Lovely, Grade II-listed Solton Manor at East Langdon, two miles from the sea at St Margarets and a quick 20 minutes from Canterbury via the A2, is a house with an interesting and chequered history. It is now for sale through Strutt & Parker and local agents Marshall & Clarke at a guide price of £2.35 million.
Of particular note are two of the former owners, the first being Sir John Finet, who was born at the manor and later inherited it. His grandfather had come to England with Cardinal Campeggio, married a maid-of-honour to Catherine of Aragon and settled there.
The young Sir John was brought up at Court and later became Master of Ceremonies to both James I and Charles I. His portrait by Tintoretto hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
A very different picture is presented by the enterprising Arthur Burr, who owned Solton Manor in the early 1900s. He was a speculator who almost single-handedly developed and ran the Kent coalfields for almost 20 years and, in 1913, was given the Freedom of Dover for being ‘one of the greatest benefactors Dover had ever known’.
Sadly, Burr was not all he seemed and, in 1914, he faced legal action for fraud and misuse of shareholders’ funds. Described as ‘a dangerous rogue’ by the judge, he had a judgment of £80,000 made against him and was declared bankrupt.
With other legal actions still pending, he died a broken man in 1919. Solton was a working farm before the current owners bought it in 1991 and adapted its extensive period outbuildings to create a successful wedding venue.
The house stands in some 8½ acres of beautifully landscaped gardens scattered with wildlife ponds, stone ruins, woodland and paddocks. There are also a couple of stable blocks, which could be filled with a string of horses – or converted into further accommodation, should you prefer.
The core of the main house itself is oak-framed with fine original timbers, particularly on the first floor, which boasts exposed stud walling and Tudor oak-plank doors.
What are unusual for a house of this period are the exceptionally high ceilings and well-proportioned rooms, which include three fine reception rooms – notably the splendid drawing room with its original Tudor fireplace.
There is also a recently refitted kitchen/breakfast room, a games room, six bedrooms and four bath/shower rooms, with a further four rooms on the second floor.
Credit: Knight Frank
The best country houses for sale this week
Catch up on the best houses that have come up for sale via Country Life in the last few weeks.
The beautiful Kent estate of the smuggler who became one of Britain's richest men
Smuggler, property tycoon and gentleman William Baldock was once the richest man in England.
-
One for the pot: Nine of the prettiest vases to gift this Mother's Day, instead of flowersWe typically send our mothers flowers on Mothering Sunday, but what about a vase to hold them in?
-
The extraordinary Egyptian-style Leeds landmark hoping to become a second British Library — and they used to let sheep graze on the roofThe project has been awarded £10million from the Government, but will cost £70million in total.
-
Six charming homes up for sale, including one dubbed 'one of the most picturesque in Dorset', as seen in Country LifeOur look at the finest houses to come up for sale through Country Life in the past week is full of delights, from a new-Georgian mansion to a perfectly-sized Hertfordshire estate.
-
A Buckinghamshire mansion built for the speech therapist who set Churchill on his path to greatnessPenny Churchill takes a look at Rignalls, a classic Arts-and-Crafts home that looks like it's stepped out of the pages of an EM Forster novel.
-
An idyllic Hampstead mansion whose price has risen nine times faster than inflation — and it's not hard to see whyCloth Hill is even more beautiful on the inside than it is on the outside.
-
Some of Scotland's most beautiful churches are being sold off for as little as £40,000 — but a word of warning before you take the plungeLucy Denton examines how best to help former church buildings thrive as times move on and property changes hands.
-
Inside the £28 million mansion designed to 'shake things up' and 're-define the English country house of the 21st century'With everything from helicopter parking and a 1000-bottle wine cellar to bespoke wallpaper designed by Christian Lacroix, Harford Manor is a country house like no other. Annabel Dixon took a closer look and spoke to the man behind its creation.
-
A blissful and beautifully named home in one of the most exclusive spots in CornwallPenny Churchill takes a look at Boswodegh, a wonderful home that makes the most of its superb location in Helford Passage.
-
A sleek, seven-bedroom villa with a wine cave, wellness space and a 20-person JacuzziIncredible attention to detail at Almancil Loulé's, an amazing home for sale in Portugal's exclusive Quinta do Lago resort.
-
The 10 most expensive postcodes in the country — and what you could get if you lived thereThe latest research on the most exclusive postcodes in England and Wales makes for eye-catching reading, with some areas having average property prices over £4m. Annabel Dixon breaks it down.
