A rare opportunity to purchase a handsome extended detached five bedroom family home in about one acre situated in a highly desirable rural location on the outskirts of the village close to the main line station to London and within easy reach of local amenities. A much enjoyed family home, the current owners having improved and extended the property providing a most spacious and versatile family home coming to the market for the first time in many years. Delightful mature level gardens surround the property enjoying a tree lined outlook to the rear with a sweeping block paved driveway to the front.

A striking Grade II Listed country property designed by Walter Gropius and Edwin Maxwell Fry, situated in Shipbourne village.DescriptionThe Wood House was built in 1937 to the designs of Walter Gropius and Edwin Maxwell Fry and is believed to be the only known weather-boarded house in England by Gropius. The notable architect Walter Gropius was the founder of Bauhaus in 1919 and was renowned for his innovative and modern designs, including the Pan Am building in Manhattan in 1963 (now known at the MetLife building). The house is set within established gardens and grounds extending with a further approx. 10 acres available by separate negotiationThree well-proportioned reception rooms comprise a sitting room with a copper headed fireplace with flint surround and a row of windows extending along the south elevation enjoying delightful views over gardens, a dining room with the original copper uplighters, dining room table and fitted sideboard and a family room with fitted cupboards. All rooms benefit from direct access on to south facing terraces and gardens beyond, and together create an excellent suite of rooms for entertaining.The well-appointed open plan kitchen/breakfast room was extended in 2016 and is fitted with a bespoke kitchen by Grants of Sevenoaks, comprising low level cupboards with granite work surfaces over, a bank of floor to ceiling walnut cupboards and a central island. Built in appliances include a four-oven oil fired Aga, Bora induction hob, Neff slide & hide oven and wine cooler. The ceramic flooring has the benefit of underfloor heating and the breakfast area has a set of sliding doors leading out to a terrace.Connecting the kitchen /breakfast room to the entrance hall is a stylish library which has a bank of bespoke walnut shelving by Grants of Sevenoaks and a wood burning stove and offers a number of alternative uses.The utility room with underfloor heating is accessed via the kitchen. The utility room is generously proportioned with space for further white goods and in turn leads to a useful ventilated larder, both of which benefit from ceramic floors.Also located on the ground floor, in a separate wing of the house, are two bedrooms and a bathroom with underfloor heating offering potential ancillary accommodation. The hallway which runs the length of the wing enjoys views to the courtyard.A study and cloakroom complete the ground floor living area.Situated on the first floor is the principal suite which benefits from a range of built-in wardrobes together with a dressing room offering further hanging space. The en suite bathroom with under floor heating enjoys access to a covered balcony and there is outside access via a set of external stairs.Arranged over the remainder of the first floor are three further bedrooms, all with built-in storage cupboards, and served by two bath/shower rooms that both benefit from underfloor heating.Gardens and OutbuildingsThe Wood House is approached by a driveway which sweeps past a natural, rain-fed pond and leads to a turning area to the front of the property and an attached double garage.The gardens and adjoining grounds are a delightful feature of the property and incorporate lawned gardens, fruit orchards, paddocks and an outdoor swimming pool with paved surround (requiring attention).A substantial south facing part covered terrace spans the width of the house and is flanked by a level lawn bordered by an array of mature trees and shrubs. There is also a pretty paved courtyard enveloped by three elevations of the property. Outbuildings include a detached open bay brick-built log/garden machinery store and several sheds. There are gardens and two paddocks to the west of the property.LocationComprehensive Shopping: Tonbridge (4 miles) and Sevenoaks (6.8 miles), Tunbridge Wells (12 miles) and Bluewater.Mainline Rail Services: Sevenoaks (7.3 miles), Hildenborough (4.3 miles) and Tonbridge (4.7 miles).Primary Schools: Shipbourne, Plaxtol and Hadlow.Secondary Schools: Grammar, Academy and State schools in Tonbridge, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.Private Schools: The Preparatory Schools at Somerhill. Tonbridge and Sevenoaks Public Schools.Leisure Facilities: Shipbourne Tennis Club. Golf at Wildernesse, Nizels, Knole Park and Poult Wood. Nizels Golf and Fitness centre in Hildenborough. Also in Tonbridge are outdoor and indoor pools, the Angel Leisure Centre and a range of sporting clubs to include football, baseball, swimming and sailing.All distances are approximate.Square Footage: 3,476 sq ftDirectionsFrom junction 5 of the M25 with the A21, turn off onto the A25 heading east through Sevenoaks and Seal. After passing the Crown Point, turn right signposted Ivy Hatch, continue through the village and at the ‘T’ junction, turn right onto the A227. Enter Shipbourne. Turn left opposite the Chaser Inn (on the right) into Upper Green Road and take the next right into an unmade lane signed The Wood House. Proceed down the lane and The Wood House can be found at the end.Additional InfoTonbridge & Malling CouncilTax Band 'G'

An important marker of the international modern style, this excellent Grade ii-listed house was built in 1937 to a design by architects Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry. It rests in approximately five acres* of private gardens, orchards and paddocks within the charming village of Shipbourne, between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge. The house was extended in recent years and now unfolds over approximately 3,700 sq ft internally, including a double garage, with six bedrooms set over two floors and a wealth of original features throughout.*further ~5 acres available by separate negotiationThe ArchitectWalter Gropius (1883-1969) was a German-born architect and a pioneer of his profession. Early in his career he worked with Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Dietrich Marcks in the office of Peter Behrens, and subsequently with Adolf Meyer for their shared practice. Between 1919 and 1932, Gropius founded the famous Bauhaus Schools in Weimar, Dessau and Berlin, which educated designers and artists including Paul Klee, Josef Albers, László Moholy-Nagy and Wassily Kandinsky. Through Maxwell Fry, a key figure in the British modern movement, Gropius emigrated to Britain in 1934, until 1937 when he moved to the United States to become a professor of architecture at Harvard University.In the course of the design and build of this house, Gropius employed the young German émigré, Walter Segal, for his experience in timber building, alongside another young, skilled German, Albrecht Proskauer, who prior to this engagement had worked with Wells Coates.The BuildingBuilt of timber, with a hardwood frame and dark Canadian redwood cedar cladding, the house was a reversion to the natural material chosen by Gropius for Sommerfeld House in Berlin, his first major work after the First World War. It is notable for being the only known weather-boarded house in England by the architect and remains a seminal example of his furthering of the use of timber in English modern houses.The TourThe house is situated off the wonderful open expanse of Shipbourne Common, at the end of a quiet no-through lane. A private driveway leads through gardens of mature trees and past a rain-fed pond, culminating in a turning area with parking bays and a garage. The house is composed in an L-shape, with a single-storey northern wing and a two-storey main block to the south under a monopitch roof with deep eaves. The lower entrance is set beneath a sloping weather hood on slender metal supports.Contained within the two-storey block are a family room with French windows onto the south-facing terrace and a long reception room, which has an original copper-headed fireplace and swathes of glazing looking onto gardens in the same direction. At the western end lies the dining room, with an original marble dining table, sideboards and copper wall lights, and bi-fold doors that open to a south-facing loggia.A versatile library space with walnut shelving and a log-burner connects the main hall with the extended kitchen and breakfast room. The kitchen is handmade by Grants of Sevenoaks with soft-touch granite worktops. It incorporates a four-oven Aga and further appliances by Neff and Bora. Underfloor heating is present beneath stone flooring and extends into the utility and pantry, which in turn opens to a central paved courtyard. A wall of bi-fold glazing in the copper-clad, sedum-roofed extension opens to the western section of garden and looks to the paddock beyond.The single-storey northern wing contains two bedrooms, a bathroom and a study, arranged along a long corridor with a series of windows to the central courtyard. There are four further bedrooms on the first floor, including the main bedroom at the western end. The suite comprises a dressing room and en suite bathroom with access to a balcony and steps down to the garden. The three other bedrooms are served by a family bathroom and a separate shower room.Outdoor SpaceGardens and paddocks wrap the house on all sides, providing an incredible sense of rural seclusion. Limestone terraces lead onto lawns dotted with mature oaks and orchards of apple, pear, damson, greengage and quince. Within a sunken western section, in what was once the ‘Italian Garden’, lies a swimming pool in need of refurbishment.The AreaShipbourne is a beautiful and peaceful village situated between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, located within undulating landscape and traversed by the small streams of the River Bourne. The village is arranged around a common, an open green expanse with a cricket pitch and tennis courts a short walk from the house. At one end lies the excellent Chaser Inn pub and St Giles’ Church, which holds an award-winning farmers’ market with local produce each Thursday morning. More local shops are available in the neighbouring villages of Plaxtol, Hadlow and Hildenborough and both Sevenoaks and Tonbridge offer a plethora of shopping options.There are several highly regarded state and private schools in the area including Tonbridge School, Hilden Grange, Somerhill and a selection of grammar schools. Sevenoaks has several good schools including Walthamstow Hall, Sevenoaks School and Sevenoaks Preparatory. Shipbourne itself also has an excellent primary school.There are rail connections at Hildenborough (around 4.3 miles), Borough Green (4.4 miles) and Sevenoaks (7 miles). Borough Green runs services to London Victoria in approximately 50 minutes, while Hildenborough and Sevenoaks run to Charing Cross, via London Bridge and Waterloo East, and Cannon Street with journey times of around 35 minutes (from Sevenoaks). The M25 is also within easy reach for access to London, Gatwick and Heathrow Airports.

An exciting, unique development opportunity to create this sleek and modern extensive home with views over its own Grade II listed land.DescriptionLake House is situated next to a picturesque lake, which gives the property its name, within Grade II listed terraced gardens, rockery, pleasure grounds and parkland of about 6.31 acres.The gardens date back to the late 19th Century and early 20th Century as an extension to the earlier grounds, closer to the Swaylands House. Within the grounds is a boating lake, former boathouse to the south of the lake, a ha-ha to the west of the lake and the remains of the early 20th Century garden layout, including a rock garden with walls of extraordinary scale, together with steps connecting the main house and gardens to the boating lake; the Grade II listed rockery was created from locally quarried stone and, at 5 acres, was once one of the largest rockeries in Europe.The site is located within the designated Metropolitan Green Belt and High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AoNB).Description of proposal: Erection of a large, two storey, contemporary detached dwelling with partially subterranean elements within the grounds of Swaylands. The proposal also comprises of a scheme for rainwater harvesting and the installation of a ground source heat pump.Access to the site is gained from an existing private lane off Poundsbridge Lane.A brief historyWilliam Woodgate, a local solicitor and member of a prominent local family, bought a farm and 33 acres of land from Penshurst Parish in 1835. The original Swaylands house was built around 1837 for William Woodgate.Guttering boxes on the original villa marked 1842 suggest the likely date of completion. By 1859 Woodgate had sold Swaylands to Edward Cropper. Cropper employed the architect George Devey to extend the house greatly and terrace the gardens. Edward Cropper died in 1877 and the estate was bought by George Drummond. Between 1879 and 1882 Drummond made further additions to the house and in the 1890s he commissioned the Arts and Crafts architect Sir M E Macartney to build a large pilastered conservatory at the north-western end of the house. When George Drummond bought the house it was described as rather modest; he [George Drummond] spent the next seven years building wings, then tearing them down, creating an enormous residence with its own theatre, ballroom, picture gallery, orangery and even an indoor cricket pitch.The site originally was part of the larger Swaylands Estate. The rock garden, created by George Drummond, is one of the largest rock gardens of the early 20th century and whilst overgrown, the structure of the garden remains in generally good condition. It was created at a time when large scale rock and water gardens were fashionable. The rock garden, including the part in separate ownership of Swaylands House, was built from sandstone blocks from a local quarry. The design for the garden was on a grand scale, with towering walls, paths, steps, ravines and grottoes. The Grade II designation of the garden confirms its special interest as a designed landscape, and warrants its preservation. Its special significance is afforded by its unusual scale, monumentality, quality of design and construction, and its degree of survival, albeit now in fragmented ownership. George Drummond, together with his Head Gardeners Christopher and Robert Hosier, busied himself laying out plans for the biggest rock garden in the world - an expanse of 40 acres with lakes, waterfalls and huge chunks of sandstone brought from a quarry 5 miles away on farm wagons.LocationLake House is set in a superb location, on the edge of Penshurst village with its ancestral home Penshurst Place, church, tea rooms, doctors’ surgery, garage and Post Office.Comprehensive Shopping: Tunbridge Wells, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Bluewater.Mainline Rail Services: Hildenbrough, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks to London Charing Cross/Cannon Street. Also a local service is provided at Penshurst station situated in Chiddingstone Causeway to London and Redhill/Gatwick.Primary Schools: Penshurst, Fordcombe and Langton Green.Grammar Schools: Weald of Kent Girls, Tonbridge Grammar and Judd Boys Grammar schools in Tonbridge. Tunbridge Wells Girls and Boys Grammar Schools and the Skinners Boys School in Tunbridge Wells.Private Schools: Holmewood House Preparatory School in Langton Green, The Preparatory Schools at Brambletye, Stoke Brunswick and Ashdown. Tonbridge and Sevenoaks Public Schools.Leisure Facilities: Villa Golf in Blackham, Nizels Golf and Fitness centre in Hildenborough. Poult Wood Golf Club, Tonbridge. Also in Tonbridge are outdoor and indoor swimming pools, the Angel Leisure Centre and a range of sporting clubs.Communications: The A21 provides access to junction 5 of the M25 and gives access to other motorway networks, Gatwick and Heathrow airports and the Channel Tunnel rail terminal.Square Footage: 16,974 sq ftAdditional InfoDrawings produced by Neil Edwards at AV Architects:T: E: Instagram: ArchitectsavukTwitter: @architectsav