The Old Rectory in Hawkhurst, Kent, is a delightful home inside and out. Penny Churchill takes a look.
When in 2001, investment guru Paul Brown and his wife, Maggie, decided to move from Hong Kong, via Yorkshire, to Kent with their three young children, their search agent was instructed to find them a family home near a good village with ‘uninterrupted views and no other building in sight’. The couple’s prayers were answered when their search fell upon The Old Vicarage at Hawkhurst. Now, after many happy years, they’re moving on and the house is on the market through Savills at £3.5 million.
You can see why the fell for it nearly a quarter of a century ago, even though back then it was fairly dilapidated. This pretty Georgian country house is gorgeously secluded despite a village location: it’s set in 6½ acres of gardens and paddock in the lee of Grade I-listed St Laurence Church on the southern edge of the village, close to the East Sussex border and within the picturesque High Weald National Landscape.
The only building visible from the house, which overlooks the Weald, is St Laurence’s 75ft-tall bell tower, which boasts ‘a fine peal of eight bells’.
According to local records, there has probably been a church on the site since at least 1100, when Hawkhurst was owned by the Abbot of Wye and then Battle, having been granted to him by William the Conqueror after the Battle of Hastings, although the first recorded mention is in a Charter of 1285.
The present church house was built in 1826, possibly for Oxford-educated Henry Owen Cleaver, second son of Euseby Cleaver, Archbishop of Dublin, who was appointed perpetual curate of Hawkhurst that year. The former vicarage was sold away from the church in the 1950s, since when it has had only four owners.
Built of painted brick render under slate-tiled roofs, The Old Vicarage has been the subject of a wide-ranging programme of renovation and refurbishment initiated by the current owners, which included a new roof, the landscaping of the gardens by Chelsea Gold medallist Roger Platt and the installation of new bathrooms and utilities.
The house offers more than 4,470sq ft of beautifully presented accommodation on three floors, including a dual-aspect drawing room, dining room, study and office with bespoke joinery by Richard Edmondson of nearby Goudhurst and a large, high-specification kitchen/breakfast room, also by Mr Edmondson, with a sitting room beyond opening onto a terrace.
Stairs from the hallway lead down to the cellar, which has three large store rooms and a wine cellar. The first floor houses the principal bedroom suite, three further bedrooms, a dressing room and a family bathroom, with two further bedrooms and bathrooms on the floor above. A courtyard of useful outbuildings, enclosed on three sides, is attached to the main house.
The gardens, designed to ensure privacy from all angles, include specimen trees, shrubs, flowerbeds, topiary and a formal garden laid mainly to lawn, with a water-feature and ha-ha. A charming kitchen garden is located within the walled garden, from where a private path-way leads to St Laurence’s Church.
In addition to a choice of excellent local schools, The Old Vicarage falls within the Cranbrook School catchment area. Mainline rail services from Etchingham (five miles) and Staplehurst (10½ miles) provide frequent services to London Bridge and Waterloo East; Bewl Water Reservoir at nearby Lamberhurst offers a wide range of leisure activities, including fishing, sailing, rowing and wonderful walks.
The Old Vicarage at Hawkhurst is for sale at £3.5 — see more details and pictures.
