Airfield with a loft landing
YESTERDAY’S Armistice Day and this weekend’s Remembrance Sunday have a deep significance for many of us but especially for those living in a corner of Kent where RAF pilots flew countless sorties during the SecondWorldWar. Those years, and especially the Battle of Britain from July to October 1940, were particularly important to people living in the village of Hawkinge, where Hawkinge Aerodrome was the nearest airfield to France.
Although closed as an RAF airfield in 1945 andWAAF training school in late 1961, the Kent Battle of Britain Museum keeps memories alive – as do the names of residential roads that have been built on the site a few miles from Folkestone.
Over the past 20 years or so, more than 4,000 homes have been built on the old airfield with several developers still building there.Among them is Dakota Loft Developments, which is selling apartments at three low-rise blocks at HurricaneWay, just off SpitfireWay.
Originally intended as offices, successive Covid lockdowns left them surplus to requirement and planning permission to convert them to residential was obtained.
The result is Hawker23, a contemporary take on loft-style living, where the one and two-bedroom apartments have unusually moody interiors featuring greys and blacks offset by dark wooden floors.
“We like pushing the boundaries,” says Johnathan Callister, managing director of Dakota Loft Developments, adding: “We are meticulous in what we do.”
Callister hopes to grow the brand name Hawker – a reference to British aircraft company Hawker Siddeley, which built Spitfires and Hurricanes during the war – although the apartments have more of an American feel to them than a typically British look.
“We love American walnut so we put in American walnut flooring everywhere,” says Callister. “The kitchens have soft closing cupboards and drawers, an island-like breakfast bar and American fridge-freezer. I really wanted the island because it’s like a centrepiece of the room.”
There are no corridors or wasted space, says Callister: “We wanted you to feel that the whole thing opens up for you as you walk through.”
Each apartment has a dark feature wall hung with a large TV, so you can watch from anywhere, and there’s a dedicated workfrom-home desk space between the front door and bedroom.
Some apartments have master bedrooms with a sitting area, walk-in wardrobe and ensuite bathrooms as well as the main bathroom with walk-in showers and oval-shaped designer basins.
They are on the market from £193,000 to £289,000 leasehold, including a parking space, although there’s an additional ground rent and service charge for communal areas, which includes storage cages (01303 370150; hawker23.co.uk).
The apartments are a 10-minute drive from Folkestone and within easy walking distance there’s a pub, café, hairdresser and shops.There’s even a Lidl supermarket.
This weekend an investors’ event for people interested in buy-to-let opportunities is taking place, with appointments bookable on the website.
And if you’re in the area, the Kent Battle of Britain Museum is open from 10am to 4pm this weekend, with the world’s largest collection of Battle of Britain memorabilia and artefacts (kbobm.org).