ONCE part of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports before the draining of the Romney Marshes led to the silting-up of its riverside port at nearby Smallhythe, the historic town of Tenterden, 10 miles from Ashford, Kent, stands on high ground on the edge of the High Weald AONB. Its picturesque high street is lined with Georgian and Victorian buildings that blend pleasingly with cottages of traditional Kent tile and weatherboarding.
For years, the eastern end of the elegant High Street was blighted by the semi-derelict gatehouse to Heronden Hall, a Grade II-listed building that was already in a poor state of repair when a tree fell on it during the epic storm of 1987. Left unrepaired, the crumbling gatehouse was in an even sorrier state when the current owners bought the 45-acre Heronden Hall estate from rock-and-roll legend Kevin Godley in 2003.
Imposing Heronden Hall itself escaped unscathed, although for years the owners were reputedly still clearing fallen trees and branches around the estate. The restoration and extension of the gatehouse as a separate dwelling, completed in 2010, was only one of several major projects undertaken during their 18-year tenure. These included the overall repair and renovation of the 10,224sq ft main house, also listed Grade II, and the creation of Hall’s outstanding gardens.
This story is from the August 11, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the August 11, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
