Beams, flagstone floors and leaded windows in a glorious old manor house that comes with a pair of 500-year-old barns

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Grade II-listed Fordcombe Manor is situated near the village of Fordcombe in the High Weald AONB.

Looking to move to the ultimate country house in the Garden of England? Robert Jacobs of Savills in Tunbridge Wells quotes a guide price of £3.5m for charming, Grade II*-listed Fordcombe Manor near the village of Fordcombe in the High Weald AONB, five miles from Tunbridge Wells and close to three quaint Wealden villages, Ashurst, Speldhurst and Penshurst — the suffix ‘hurst’ means a hillock or wooded rise.

The manor, previously known as Springhill due to the special quality of the nearby spring, stands on rising ground and is a familiar landmark for drivers travelling along the winding lanes between Sevenoaks and ‘the Wells’.

Described by Historic England as ‘a restored 16th-century timber-frame structure with an early-17th-century gabled wing to the right-hand side’, the main house and its two barns — one thatched and used for stabling, garaging and storage, the other equipped as a pool house/party barn — are listed together as a picturesque group.

Meticulously renovated and upgraded by the current owners, who acquired it in 2018, Fordcombe Manor stands in nine acres of formal garden, meadow, paddocks and a small orchard; sporting amenities include a football lawn, a swimming pool and a tennis court.

The striking main house offers 6,288sq ft of living space on three floors, including four principal reception rooms, a study, a well-equipped Tom Howley painted kitchen and breakfast room and a cellar/games room, with a further cellar used as an office/workroom.

There are two ensuite bedrooms, two further bedrooms, a family bathroom and a playroom on the first floor, with a further bedroom suite on the top floor.