1 Bed Flat, Church Lane, TN9

This comfortable, attractive, quiet, well insulated, well lit and inexpensive to run one bedroom split level flat is on the first floor of a 17th century Grade II listed Georgian building in the heart of the medieval centre of Tonbridge.  The location of the building is pleasant and convenient, with a Norman/medieval church and extensive churchyard on one side, and the town's High Street and commercial centre on the other side, within easy walking distance of the mainline train station.  

The flat, recently fully refurbished and redecorated, is the only one which extends from the front to the rear of the building.  The main room, an open plan living room and fitted kitchen area, is situated at the front, facing due west overlooking the High Street through two 12-pane Georgian sash windows fitted with sophisticated counterbalanced acoustic double glazing.  The windows provide excellent natural light.  The bedroom is situated at the rear, it faces due east getting the morning sun and overlooks a quiet well tended walled communal courtyard garden.  

The refurbishment includes new Amtico Signature floors throughout, an all new kitchen with built in induction hob, fully featured fan oven, built in microwave, fully vented cooking hood, new full height built in fridge freezer, new built in dishwasher, solid 2" custom oak laminated worktop illuminated by extensive remotely controlled concealed lighting under soft close cupboards and drawers. 

Entrance is via the courtyard garden.  A listed central staircase leads up to the first floor and a galleried landing.  Entry is naturally lit by a domed roof light above the central staircase.  The entrance door of the flat opens onto a small inner hall leading on opposite sides to a door to the main room and to steps leading down to the bedroom and shower room.

The main room has a listed sealed fireplace with a decorative relief.  The bedroom has a high vaulted ceiling and a series of unusual windows.   There is a built-in storage cupboard and a separate cupboard housing a wall mounted Baxi gas combi boiler.  The flat has full gas central heating.  Beneath the decorative Amtico Signature flooring the floor boards are acoustically engineered four element laminated:  compressed high density chip board, silicone pads to deliver a damped void, high density MDF over a final layer of thick felt that is in contact with the joists.  The combination of differing densities and materials absorbs sound particularly well.  Further to these boards the ceiling boards are doubled and isolated from their joists with rubber bushes.  The void between the joists is filled with “Soundslab” a high density rockwool.  Rockwool is also used in the party walls between flats.  Good heat insulation is a by product of the work done to reduce sound transmission. The flat has a generous number of power points and is wired for a conventional telephone.  There is free access to high speed dual band wifi. Lighting is almost entirely by LED.

The flat is one of eight created when the building was carefully and completely redeveloped in 2005.  Protected period features were preserved and state of the art materials and structure were introduced.  As detailed above particular attention was paid to noise and heat insulation.  The conversion was praised in public documents by local authority planning officers and building regulation staff, who wrote:  “The conversion works have all been carried out to a very high standard.”

The building stands within 1/2 mile of Tonbridge mainline station, which offers what may be the best rail service of any town close to the M25.  There are direct commuter trains to London Bridge, Cannon Street, Waterloo, Charing Cross, and Victoria, and they are frequent.  The fastest trains take around 35 minutes to London Bridge.  The lines also run south, east and west to Gatwick and Dorking, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings etc.  There are nearby road links, via the A26 and A21, to the M20 & M25 motorways; the main roads to and from Tonbridge are excellent.  Junction 5 of the M25 is approximately eight miles north.

For the time being there is free private off street parking available in an adjacent car park. It is likely, but not guaranteed, to be the case for the period of this lease.  Nearby allocated residents' parking spaces are available for £45 per annum on application to local authority offices in the nearby 13th century Norman castle.  There is a large Waitrose supermarket, and a large Sainsburys supermarket, a few minutes walk away, between the flat and the train station.  

The building lies within the Tonbridge Conservation Area.  The medieval church and churchyard are steps away.  Tonbridge  Castle and its grounds, a sports centre, a quality public swimming pool and the River Medway are all within a few minutes walk.

Tonbridge, an historic market town, lies in the Medway valley between the Kent Weald and the Green Sand Ridge/North Downs. The geography and history of the area are interesting and extended.  There is an extraordinary variety of local villages and places of interest within easy distance, including Hever, Chartwell, Penshurst, Cowden, Sevenoaks, Bewl Water, Ashdown Forest and Hartfield.

Band B council tax.