Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Yours for £3.5m - the mansion which hosted Pink Floyd gig
Owners put stately home on market for £3.5m after more than three decades
A stunning stately home which once hosted a festival headlined by Pink Floyd has been put on the market for £3.5 million.
The owners of Charlton Park in Bishopsbourne, near Canterbury, have decided to retire and sell up after more than three decades.
Buyers will get their hands on a spectacular Grade Ii-listed property popular with filmmakers and wedding couples.
But perhaps it’s biggest claim to fame is Medicine Ball Caravan - a music festival held in its 100-acre grounds in 1970, with rock legends Pink Floyd taking star billing.
The event, which drew a crowd of just 1,500, also featured The Faces and iconic Canterbury band Caravan.
But it wasn’t until 18 years later that Gubby Wells bought the historic country home with her first husband Patrick.
Now, she and second husband Jack have decided to embark on a quieter life by selling up and downsizing.
Jack said: “It’s Gubby who I’ve had to persuade because she likes to keep busy and is a great organiser.
“But it’s a very demanding place to upkeep and hold functions and we are not getting any younger.”
The couple have hosted many charity events and concerts at the house, which is also one one of Kent’s most prestigious wedding venues.
Jack says they will be looking for a smaller home in the Canterbury area, and possibly somewhere in warmer climes to visit.
“The house is probably too big as just a family home, but a new owner may well want to carry on the function business,” he said.
The mansion house boasts 12 bedrooms, two wine cellars and a stunning 40ft ballroom, built in 1819 by Robert Foote, allegedly to entertain the Prince Regent and his mistress Elizabeth, Countess Conyngham.
Agent Strutt and Parker says the first mention of the property is in 1240, but it is likely to have been established by the time the
manor of Bishopsbourne was acquired by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 811.
The Tudor core of the present house was built in about 1580 by James Herringe, a wealthy local yeoman.
In 1636 the estate was bought by the Aucher family, who had acquired the rest of the manor of Bishopsbourne at the Reformation.
By 1800 it belonged to the Foote family, who added the Regency facade and the west wing containing the magnificent first floor ballroom. The east wing was added in the 1840s by General Sir Frederick Mulcaster.
During the Second World War, Charlton Place was requisitioned for the unit responsible for the long-range Boche-buster anti-invasion gun mounted on a railcar on the line that then ran behind the house, which, in the event, was never needed.
For 20 years after the war it was a Dr Barnados children’s home, until becoming a private house again in 1966.
Less than two miles away, another grand country home, Petham House, is also on the market for £3.85m. The Grade Ii-listed, five-bed property sits in almost 50 acres.
‘It’s a very demanding place to upkeep and hold functions and we are not getting any younger’