Buying or selling a house in
Chiddingstone
Chiddingstone is a village in west Kent, west of Tonbridge, consisting of a short street of timber-framed and tile-hung houses of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries facing a fourteenth-century church. The National Trust bought the street in 1939 and still owns most of it. The parish also contains Chiddingstone Causeway and Chiddingstone Hoath. Vine Estates handles a small number of sales here personally.
What it’s actually like
Chiddingstone is one of the prettiest streets in Kent, and the National Trust has looked after it since 1939. What tends to come up for sale is elsewhere in the parish — the Causeway, the Hoath, the farms — and those are lovely in their own right, with the village itself only a few minutes down the lane. St Luke's at the Causeway is the only Anglican church John Francis Bentley ever built.
“The Trust has kept that street exactly as it was since 1939. You can walk down it and forget the century.”
David Johnston
The houses
The village is a short street of timber-framed and tile-hung houses preserved from the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries on the south side, with the church on the north. Brick to the ground floor and roundels, tile-hanging or weatherboarding above, Kent peg roof tiles, oversailing gables, leaded lights. Number 1 High Street is a sixteenth-century frame, half-timbered with brick infill below and plaster above. There are around 105 listed entries across the parish.
Getting to London
Penshurst station, despite the name, sits inside this parish at Chiddingstone Causeway, on an hourly Redhill–Tonbridge shuttle with no direct London service since 2018. The realistic commute is Tonbridge, nine minutes away by train and 32 to 36 minutes direct to London Bridge.
Schools
Chiddingstone's village Church of England school was built in 1841 and has been extended several times since. There is no secondary school and no independent school in the parish; the nearest secondary schools are at Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells.
Common questions
What does the National Trust own at Chiddingstone?
The village street, bought in 1939 with a bequest, and the Chiding Stone itself. It does not own Chiddingstone Castle, which is run by an independent registered charity, and it does not own St Mary's Church. The Trust leases its buildings out but remains responsible for the external elevations.
Who owns Chiddingstone Castle?
An independent registered charity. Denys Eyre Bower bought the castle in 1955 and asked that it pass to the National Trust on his death in 1977, but the Trust was unable to accept the gift, so the castle and his collections are run by a charitable trust instead. It is Grade II\* listed.
Which station serves Chiddingstone?
Penshurst station, which is inside Chiddingstone parish at Chiddingstone Causeway rather than in Penshurst. It runs an hourly shuttle between Redhill and Tonbridge with no direct London service. Most people drive to Tonbridge, which is nine minutes away by train.
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