Penny Churchill takes a look at the grand yet pretty Galleys Wood, a wonderful family home in Kent.
Kent is always a good place to look for a historic family house of character and charm. One such example has just come to the market: the handsome Galleys Wood in Honeypot Lane, Edenbridge, an imposing Victorian/Edwardian house set in 12 acres of gardens, grounds and woodland on the Kent-Surrey border. It’s two miles from Edenbridge town centre, a 10-minute drive from Waitrose — these things do matter — and is currently for sale through the Oxted office of Jackson-Stops at a guide price of £3.25 million.
Built to last for the next millennium, the house offers more than 8,600sq ft of accommodation on five floors, including a spectacular reception hall with an impressive oak staircase that immediately sets the scene.
Galleys Wood was once home to the Prestwich family of JAP motorcycle engine fame. The current owners, who were married at the house 25 years ago, recall the previous owner saying that she used to skate around the cellar, which they have converted into a cinema and bar, a large games room and a home-office area with an adjoining kitchen, wine cellar, store room and boiler room.
The drawing room and dining room are elegant entertaining areas with bay windows overlooking the gardens.
The family room adjoins the contemporary kitchen/breakfast room with its matching wood island, work surfaces and cupboards. A playroom with extensive storage completes the ground floor.
The principal bedroom suite, comprising a large bedroom with a bay window and a stylish bath and shower room en suite, takes up one side of the first floor. Four further bedrooms, served by a family bathroom, overlook the gardens.
The second floor — arranged as a sitting room/kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom — could be used as a separate flat. A spiral staircase rises to the third-floor recreation room, with access to the attics.
Additional accommodation is available in the converted three-bedroom coach house.
The gardens and grounds offer a high level of privacy and seclusion, with areas of woodland lining the perimeter of the grounds. Long-established planting in the garden includes specimen trees, beech hedging, rhododendrons and oak, beech and a variety of conifers.
A pretty tree house on the southern boundary is a magnet for children, who also enjoy their own play area — as well as the freedom of a 3½-acre paddock with room for a pony or two.
Galleys Wood is for sale with Jackson-Stops at a guide price of £3.25 million — see more details and pictures.
