Lyddendane

Lyddendane is an historic Grade II listed farmhouse set in a secluded rural valley that runs along the North Kent Downs. Reached at the end of a long sunken lane, the house - built in 1756 - is a handsome, traditional, double-storey long house with working chimneys and original clay peg tile roof. The house is surrounded by its garden, wildflower meadows, fields, paddocks and stables, an old apple orchard, with hedgerows, bridle paths and two areas of ancient, coppiced woodland.

The 17.5 acre property includes a beautiful garden with different established areas, an old tennis court, small greenhouse, working vegetable garden, and a freestanding full-sized brick pizza/bread oven. Two substantial outbuildings support the life of the house. The “black shed” is an older, traditional building with peg tile roof and the architect-designed “new shed”, built in 2021, is clad in black corrugated steel and has fine views of the garden.

A meticulously researched restoration of the house was carried out by the current owners. With a contemporary sensibility, the house was repaired and returned to its simple, rural 18th century character. A team of specialist craftspeople restored lathe and plaster walls and ceilings using samples of the house’s original plaster. A Kent clay tile floor was specially manufactured by a local pottery and laid throughout the ground floor. An original lime plastered fireplace in the main bedroom was uncovered during repair work and is now a working open fireplace. Traditional lime-wash and distemper paints are used throughout.

The house opens to light and views of its splendid surrounding land in all directions. An enfilade of rooms on both floors allows views down the length of the house, with light crossing through each room during the day. Two large inglenook fireplaces, one in the dining room with wood-burning stove, the other in the sitting room with an open fireplace, surround the large central chimney on the ground floor. There is a third fireplace in the library. A further small room acts as additional library space and currently houses a grand piano. The kitchen has custom-made painted wooden cabinets, drawers and open shelves, and a full-size electric Aga. It opens out to a stone-paved outdoor eating area with a brick pizza/bread oven set in a flower garden.

Upstairs, the house has lime-washed, wide-planked pine floors and is currently configured as two large bedrooms, a generous dressing room/study area and two handsomely appointed bathrooms, one at each end of the house. Two separate staircases provide privacy to each bedroom and bathroom. There is space for a third bedroom to be created, subject to any necessary consents. A full-sized attic with original oak post and beam construction runs the length of the house.

AUXILIARY OUTBUILDINGS
The Black Shed is an older traditional clapboard building with brick floors and peg tile roof, and acts as an annexe to the house’s kitchen, with solid oak work surfaces and custom-built shelving, and areas for jam making and baking. It has a wood-fired stove, and includes a full laundry and large antique stone sink for preparing flowers and vegetables from the garden.

Built in 2021, the New Shed is an architect designed chestnut post-and-beam building clad in contemporary black corrugated steel designed for multi-purpose use. Insulated and double glazed its three interior bays currently provide storage for garden equipment and tools and a separate workshop /studio area with windows overlooking the garden. The new building could be used as a gym, office or screening room.

The New Shed enhances the historic buildings and gardens, and together they create a small community of buildings in a pristine and serene Kent rural landscape.

Agent’s Note: A little used footpath and bridleway pass through the property connecting it to neighbouring woodland.

Hastingleigh village has an 11th century church and a popular pub. Nearby Wye has good local amenities and a station, with access to the High Speed service to London St Pancras from Ashford International. Wider facilities are offered by Ashford and Canterbury

There is convenient access to the M20 as well as the port of Dover and the Eurotunnel Terminal.

GARDEN AND LAND
Lyddendane lies in the midst of its own surrounding historic farm fields and woods offering complete privacy and protection. Rising gently away from the house to the west are two fine named fields that appear in ancient deeds of Lyddendane Farm, Pilcher’s Field and West Down. Acquired by the owners in 2020, the two fields are now reintegrated in their original relationship with Lyddendane. Currently used for horses, the fields have stables and an ancient woodland ‘shave’ between them, and a beautiful area of woodland along the south boundary. West Down offers magnificent views down the valley with Lyddendane tucked into its folding fields and woods.

Closer to the house, the garden’s flower beds, trees, hedges and meadows are managed year round by a conservation arborist and an award winning Great Dixter trained master gardener. Over years they have worked with the owners to bring trees, the soil and land to optimum condition. There are two intensively planted perennial flower gardens, and lawns and meadows around the house are planted with spring and autumn flowering crocus, narcissus and camassia. Paths are mown through the meadow areas each summer. A working vegetable garden is productive year-round for the house’s needs, and is a much loved spot on sun-bathed summer evenings. The garden has restored yew and beech hedges, and new apple trees added to the orchard. Young flowering cherry, mulberry and fig trees have recently been added to the garden’s mature maple, pine, walnut, hornbeam, lime and mirabelle trees.

The house and its gardens are defined from the rural fields and woods by traditional English and beech hedging. The Four Acre wildflower field to the east is filled with English daisies, hundreds of wild orchids and rare hellebores at different seasons. The field has an ancient land wall of very old coppiced hornbeam, chestnut and hazel. The field has a shelter that may be used for horses and provides secure storage for a tractor and other heavy equipment.

SHRUBS WOOD
Shrubs Wood is a 42 acre ancient coppiced woodland in close proximity to Lyddendane. The woods are jointly owned with two neighbours and were purchased to protect them from being sold in parcels and to preserve the wildness they give to the whole area.

These true English bluebell woods are home to a Neolithic East West barrow certified by the British Museum and English Heritage which has not been the subject of an archaeological dig. Two large fields with mature standing oaks are flooded in spring with bluebells, white anemones, primroses, and wild orchids, and in summer filled with wildflowers. These fields also have water for livestock.

The woods are largely coppiced chestnut, with ancient hornbeam boundary trees, land walls, and standing oaks. They provide ample firewood for Lyddendane. There are two good, gated access points off a public road. There is a bridle path and permissive path through the woods which are home to badgers, foxes, owls, buzzards, sparrowhawks, and many small song birds. Shrubs Wood provides a wonderful extended landscape to Lyddendane’s already generous fields and meadows.

A one third share of Shrubs Wood is being sold with the property.

Marketed by: Strutt & Parker, Canterbury