Buying or selling a house in
Kings Hill
Kings Hill is a planned settlement in west Kent, built from 1989 on the former RAF West Malling airfield and now a civil parish in its own right. Five 1930s and 1940s RAF structures survive, Grade II listed, including a control tower that is now a coffee shop. There is no station; West Malling, immediately north, serves it. Vine Estates handles a small number of sales here personally.
What it’s actually like
Kings Hill was planned properly and it shows — good schools, wide green spaces, the business park, and everything new enough to work as it was meant to. It also has the 1930s RAF control tower as a coffee shop and the old officers' mess as council offices, which gives it a history most new places lack. Three primary schools and a lot of open space make it work well for families.
“The 1930s control tower is now the coffee shop. Not many new places come with that.”
David Johnston
The houses
Kings Hill is a planned settlement begun in 1989, so period stock is not the frame. The oldest parts sit around Worcester Avenue and Discovery Drive, with a second phase around Beacon Avenue to the north and a third beyond. The distinguished older buildings are the surviving RAF ones — Historic England call the domestic site an exceptionally well-preserved group, neo-Georgian for the domestic buildings and more stridently modern for the technical ones.
Getting to London
Kings Hill has no station of its own. West Malling, immediately north and sometimes shown as West Malling for Kings Hill, runs direct to both London Victoria and London Charing Cross, four trains an hour off-peak, of which two go to a London terminus.
Schools
Three primaries serve the settlement: Kings Hill Primary School, The Discovery School on Discovery Drive and Valley Invicta Primary School at Kings Hill. There is no secondary school at Kings Hill itself.
Common questions
How many homes are there at Kings Hill?
It was originally consented in 1989 for around 2,750 homes, with a later planning agreement adding a further 1,300. Around 2,000 had been built by 2010 and it has continued to grow in phases since. Figures for the current completed total vary between sources, so we don't quote one.
What was Kings Hill before it was built?
RAF West Malling, a fighter station of the inter-war expansion and a satellite of Biggin Hill. It was bombed out of action for much of the Battle of Britain, reopened in October 1940 and became one of Britain's leading night-fighter bases, later playing a key part in the defence against V1 bombs.
What survives of the airfield?
Five Grade II listed structures: the Gibson Building, the former officers' mess of 1939, now borough council offices; the control tower of 1939–40; the former barracks; the former Airmens Institute; and the garages behind the Gibson Building. The control tower survives largely as it was in 1942 and has been restored as a coffee shop.
A conversation costs nothing
You don't need to have decided anything to call. Most of the useful conversations I have start with someone who isn't sure yet and just wants to understand their options.