola Grand Prix. "It really is a disgrace that he's allowed to interfere with Grand Prix racing," Hunt added for good measure. In his final years, having lost money through a Lloyd's of London insurance syndicate, the fast-living Hunt found peace of a kind in the slow lane. In the Wimbledon house's two-bay garage, the playboy cars of his youth were replaced by a bicycle (complete with wicker basket) and his beloved Austin A35 van, in which he drove his budgies to shows. He had beaten depression, was close to his two sons and had fallen in love with Helen Dyson, who was to be his third wife. Tragically, he died of a heart attack aged 45, a few hours after proposing to her on the telephone. If these walls could talk, they would describe a life too short, but fully lived. For anyone who buys this pretty property, it is an evocative reminder, but also, perhaps strangely, rather inspiring. Bathgate Road, Wimbledon SW19, is for sale (viewing by appointment only) through Knight Frank (020 8946 0026; knightfrank.co.uk) and Robert Holmes & Co (020 8947 9833) for £6.45m