Lake Street, Mark Cross, East Sussex, TN6

A delightful and characterful family home, together with a separate cottage and extensive outbuildings, enjoying a stunning position, just 6.7 miles south of Tunbridge Wells.

Description

Nestled in a wonderful semi-rural position off Lake Street, on the fringe of the popular village of Mayfield, the property enjoys a far-reaching view to the east, with the extensive garden merging seamlessly with the farmland to create a feeling of space and tranquility.

Believed to have been two 18th century cottages, Harlings Farm was reconstructed in the 1930s by a local builder who worked on several properties in Lake Street. Now, it is a most attractive comfortable and light filled family home with a wealth of period features, good ceiling heights, contemporary fixtures and fittings, and attractive bespoke joinery.

The ground floor accommodation in the main house comprises a large timbered drawing room, kitchen, dining room and a small TV 'snug', with views over the gardens and pond. The former features an impressive wide inglenook fireplace with a beehive brick canopy.

On the first floor there is a delightful galleried landing and five comfortable bedrooms, a smaller bedroom/dressing room, a family bathroom and a spacious walk-in shower room. In 2002, the owners added a third floor extension that features an attractive office/study with view over the valley to the north east. The study has direct access to the main loft which offers spacious storage for files.

The impressive package on offer at Harlings Farm is completed with extensive outbuildings, heated swimming pool and an all-weather tennis court that lie to the north west side of the house. The outbuildings comprise of a pool house with a cloakroom, a large detached weatherboarded games barn, with a secondary gate to Lake Street. There are two former stables used for garden machinery and a pump room for the pool. The pool terrace provides an uninterrupted view over the Harlings farmland to the east and is enclosed by a bespoke glazed balustrade.

The bespoke hand made kitchen/breakfast room complete with Aga has an attractive cherry wood floor which links through to the dinning room. This has a lovely outlook with doors onto the south facing terrace, connecting through a garden wall to the front patio of Harlings Cottage.

The swimming pool, together with the pool room, and party barn were built or restored by the current owners in the mid-80s. The pool measures 10 x 5 meters and is heated by a Calorex heat pump. The barn is 8.8 x 4.7 meters and is suitable for full size table tennis and a variety of exercise machines.

The Cottage provides excellent additional living accommodation for family members, or tenants. It was renovated and extended in 1978 and was home to the current owner’s parents for twenty five years until 2003. It is now tenanted on short-term assured tenancies. It is separately registered on the Land Registry.

The cottage’s internal space is 128 sq meters comprising: Three bedrooms plus a bathroom upstairs and two reception rooms plus cloakroom and utility room downstairs. The outside is laid to lawn with a single garage and private drive onto Lake Street in all approximately 50 x 30 meters. It has shared oil and sewerage facilities. A new Marsh sewerage system has been installed in January 2024.

The owners have had discussions with Wealden District Council to demolish the existing garage an to erect a four bay, two doored, two story oak frame building in its place. There is a Pre Application Reference on file.

Harlings Farm lies in a highly sought after convenient location, being within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the northern side of Lake Street, a delightful semi-rural country lane, with many quality properties between Mayfield and Mark Cross.

The farmland is laid to grass and slopes gently away from the house to the east. On the north west there is a block of woodland of approximately 4 acres growing mainly Spruce, and Ash with some impressive Oaks lining the north west boundary of the property.

Near the house there is a large flat lawn which the owners have used many times for entertaining and family weddings. Capable of accommodating a large marquee.

A public footpath runs from a stile accessed from Lake Street heading down the easterly side of the field to the valley below as marked by a purple line on the boundary plan. This was officially moved from its original line north of the house.

The glorious situation, enjoyed by Harlings Farm, is the main feature being privately set and positioned for enjoyment of the extensive view over its farmland and beyond to the north.

The pond is a former 'hammer’ pond, of which there are many in the area, dating back to the iron industry when it would have served a forge. This now provides an idyllic natural environment for wildlife, being surrounded by many mature oaks.

There is a further block of woodland, comprising mostly coniferous planting, flanking the westerly boundary of the field, with its own separate access to Lake Street.

It is hard to imagine that you are approximately 6.7 miles from Tunbridge Wells and approx. 45 miles from London whilst sitting by the pool with this lovely outlook.

Location

Harlings lies in a highly sought-after convenient location, being within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the northern side of Lake Street, a delightful semi-rural country lane, with many quality properties between Mayfield and Mark Cross.

The historic village of Mayfield is reached in approximately 2.2 miles offering a thriving local community centered around the historic 12th century St Dunstans church. This includes a convenience store, post office, doctors and dentist surgeries, delicatessen, bakery, butcher, tennis and cricket clubs, the very popular Middle House pub, cafes, and individual boutiques.

Tunbridge Wells is approximately 6.9 miles to the north, providing high street and out of town retailers, two theatres, extensive sports and recreational opportunities. Crowborough (approximately 6.7 miles) also has supermarkets including Waitrose. Leisure options include water sports at Bewl Water, cycling and horse riding trials at Bedgebury, golf at Royal Ashdown Golf Club (Forest Row), East Sussex National (Uckfield) and Dale Hill (Ticehurst), together with many public footpaths for walking.

Mainline rail: Wadhurst (approximately 5 miles), and Tunbridge Wells (approximately 6.9 miles) with trains to London Charing Cross (via London Bridge and Waterloo East) and Cannon Street (Tunbridge Wells to Cannon Street) or Crowborough (at Jarvis Brook, approximately 4.9 miles), has services to London Bridge with journey times from just over an hour.

State and private schools: Mayfield village has its own primary school and the independent Mayfield School for girls at secondary level. Preparatories in the area include Holmewood House, Skippers Hill, St Ronan’s and Marlborough House and Vinehall. At secondary level, there are Academies in Wadhurst and Crowborough and Heathfield Cottage. Other independent options include Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Upper Dicker (Beades), Brighton and Eastbourne. The grammar schools in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge offer limited entry determined by performance in the 11-plus exam.

Communications: The M25 is accessed at junction 5 via the A21 which runs to the north, links to London, the south coast and the motorway network, and thereby to Gatwick and Heathrow airports and the motorway network, and thereby to Gatwick and Heathrow airports and the Channel Tunnel terminus.

Square Footage: 3,553 sq ft


Acreage: 21.6 Acres

Directions

TN6 3NT: From Tunbridge Wells head south out of the town on Nevill Street/Frant Road(A267). Continue through the villages of Frant and Mark Cross, after which Lake Street is the next turning on the left. Remain on this road and the gate for Harlings will be found a little further up on the left-hand side, before you reach the right-hand turning to Little Trodgers.

Additional Info

Services: Oil-fired central heating, mains electricity and private drainage.

Outgoings: Wealden District Council. Harlings Tax Band H, Harlings Cottage Tax Band F.

Agent's Note: The land plan is for guidance only and not to be used as Land Registry compliant.