Best country houses for sale in Kent, from townhouses and mansions to a home atop the White Cliffs of Dover

Tunbridge Wells — £2.5 million

Royal Tunbridge Wells is full of pretty old houses, but this one still stands out from the crowd with its charming design, beautiful proportions and superb location right in the middle of town.

There are eight bedrooms, a terraced garden, off-street parking and rooms spread across four floors of this townhouse which Pevsner described as one of 'three especially nice houses circa 1830 in this location'.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Charing — £500,000

Millionaires are spoilt for choice in Kent, as the other houses on this page prove; but this Grade II-listed house in a village near Ashford shows that even a more modest budget can get you a lovely old house.

It's a detached, three-bdedroom home with kitchen-breakfast room, dining room, sitting room and study, plus a garden and a garage, all in a location that's highly commutable as well as an ideal house from which to work from home.

For sale with Hobbs Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Benenden — £4 million

Old Manor House, in a village near Sissinghurst, is a wonderful old medieval hall house, bursting with original character, which dates back to the 14th century.

It's a former home of Viscount Rothermere, the man who founded the Daily Mail, and today has 9,000sq ft of space set within 16 acres of grounds that include woodland, tennis court, stables and a private fishing lake.

For sale with Savills. See more pictures and details for this property.

Orpington — £12 million

The two Rolls-Royces on the driveway in the agent's picture say it all: this is a house right at the top end of the market, a 13,500sq ft house with every conceivable modern convenience that looks like something from a glossy US soap opera.

You've no doubt already assumed that there is space (eight bedrooms) and leisure facilities (pool, tennis court and cinema), but there is also a ten-pin bowling alley. And all within the M25: Orpington is just down the road with mainline trains to London and easy links to the M25.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Canterbury — £925,000

It's not often we choose the modern option over a character home, but in the case of ths wonderful house right on the river in the centre of Canterbury it's easy to do so.

It's a three-bedroom detached home with roof terrace, covered outdoor area and good-sized rooms throughout — and all a short walk from the High Street and King's Mile.

For sale with Jackson-Stops. See more pictures and details for this property.

St Margaret's Bay — £1.25 million

The agents don't mince their words: 'one of the best views in the country' they say of this former lighthouse station atop the White Cliffs of Dover, and it's hard to contradict them.

It was turned into a home in 1994 and has been run as a café and restaurant, but with the vendors now retiring this could become a two-bedroom home (or, subject to permission, a holiday let) in a glorious location.

For sale with Marshall & Clarke. See more pictures and details for this property.

Deal — £1.25 million

The seaside town of Deal is always popular, and this home on Beach Street — with views right out to sea — is just the sort of home people dream of in this spot.

It's a five-bedroom end-of-terrace house right in the centre of town, a former pub that's now a Grade II-listed house with 2,600sq ft of space over four floors.

For sale with Strutt & Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Ashford — £1.25 million

This wonderful old house set at the end of its own private driveway is huge, with 4,000sq ft and all manner of character features — most notably the beamed ceilings and original fireplaces.

That said, the outside space is perhaps even more enticing: it's not huge at just under an acre and a half, but there is a large lawn and a small lake, all within a bucolic country setting.

For sale with Hobbs Parker. See more pictures and details for this property.

Sevenoaks — £7.5 million

72 acres of land, 30,000sq ft of buildings, and a main house which is a Georgian house remodelled in the 19th century by Anthony Salvin to give it the look of a French chateau.

The floorplan alone would take half an hour to talk through properly, but the pictures here give a sense of the grandeur — the somewhat faded grandeur — of this astonishing property. With a bit of work done, this could be one of the greatest homes for miles around.

For sale with Knight Frank. See more pictures and details for this property.

Credit: Strutt and Parker

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