The 16th century farmhouse that was home to an iconic Oscar-winning actor, and the man who wrote the Mr Men books
Sussex House Farm has had a remarkable run of former owners, including Sir John Mills and Roger Hargreaves. Could you be the next to move in?
Scroll through Country Life’s property pages and you’ll find no shortage of historic homes with a story to tell. Few, however, have been lived in by storytellers themselves. Sussex House Farm is one of them.
This achingly lovely Grade II*-listed estate — for £3,950,000 via DDRE Global — is situated just outside the village of Cowden, in Kent, not far from Sevenoaks. As the name implies, however, the house itself is definitely in Sussex; the country border is a river called Kent Water, which borders the property to the north side.
This wonderfully bucolic spot was home in the 1960s to Sir John Mills, one of the celebrated British actors of the 20th century. His acting career started before the Second World War, but it was his appearances in a string of war films — after he was released from active service due to a medical condition — that he became a superstar thanks to starring roles in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve (1942) and David Lean's This Happy Breed.
After the war, Lean went to give him perhaps his most famous role, as Pip in the peerless 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations; though it was for 1970's Ryan’s Daughter that he finally won an Oscar.
Actress Valerie Hobson and John Mills in a scene from the movie 'Great Expectations' (1946).
He's also the actor who performed the most memorable beer-drinking scene in cinema history, downing a glass of Carlsberg in Ice Cold in Alex. The story — which Mills told many times down the years — is that the beer was real, and at least half a dozen takes were needed to get the shots required. Mills had to be helped back to his dressing room to recuperate for the rest of the day.
Sussex House Farm was the Mills family home in the 1950s and 1960s, though he and his second wife Hayley Bell eventually settled in Denham, Buckinghamshire, where they lived until Mills's death in 2005 at the age of 97.
Sussex House Farm later passed into the hands of a different type of storyteller: Roger Hargreaves, the ad man turned writer who created the Mr Men and Little Miss books after an innocent enquiry from his eight-year-old son, Adam. ‘What does a tickle look like?’, asked Adam; that led to the writing of Mr Tickle, a string of others, and a million book sales in the first three years alone. The rest is publishing history: the Mr Men books are apparently the fourth-best-selling children's book series of all time.
Roger Hargreaves with his twin daughters Amelia and Sophie in 1976.
Hargreaves wrote most of the Mr Men books before moving to Sussex House Farm, but the Little Miss books were created while he lived here — and he would stay in the house until his untimely death from a stroke at the age of just 53.
The current owners of Sussex House Farm have been here for a couple of decades, and have made huge improvements to this great Tudor house. They actually put it on the market in 2017 at £5.5 million, and while it wasn't sold back then, a large chunk of the 200-acre estate have been sold off, including a couple of smaller properties.
The 30-acre estate as it's being sold today has more than enough going to it: as well as the beautiful and historic timber-framed house, there's also a converted barn (currently being rented out on AirBnB), a cottage, swimming pool with sumptuous poolhouse, tennis court, and equestrian facilities that are spectacularly impressive. What's more, it's all within easy reach of London: Cowden has a station which will get you to London Bridge in three quarters of an hour.
Let’s start with the main house, which dates back to around 1580. It’s been sensitively restored to blend old and new. The period features are all there: exposed timber beams, wood-panelled walls, a striking oak staircase, and magnificent fireplaces.
These characterful elements sit alongside contemporary additions which, according to the listing, include underfloor heating, a biomass heating system, integrated entertainment, and CCTV.
The kitchen is sure to capture the attention of families. Housed in a glazed extension with a vaulted ceiling, it has a pared-back contemporary feel and opens out onto a terrace with views of the swimming pool and immaculate garden beyond.
The original part of the house has a room for every occasion. For formal entertaining, there’s a drawing room, dining room, sitting room and a ‘reception hall’ that appears to very much hold its own. And for everyday life, there’s a family room, playroom, study and (in the cellar) a laundry room.
Four bedrooms and a dressing room — which could be converted into a further bedroom – are located on the first floor. While the main bedroom, with an ensuite bathroom, occupies the whole of the second floor.
Sussex House Farm is, as I suggested a little earlier, an all-singing, all-dancing kind of place. Beyond the house is a timber-framed barn that has been converted into ‘a very successful Airbnb’, according to DDRE Global. It comprises a kitchen, living room, and three bedrooms.
There’s also a single-storey brick and tile cottage, which has a kitchen, sitting room, and two bedrooms — ideal for guests, family or staff, says the selling agent.
The grounds are quite something too, from the mature landscaping and kitchen garden to the heated outdoor swimming pool and floodlit tennis court.
The aforementioned equestrian facilities are certain to get horsey types excited. There’s an outdoor sand school and an indoor manège with a sand and rubber surface. And a ‘substantial’ collection of traditional and modern farm buildings that include loose boxes and stables, tack and storage rooms, covered yards, workshops and an estate office.
And should you want more? Planning permission has been granted to convert two more barns into homes, but be warned: the consent expires this December, so work would need to be started by then.
‘What makes this estate so special is its sense of complete serenity, peace and privacy, ' says Benji Weinberger of DDRE Global.
'Standing in the garden or beside the pool, looking across the surrounding acreage, the only sound you hear is birdsong. Yet, with London Bridge under an hour away, it works equally well as a family home or a weekend escape.
‘For its price, location and historical significance, it is an almost impossible offering to replicate, particularly for equestrian or tennis enthusiasts.’
Sussex House Farm is for sale at £3,950,000 via DDRE Global — see more details.
