Price £900,000
You need to cross the threshold to even begin to appreciate everything this superb detached Edwardian marine villa has to offer. While you can enjoy the attractive entrance with its original tiled pathway, wrought iron gates, palm tree and the interesting and original stained glass panelled front door, it is once you see the reception hall leading through open corniced archways to the extremely elegant drawing room that you start to realise there is something particularly special and unique about this property. It immediately creates the ‘wow factor’ and has been beautifully and lovingly restored to include a plethora of original or reclaimed features such as high ceilings, carved coving, impressive ceiling roses, ornate radiator casings, leaded light windows, high skirtings, picture and dado rails. These features give it a wonderful character and even provide echoes of the earlier Georgian era in some of the intriguing designs you find in many of the rooms. The spacious drawing room has a wrought iron fireplace with an ornamental marble surround, American white oak flooring and double doors to the balcony with steps down to the fascinating courtyard garden.
The equally well designed and attractive formal dining room is ideal for entertaining and includes a lovely bay window, impressive carved coving and ceiling rose, an ornate fireplace and panelling below the dado rail. There is a good sized and well fitted kitchen with English Oak flooring that includes a range cooker inset into an arched and tiled recess as well as discreetly hidden fridges and a dishwasher. This leads to the back door and useful passage to the garden and the front of the property, a shower room with magnificent Carrera marble tiles on the floor and walls, a second entrance to the dining room and steps to the lower ground floor.
The lower ground floor offers much to excite you. Particularly the truly sumptuous spa room with its sunken Jacuzzi bath, Grecian style pillars and double shower. Here you could spend many hours just revelling in the lap of luxury under a plethora of twinkling lights. Also on this floor is access to the courtyard, excellent laundry facilities together with a built in fridge and freezer, a large storage space as well as a beer and wine cellar and an intriguingly fitted study/music room with views across the courtyard and where all the computers and music equipment hidden in cupboards.
The original Edwardian staircase leads to the first floor landing which has access to the balcony and where all the bedrooms have been designed to reflect the delights of Versailles with their French ambiance. There are four double bedrooms on this floor including the master that is light and bright with original cast iron fireplaces in three of the bedrooms and a superb family bathroom incorporating a stand alone claw foot bath and Carrera marble wall and floor tiles. The second floor has a fascinating Japanese style bedroom with a fitted cupboard, a vaulted ceiling together with an en suite shower room and electrically operated windows and blinds. Ideal as a guest suite or for a teenager wanting their own space.
The courtyard is yet another ‘wow factor’ space. It has been designed along Moroccan lines and includes a unique corrugated and arched roofed summerhouse, a bar with a kitchen area, terracotta tiling, a built in barbecue, raised beds and outdoor lighting.
“I moved here some 17 years ago and at the time the property was in a somewhat dilapidated state and I have lovingly restored it over the years to create this beautiful and very unusual family home. This has included acquiring many reclaimed items or actually creating items by hand to replace originals that had previously disappeared or been damaged including coving, ceiling roses and fireplaces. I have also ensured that there is plenty of storage space so everything can be kept neat and tidy. It has always been a great party house and I have enjoyed entertaining friends and family both in the house and outside.
One of the main things that appealed to me when I bought the house was its location. We can be on the Deal seafront in about thirty seconds and it is less than a three minute walk into the vibrant town centre. This has a wonderful selection of individual shops, the seafront with its historic pier, Saturday market, hotels, bars and restaurants while Tides swimming pool complex is not far away. There is the Kingsdown and Walmer and the Royal Cinque Ports golf clubs for golfing enthusiasts and if you want to go slightly further afield there is also the championship courses at Royal St George's and Princes. If sailing is your interest there is the Downs Sailing Club with its clubhouse along the Strand at Walmer. There are a number of good primary schools in the area and both Dover and Sandwich offers excellent grammar school facilities while the mainline station in Deal provides access to the high speed train to Ashford, Canterbury and London.
There is some fascinating history relating to this property. It was built in 1904 and was originally the manse for the local Methodist minister. However, prior to that the land was part of the boatyards that serviced Nelson’s fleet during the Napoleonic Wars when all the ships moored this side of the Goodwin Sands and skiffs went out to the ships to deal with small repairs and at one time there were nearly 400 boatmen in the town. Because the land underneath is shingle when I came to build the spa room downstairs I had to remove layers of shingle in order to dig down and create that special room”.
23 Watling Street Watling Street
Canterbury
Kent
CT1 2UA
United Kingdom
T: 01227 479317
F: 01227 471146
E: canterbury@fineandcountry.com
4.86 out of 5 - based on 1431 customer reviews
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