Medieval country manor asks for £2.85m in Kent

Sitting between the Kentish Downs and the Kent Weald outside the historic village of Boughton Monchelsea, this handsome Tudor country house weathered 500 years and has a patchwork of historical features that reach back to the medieval period.

The Kent property is Grade II-listed and is a particularly well-preserved example of the vernacular medieval timber-framed ‘Wealden Hall House’ – all the rage in southern England through the medieval period through to the early 16th century.

Tanyard is named for the family who was granted the estate after the Norman conquest in 1066, and the present structure dates from the early 1500s, with some later additions. Far from gothic and gloomy, rooms inside the five-bedroom country property are south-facing and comprise expansive volumes – some of which are up to 30-ft-long.

Moving from room to room is like passing through centuries: huge inglenook fireplaces and timber-beamed ceilings are staples, with brick flooring and the original heavy plank door in the hallway. The drawing room occupies the original ‘hall’, with solid oak floorboards and flagstone flooring, and a working fireplace with a 14-ft bressummer (load-bearing beam that doubles as a feature) set above.

Not all is old, however: the kitchen sits within a late 20th-century addition with roof lights overhead. It’s been built in a sympathetic (but useful) style, with panelled cabinetry, a central island, double-sink and Aga over. Bathrooms and en-suites are all to modern standards too.

Tanyard is for sale via Inigo for £2.85m, and the Kent property is wrapped in nine acres of landscaped gardens (including a kitchen garden, orchards, courtyard, ponds and tennis courts). It also comes with Tanyard Cottage – a detached two-bedroom guesthouse which could offer rental income as a holiday let.