Wealden Times | WT182 | April 2017 | Gardens supplement inside

Previous pages: The front reception room is on the
eastern end of the house and features a sunken fireplace
This page: The garden is a dreamy combination of
mature lawns, magnificent topiary and intimate spaces
divided by box hedging and moss-covered walls
Anyone who has ever read The Secret Garden by Frances
Hodgson Burnett will understand the magic and
intrigue that can be conjured up by a sprawling, ancient
building surrounded by an equally fantastical garden... For
many of us, visiting such a place, whether it is a National Trust
property, or a special family home, awakens our childhood
curiosity and imagination in a way that few other things do.
The family home of Jane and Peter, a former hall house in the
heart of the High Weald, is just such a place – and one that
is certain to pique the curiosity of adults and children alike.
“This has been the perfect house for us, and our children,”
says Jane, who moved here with her husband in 1984. “Our
children adore the place, and now we have four grandchildren
and two more on the way...”. The house, when they bought it,
was in need of some serious modernisation but this did not deter
the couple who clearly have an affinity for tricky, timber-framed
buildings. “We had moved from another former hall house, near
Headcorn,” says Jane, “so we knew what we were taking on.”
“Lots of people told us that it was known as the coldest
house in Kent,” adds Peter. “But I’m sure there are lots of
houses they say that about! Plus it had small leaks in lots of
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