Lambardes
New Ash Green, Kent
Architect: Eric Lyons
Register for similar homesThis three-bedroom terraced house, with a private garden and a garage, is well-positioned on the Lambardes estate in the renowned village of New Ash Green in Kent. Built to a design by Eric Lyons in 1968, it is a great example of a type ‘K’ house.
Ground-floor accommodation is largely open-plan. The bright living and dining rooms have been opened up to create a single large space, which is flooded with natural light from floor-to-ceiling glazing at the front and back of the house. A door in the kitchen gives access to a sun room / conservatory, a large utility room, and a WC with plenty of room for an additional shower. Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a good-sized bathroom.
The house has been well maintained by the current owners and the best of the original features have been preserved where possible. The interesting pitch of the roof is echoed in the bedrooms on the first floor, creating striking cathedral ceilings.
New Ash Green is a remarkable, and largely undiscovered, village in the Kent countryside that was almost entirely built in the late 1960s / early 1970s. It is a large village with a range of shops and services (a bank, a small supermarket, library and a doctor’s surgery), and extensive green spaces including a beautiful village green, some communal orchards, fields and woodland.
Approximately 50% of the housing stock in the village was built by Span, a company that is widely considered to be the finest developer of the post-war period. Span, who largely employed the architect Eric Lyons for their projects, had a strong belief in excellence in their housing design and, just as importantly, the landscaping and environment in which the houses were placed.
New Ash Green is well located for train services into London and for access to the motorway network. Longfield (approximately 2 miles) is the closest station and runs services to Victoria in 30 minutes. Ebbsfleet (approximately 6 miles) runs services to St. Pancras in 18 minutes.
There are a number of grammar schools for which Kent is renowned (Dartford, Gravesend, Wilmington) as well as numerous private schools. New Ash Green itself has a well-regarded primary school. Beyond New Ash Green, further shops and services can be found at Bluewater Shopping Centre (approximately 5 miles) and Sevenoaks (approximately 10 miles).
Please note that all areas, measurements and distances given in these particulars are approximate and rounded. The text, photographs and floor plans are for general guidance only. The Modern House has not tested any services, appliances or specific fittings — prospective purchasers are advised to inspect the property themselves. All fixtures, fittings and furniture not specifically itemised within these particulars are deemed removable by the vendor.
History
Between 1948 and 1984 the development company Span built 30 housing estates across the UK. New Ash Green is perhaps the most ambitious of the Span projects. The company designed and built approximately half of all the houses in the village and did much of the design of the village environment.
In 1962, as part of the process of seeking planning permission, a document entitled ‘A new village near Hartley Kent, New Ash Green’ explained the fundamental intentions of the new village:
“This is an outline proposal to design and build an entirely new kind of village in attractive surroundings with all appropriate services and communal facilities for between five to six thousand people… One of the inherent qualities of the traditional English village is a sense of freedom in the surrounding countryside and the enclosed open greens, or spaces. In New Ash Green a compact and well defined village is proposed, embedded in the surrounding countryside… The architectural quality of the village will be achieved by a close relationship between buildings and landscape.”
The houses are a mixture of types, the largest of which is a the ‘KL’ where, as Span said in a 1968 brochure, “the accent is on luxury, both in the spaciousness of the house… and in generous open ‘linked’ grouping of houses in the neighbourhood layout”.
