Goldenhurst Farm

Goldenhurst Farm
The Old House, part of the, now-subdivided, Goldenhurst Farm
Alternative names Goldenhurst Manor / The Old House, Goldenhurst
General information
Type Country house
Town or city Aldington
Country Kent
Coordinates 51°04′30″N 0°57′06″E / 51.0751°N 0.9517°E / 51.0751; 0.9517Coordinates: 51°04′30″N 0°57′06″E / 51.0751°N 0.9517°E / 51.0751; 0.9517
Owner Noël Coward (1926–56)
Julian Clary (current)
Designations Grade II listed

Goldenhurst Farm, (now Goldenhurst Manor and The Old House, Goldenhurst),[1] is a country house of 17th century origins[1] in the village of Aldington, Kent. From 1926 to 1956, it was the country home of Noël Coward.[2] It is a Grade II listed building.[2]

Coward 1926–56

Coward found the property after placing an advert in the Kentish Times and receiving only one reply.[3] Initially renting the farm from a Mr Body, Coward bought it in 1927. In extensive rebuilding and renovation in 1927–9,[3] he linked together "the farmhouse, the square edifice, one of the barns and an adjoining cottage" to create a substantial country house.[4]

He wrote Cavalcade at Goldenhurst in 1931.[1] During the Second World War the house was requisitioned by the Army and Coward moved temporarily to White Cliffs, a house he rented at St Margaret's Bay. He finally returned to Goldenhurst in December 1951, recording in his diary; "We arrived at 1.55 - the house and land seemed to envelop me in a warm and lovely welcome. We spent the day hanging more pictures etc. Utterly exhausted but deeply and profoundly happy. I am home again."[5] But the post-war tax regime made the expense of running the large house increasingly burdensome, Coward writing to Lawrence Olivier in 1957; "Goldenhurst (five gardeners all year round, lighting, heat etc.) was costing a fortune."[6] He therefore sold the house,[7] and his London home in Gerald Road,[8] in 1956 and moved abroad for tax reasons, dividing his time between Les Avants in Switzerland and, firstly Bermuda, and then Firefly, his home in Jamaica.

Description

The house is timber-framed, of brick and Kentish ragstone, with a tiled roof.[1]

Now sub-divided again,[1] part of the house is home to the comedian and novelist Julian Clary.[9] The gardens of Goldenhurst were featured in the 2017 book The Secret Gardeners by Victoria Summerley and photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas.[10]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "GOLDENHURST MANOR - 1071221". Historic England. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  2. 1 2 Good Stuff (1957-11-27). "Goldenhurst Manor - Aldington - Kent - England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  3. 1 2 Property (2004-11-24). "Mad about the house". Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  4. ↑ Tinniswood, p. 262.
  5. ↑ Coward 1982, p. 182.
  6. ↑ Coward 2007, p. 617.
  7. ↑ Coward 1982, p. 305.
  8. ↑ Coward 1982, p. 311.
  9. ↑ Eleanor Doughty (2016-03-26). "Julian Clary: What it's like to live with Noel Coward's garden". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  10. ↑ Summerley & Rittson Thomas 2017, p. 52.

References

  • Coward, Noël (1982). Graham Payn and Sheridan Morley, eds. The Noël Coward Diaries. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-78142-1.
  • Coward, Noël (2007). Barry Day, ed. The Letters of Noël Coward. London: Methuen Drama. ISBN 978-0-7136-8578-7.
  • Tinniswood, Adrian (2016). The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House between the Wars. London: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4481-9124-6.
  • Summerley, Victoria; Rittson Thomas, Hugo (2017). The Secret Gardeners. London: Francis Lincoln. ISBN 9-78071-123763-6.
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