The Street, Ickham, Canterbury, Kent

Believed to date to circa 1520, with later enhancements and a post office addition in 1838, this characterful village residence offers an elegant living environment where charming period detail is perfectly blended with modern interior styling.

The reception hall gives access to a versatile-use family room with bay window recess, walls of display shelving and an ornate vintage fireplace. Across the hallway, the formal dining room offers the ideal spot to host family and friends with a brick fireplace and exposed timbers, which also feature in the adjacent sitting room. The relaxed sitting room setting enjoys the warming ambience of a log-burner, with glazed doors opening into the beautifully-crafted, light-filled conservatory where a lantern skylight and lengths of windows blur the boundaries between inside and outside. The cellar can also be accessed from here.

With flagstone flooring, the kitchen/breakfast room is fitted with blue-panelled cabinetry, wooden work surfaces, a green Aga and a Belfast sink, with an external door linking to the floral front garden. Ancillary space is provided by a utility room, where the staircase down to the cellar can also be accessed.

The first floor offers four bedrooms, one with en suite facilities, and the charming principal room with brick-built feature fireplace. Completing the upper level are a stylishly-presented shower room and generous family bathroom with vintage-inspired fixtures, alongside a contemporary tub.

Two brick-pillared access points, set within brick walls at the frontage to the lane, mark a pedestrian route to the entrance doorway and a separate vehicular passage onto a gravelled driveway leading to the garage. Evergreen hedging forms a boundary to the drive and encloses the front garden which is paved with planting pockets filled with a picture-perfect abundance of flowering and scented shrubs.

A south-west facing paved terrace adjoins the back of the home offering a secluded spot and opportunities for outdoor dining and relaxation. There are brick retaining walls with steps leading up to an area of garden with geometric design featuring neat lawns intersected by herringbone paved pathways and showcasing six, symmetrical topiary trees. An expanse of lawn beyond is framed by clipped hedging with planted beds containing a colourful display of shrubs and perennial plants and for the green-fingered, there are timber-edged raised beds for vegetable cultivation, as well as orchard trees.

Ickham is a picturesque village close to the cathedral city of Canterbury. The village has a public house and a church whilst neighbouring Wickhambreaux has a highly regarded primary school. The nearby villages of Littlebourne and Wingham offer day-to-day amenities whilst Canterbury provides a broad array of shopping, leisure and educational facilities.
There are excellent road and rail links: access to the A2 is just 3.4 miles away, and the High-Speed train service to London St Pancras from Canterbury West takes just under an hour. The area has good access to the Continent.