|
| Thurnham Keep Country House Hotel |
|
|
| Luxury hotel / b&b accommodation in Maidstone, Kent |
The house, with its Jacobean-style frontage, looks
far older than it actually is but is typical of Edwardian eccentricity and grandeur.
Commissioned by a Quaker Lady (hence the chapel), the house was built to extremely high standards. Only the finest materials were used in the construction - Bath stone, York stone and knapped flint-work
provide the framework whilst marble and oak parquet floors, fine plaster mouldings and panelled walls adorn the interior. It’s believed that the flints were gathered from the crumbling ruins of Thurnham Castle and that is how the house acquired its name.
| Thurnham Keep in winter |
|
|
| Jacobean-style frontage |
During WW11 the house was requisitioned
by the RAF, who used the main house as a convalescence home for wounded aircrew from Detling Aerodrome, and its cellars used
for storing important documents. In the event of
the house being bombed a tunnel was constructed from the cellars into the North Downs as an escape route but fortunately
it was not needed. It still remains today although blocked off at the far end
and has provided much entertainment for the children since the war years.
| The vaulted chapel |
|
|
| Now our snooker room |
Thurnham Keep has always been and still
is a much loved family home. Four families had previously lived here before I
came to live at Thurnham as a child in the early 1970’s when my parents bought Thurnham Keep at auction, being the principal
residence of the Thurnham Keep Estate. It goes without saying that I had a wonderful
childhood here, married Mark in St Mary’s, Thurnham then shortly after moved to Buckinghamshire. In 1997 when, due to ill health, my father put the house up for sale, we decided to buy it and move back
here with our family. Since that time I have decorated and furnished the rooms myself whilst Mark has worked tirelessly in the gardens
during the weekends. A true labour of
love but very rewarding and it’s wonderful to be home!
|
