If you want all the history, character and charm of living in a stunning Grade II Listed country mansion, surrounded by 65 acres of private parkland in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this superb and spacious first floor apartment in North Frith House might just tick all the right boxes. Sensitively converted into delightful apartments in 2001, it was originally designed in the vernacular revival style in 1889 by local architect George Friend for wealthy Chicago industrialist Thomas Boyd, known as the ‘Bacon King.’ While the surrounding parkland has historical connections that date back to the Norman Conquest.
A long private drive winds its way through the parkland and an avenue of trees and leads to a mews garage with automatic doors, lighting and electrics and an allocated parking space as well as to the impressive arched front entrance. The grand front door opens into an awe inspiring baronial style dual height reception hall with a stunning painted ceiling, beautiful panelled walls and a wide sweeping oak staircase that leads to a vast galleried landing and access to the apartment that takes up a significant part of the first floor. The front door opens into a private hallway with high ceilings and large storage cupboards and access to the charming roof terrace. This is a great feature of the apartment and includes composite decking and is ideal for al fresco dining where you can sit and admire the stunning views over the parkland.
The large light and airy dual aspect lounge/dining room includes ornate cornicing and also has wonderful views across the park and lakes with door access to the well-proportioned kitchen/breakfast room. This has recently been upgraded and now features a tiled floor with underfloor heating and includes a modern range cooker and delightful grey solid wood shaker style units with quartz worktops housing high end appliances including a fridge and freezer, dishwasher, washer/dryer and wine cooler while still leaving plenty of space for a table and chairs.
There are two ensuite double bedrooms including the principal with fitted cupboards and a gorgeous contemporary shower room with a trendy double shower, a vanity basin and glossy cupboards, while the guest room has an en suite bathroom with attractive mosaic style tiling, a stand-alone bath with claw feet and a traditional basin. Additional storage facilities are available in the cellar under the house.
The park is a truly special aspect of the property and is available to all the residents. It includes a Grade II Listed gentleman’s Kent ragstone bathing box and what used to be a bathing pond, well stocked lakes where residents can enjoy fishing and a plethora of amazing specimen trees, well maintained lawns and woodland with delightful bluebell walks in the springtime.
- An exquisite apartment with private Terrace overlooking the 65 acre of park like grounds
- Superb Living/Dining room with 10 ft. Ceilings
- Stylish Kitchen/Breakfast room
- Principal suite with bathroom plus Guest suite with shower room
- Mews garage plus allocated parking space
- A truly exceptional environment
We fell in love with the park, the mansion and the apartment the minute we saw them some 20 years ago. We love being able to sit on our roof terrace and revel in the views or wander around the park every day. Although the park is communal there are always plenty of places to go for a private read or to find a spot to enjoy a picnic with friends and family. In recent years we have replaced the kitchen and bathrooms so the apartment has all the delights of period character but with all the advantages of modern day living.
We are not far from Shipbourne with its historic church and a charming village hall at the end of a Kentish Hall House as well as tennis courts, a good primary school, an excellent weekly farmer’s market and the well-known Chaser Inn and restaurant. While the nearby historic village of Hadlow also features period buildings including the famous Hadlow Tower or ‘May’s Folly’. This Grade 1* listed building stands 175 ft high and is the tallest such Roman Gothic building in the UK and its restoration won the Angel Award. There is a good primary school in the village while the Hadlow College of Agriculture and Horticulture is well-known and includes the Broadview Gardens where you can enjoy wandering around 10 acres of grounds. The village has a variety of shops, a pub, hairdresser and a church. There is also a library and a medical centre as well as cricket and bowls clubs and the village hall where a variety of activities take place to suit all ages.
It is only about three miles to Tonbridge where you will find a variety of independent shops, hair and beauty salons, bars and restaurants with additional retail outlets on the outskirts of the town while trains from Tonbridge station can whisk you to London in just over half an hour. There are excellent educational facilities with a number of primary schools including Slade Primary rated Outstanding by Ofsted, several Outstanding grammar schools including the high achieving The Judd for boys and Tonbridge Grammar School for girls with specialist status schools including performing arts, maths and ICT, music and sports. There is also Somerhill prep school, the independent Kent College, Hilden Grange Prep School as the famous independent Tonbridge School founded in 1553. This provides the thriving EM Forster theatre and leisure club with extremely good facilities available to external club members including a swimming pool, gymnasium, athletics track and tennis courts while the town itself includes golf, football, rugby, tennis and cricket clubs.
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