FEATURES

A HAMPTONS HAVEN OF HEART-STOPPING BEAUTY

Just a stone's throw from the heart of East Hampton Village, you can stand on the rolling green of the property of Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper and imagine you are in the lushest English countryside, far from the maddening crowds. You won't hear the drone of Main Street traffic or see any of the eminent Historic District neighbors. Instead, you revel in a Sherwoodian forest of towering trees, interspersed with verdant lawns, pergolas, obelisks and follies.

This parcel was originally part of the legendary Mrs.Woodhouse's 35-acre parkland, and the Tudor-ish house was converted many years ago from a four-car garage, silver vault and garden shed. Purchasing the three-plus acre property in 2003, the owners immediately moved the driveway over by 30 feet, swerving it away from their front door. Last year they had the opportunity to expand their holdings by an extra 1.5 acres, creating a whole new entrance-drive through a gracious flat of greenery and lining it with truck-ins of even more gargantuan trees. They worked closely with landscaper Charlie Marder, scouting locally for mature native specimens, often saving them at the last minute from being bulldozed by developers at tear-down sites.

Fervent pursuers of all things fashionable, Tony Ingrao and Randy Kemper have traveled extensively, importing hefty items that most people would find daunting. Peering at visitors along the long dark-red driveway are colossal Baroque stone statues representing four of the deadly sins: Avarice, Vanity, Greed and Gluttony, shipped from the Czech Republic. Highlighting the turnaround is an immense symmetrical European beech, barged from nearby Rhode Island, that looks as stunning when bare in winter as it is in full foliage. The monumental stone stairway up to the pool hillock was found outside of Paris, where a medieval castle was being dismantled. Six larger-than-life Egyptian guards (bordering on kitsch) were czar's treasures, crated in from Russia, and two kneeling Nubians, cradling an armillary and sundial, are 17th century Dutch, transplanted from England.