Hayle Mill Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME15

We all have an affinity with water; sunlight glinting off the surface catching the corner of your eye, soft sounds gently entering your home, the whisper of leaves touched by a light breeze along the mill pond edge.
Unbidden comes the gentle splash of a duck landing, the call of a coot patrolling, sounds that are the natural backdrop to life here, the daily joy of being in a home like this.
Set within a gated environment, this home forms part of a Grade II Listed former mill, one that, for nearly two hundred years, was part of a thriving local industry making paper.
Today this is a place of calm, an environment where people choose to escape the hustle and bustle of town life and settle within a picturesque nature reserve, one that has all the benefits of modern life nearby; stood on the deck with a drink in hand, letting the stillness pour into you, it's easy to forget that Kent's County Town is just a short drive away.
Any conversion of a former working building is going to be interesting and you'll find this is no exception. Is this a house or an apartment? An interesting question, there is a communal hall you enter to reach your front door, from here on this is a house in feel and you'll find pleasure in the modern creature comforts, the living space that stretches out toward the water, the light tumbling in through skylights, the open plan nature that allows you to enjoy that which you came here to find, the joy of looking across a mill pond day after day.
Any visitor will be drawn to imagine how mornings must be, how the motion of the sun through the sky changes the experience you share with nature, how the evening sun will bounce golden rays off the occasional crest of a ripple, what it must be like to see a kingfisher flash past, all these things become normal when you live somewhere like this.
This modern conversion manages to keep reminding that it is a conversion, it has character; a Grade II listed building, timbers, windows, the tiered layout all add to the charm of life here, a little corner for a desk to work at and that deck that puts you at the water's edge, the rush of water beside you escaping the pond and heading off down the valley, a reminder that all is not completely still, there's excitement too.
This is a community, one that provides privacy, has communal garden space alongside the stream and puts the joy of walking lovely countryside at your feet.
On a practical note, there are two parking spaces for this home and guest parking within the grounds.
We get excited every time we turn into the road and drive up past the ponds and the cascade, past charming cottages nestled within this little valley, one that somehow seems to transport you to a different place and time. It is so strange to think that a simple walk takes you back into Maidstone, that the train station can be reached on foot and that this nature reserve, Hayle Park, can be so beautiful, an oasis on the edge of the town. Is this the prettiest area to live in and around Maidstone?
We'll let you decide.