Woods hid knights and thespians too

A Grade II-listed country house, for sale in pretty woodland, is packed to the rafters with history.

Local lore records that original buildings at Slaybrook Hall were used as a hiding place by the four knights who murdered Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas a Becket in 1170.

If that isn’t enough, the setting for Noel Coward’s play, Blithe Spirit, a comedy about ghosts, is also said to have been based on the hall.

Today’s Slaybrook Hall, on the outskirts of the village of Saltwood, near Hythe, is a comfortable six-bedroom home set in a plot of 0.7 acres.

Priced at £1.395m, it has a garage and is just a short walk from Sandling station, which has trains to London St Pancras in 53 minutes.

There is a grand drawing room and a long music room, together with a cosier sitting and dining room. A family kitchen has views over the garden. Six bedrooms are all on the first floor with two bathrooms.

Edward Church, of Strutt & Parker, says: “Many stories surround the site on which the house is found; a building has most likely stood there since the 12th century. Local myth suggests the knights who murdered Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral hid at Slaybrook Hall after their crime, instead of returning to Saltwood Castle, where they had plotted the killing. In later years, the drawing room seems to have been a draw for local thespians, including actor Gerald du Maurier and playwright Noel Coward.”

Call the agent on 01227 473700