Church Road, Tonge, Sittingbourne, ME9

Architecture and Interior

First impressions of Tonge Mill are dominated by the scale and ‘wow’ factor of 6,200 square feet of space with a 60-foot historic chimney (no longer in use.

The Mill is both solid and pleasingly symmetrical, with a time-tested brick-built façade with original shuttered sash windows. The roof, a mix of original slate tiles and modern panels, has been recently restored and refurbished where required.

Beyond the immediate impact of its size and scale, Tonge Mill offers abundant practical options.

The heart of the building is a substantial family house. Beyond, it extends into a workshop, artist’s studio and separate cottage, all with separate entrances.

With these four distinct units, the Mill offers a portfolio of significant and flexible spaces, as well suited for creative business use and investment, as they are for stylish living.

Car Park and Entrance

Tonge Mill is usually approached by the private car park on Church Road, where there is a side gate to the house. The car park is laid with small stones, and large workshop doors, opening onto the car park, could easily be converted to a garage. The sheds remaining in the car park provide useful storage for wood, bicycles or tools, but could also be removed to create more space.

Garden and Pond

The moment you enter Tonge Mill’s boundary, you are in a magical world, as the house sits on the stunning Mill pond complete with islands, ducks and a rowing boat.

The well-kept west-facing garden separating the mill and the pond is secluded and the perfect place for an evening drink as the sun goes down over the water.

Tonge Mill’s owners can enjoy and use the Mill pond, which belongs, with the adjoining fields, to neighbouring land owners. It is a haven for birds - not only regular inhabitants – herons, coots, moorhens and ducks - but more exotic visitors like swans, kingfishers, cormorants and white egrets.

A wide path leading to the house passes a large wooden pergola. The brick walls of the house noticeably retain the heat of the setting sun, making this a perfect place to sit and look out over the pond in the evenings.

Though there is a main front door on Church Road, the door on this side of the house is the usual way to access the house from the car park.

Tonge Mill benefits from a pretty rural setting. Within a few yards a public footpath off Church Road leads into fields and orchards heavy with apple blossom in spring and apples in autumn.

The Main House

The heart of Tonge Mill is a three-storey family house. Its imaginative conversion preserves an industrial look and feel throughout with wooden floors and exposed brickwork or white painted walls giving a simple and adaptable backcloth. With recently renovated bathrooms and kitchen, the Mill combines heritage style with modern comfort.

Ground Floor

The ground-floor features a large, light sitting room, opening onto the water’s edge – a tranquil place to sit and listen to water birds and the rippling of the pond. Below is a usable cellar and other spaces not in use.

A useful cloakroom/utility room leads to the sluice room: the old engine of the Mill. Stunning wooden beams and metal work show where the Mill’s grinding mechanism originally emerged. This cool, cellar-like room is suitable for storing wine. The old mill wheel is still visible from a trap door in the floor. This space is currently empty but could be adapted to showcase the Mill’s history in a dramatic way.

The ground floor also includes a large guest bedroom with built-in cupboards, and adjoining bathroom, with exposed brickwork, wooden floor.  Both bedroom and bathroom overlook the pond.

Middle Floor

The middle floor has a large central hall where the original loading bay door opens dramatically onto views of the pretty hamlet, fields and stream beyond.

A large main bedroom with reclaimed wardrobe doors, timber floors and beams, opens off the hall. A partially glass door opens onto a large and light ensuite bathroom.

Also on this floor is a smaller bedroom with porthole lights, and beyond, a huge and high-ceilinged studio/study with mezzanine sleeping platform, the top half of an original arched window extending to the floor below and a rooflight, fitted in a newly-refurbished roof.

Top Floor

The top floor of the Mill is a huge living space with a stunningly high vaulted ceiling, crossed with the original steel beams. Seven sash windows fill the room with light and reflections of the water below. Here, you can see the sun rise over the fields and set over the pond.

A large well-equipped kitchen in one corner has views over the fields from a window behind the broad butler’s sink. The spacious living area, which can easily seat a dozen people, centres on an excellent wood burning stove, which heats the whole floor in winter.

The top floor also includes a larder room with fitted units and additional freezer space, a WC with pond views, and a utility cupboard with the house’s two efficient boilers.

Stairs lead up to a splendid open mezzanine for dining aloft among the roof beams.

Its dramatic and unusual design make this a perfect space for showcasing art works, entertaining, or working in style.

Workshop

Between the main house and the car park is the large workshop building, which offers two floors of flexible space, with an electrical system suitable for industrial or commercial use.

The ground floor is currently empty, occasionally used for DIY jobs and otherwise for storage. This space has some natural internal partitions and could be sub-divided in various ways.

The top floor is divided into a large main room, a smaller room, kitchenette, WC and 2 storage spaces. This is also empty, but was previously used as an office. With permission, it could also be converted to residential use or as a self-contained flat.

The car park end of the workshop could be adapted to create more car parking space or a garage.

Studio

On the other side of the main house is the Studio, which offers significant potential for creative development.

Not currently in use, its triple-height ceiling, mezzanine platform and full height arched window overlooking the pond, give it a particular artistic charm. Subject to consent, it could be used as an open-plan loft-style home for a family member, guests, or rental investment.

Cottage

Sitting at the base of the huge chimney, the end of the building on the right from the road is a stylishly-restored two-bedroom cottage.

With original Crittall windows, fitted with heritage standard double glazing, Farrow and Ball paintwork and wooden floors, the cottage is ideal for guests, as an annexe or for separate rental.

Upstairs is a large light master bedroom and smaller bedroom, both giving onto a reclaimed-style, bathroom.  Downstairs, a modern open plan kitchen overlooks the pond and gives onto a large sitting room, with wood burner.

The cottage currently yields an annual income of £16,680 (£1390 PCM). It could easily be incorporated into the main house if more living and bedroom space were needed.

The owners have re-landscaped the cottage plot land to create a parking space and pedestrian gate into the pond-side garden. An indigenous Kentish hedge and wildflower bank mark the boundary with the road. Like all the Mill’s buildings, the cottage has waterside views and an aesthetic that mingles industrial heritage with modern comfort.

In the Neighbourhood

This part of North Kent boasts some wonderful coastal and countryside villages and towns – with arty Faversham, lively Whitstable and historic Canterbury within half an hour’s drive.

Walkers and cyclists can explore quiet country and coastal paths, which run through beautiful scenery and feature many historic houses, gardens and pubs. The Saxon Shore Way and National Cycle Route 1, winding through stunning flat and open marshlands, are a stone’s throw from the house. Between the A2 and the Swale, and on the other side of the A2 towards the North Downs you can step back in time, walking or cycling through quiet country lanes and hamlets where you scarcely meet a car.

Faversham is a charming small and friendly town with a slightly eccentric and arty vibe. Off the tourist trail but much-loved by local people, it sits on a large creek with boats and house boats, so has a strong waterside flavour.  As well as its markets, antiques shops and arts and crafts attractions, Faversham boasts the famous McKnade’s food hall, deli and café. Trading for 150 years, it still draws visitors from across the county.

The old-fashioned Shipwright’s Arms, a lovely walk through the fields near Faversham is a particular favourite of the owners, while the Three Mariners at Oare offers an imaginative menu and is popular with foodies.. It’s owned by Shepherd Neame, the UK’s oldest brewery, still operating from its Faversham home.

Further afield, historic Canterbury has its own fantastic food hall, the Goods Shed, old-school seaside towns Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs, and the lively town of Whitstable, famous for its oysters, which has always drawn a London crowd while retaining its local feel. Near Whitstable, the highly acclaimed Sportsman, a former pub that’s now a restaurant with rooms, is a Kent success story with a rotating seasonal menu.

Transport & Connections

Local train station Teynham is five minutes’ drive, with free and readily available parking. Services to London Victoria go every hour. From Sittingbourne, 15 minutes’ drive away, trains go direct both to Victoria and St Pancras, with changes to other London stations.

There is a large station car park and another car park opposite. Journeys take just over an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.

Driving to London via the nearby M2/A2 takes around 90 minutes, traffic permitting. In the other direction, trains continue from London to Dover and Ramsgate.  The drive to Folkestone and the Shuttle car route to Europe, is 45 minutes and generally traffic free.