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Bell House

Bell House

2.5
out of 5
Ratings from 1 review
0% of guests
recommend
Cleanliness
1.0
Comfort
3.0
Condition
1.0
Location
4.0
Value
1.0
Customer
Service
5.0

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Dating back to the 16th century, Bell House is a charming property set in the heart of the traditional village of Wickhambreaux on the outskirts of Canterbury. The house overlooks the pretty tree-lined village green and the welcome 17th century pub, The Rose Inn. The village also has a beautiful 14th century church and watermill.

Bell House has been in the current owner’s family for over 350 years and has previously been a family home, a school, a tailors and an antique shop. Now it is a lovely four bedroomed holiday home, full of character and charm. Original features include a large hearth, wooden beams and uneven floors, with the addition of all modern conveniences and an eclectic selection of furniture. The garden is a real feature of the property, with a patio for alfresco dining and a long wide sweeping lawn leading down to the (fenced off) river.

This area is perfect for exploring the pretty surrounding villages of Ickham, Wingham and Littlebourne and all can be accessed on foot from the house. The Duke William pub in Ickham is only a 20-minute walk and highly recommended for the welcome and good food. The historic medieval City of Canterbury is a short 15-minute drive, and you can reach the coast in less than 30 minutes with the choice of the lovely trendy fishing town of Whitstable, or the elegant Georgian town of Deal just two of many choices.

Charming but Neglected: Beautiful House, Poorly Maintained and Overpriced

Review submitted on Sat, 11 Oct 2025
2.5
out of 5
Guest doesn't recommend this property
Cleanliness
1.0
Comfort
3.0
Condition
1.0
Location
4.0
Value
1.0
Customer
Service
5.0
This is a gorgeous old house with huge potential, but the house has not been laid out well and is in desperate need of restoration. For example, there are three bedrooms upstairs and a further bedroom downstairs, but all the bathrooms are downstairs, meaning that you have to walk down creaking old staircases in the night. This could be resolved as there is a large space between two of the bedrooms upstairs that could (with a little investment) be converted to a bathroom. The floorboards in the bedrooms are literally coming apart with several large holes in one bedroom and ad-hoc repairs across the floors.

I understand that the property is very old, but I lived in a 400-year-old farmhouse for over 12 years. I am used to old houses with low doorways and crooked walls, but there is no excuse for holes in the floorboards, ancient, low-quality furniture and poor cleanliness.

It is as though the owner has thrown together the furniture their ancestors collected over centuries and used Ikea to replace the unusable items with the cheapest possible replacements. Most of the furniture is ‘rickety’ and old at best (for example, the armchairs in the space upstairs), or extremely cheap.

The house is old, but it is not clean. There were cobwebs all over the house, and the floors and rugs are in desperate need of a deep clean. The carpet was also coming away from the main staircase.

The kitchen is nice, spacious and reasonably equipped. The bedrooms were clean with modern, comfortable beds and sufficient towels and linen. The bathrooms were clean but very basic.

The living room is borderline (Ikea sofas thrown in with tired antiques), and a tiny TV situated so that it is very hard to watch unless you sit at the other end of the room. The log-burning stove was one of the reasons I chose this house. Having moved from an old farmhouse to Dubai, I missed winter evenings by the fire. The booking confirmation email mentions 'Logs (starter pack)’, which were nowhere to be seen, but I was able to order logs using Deliveroo. The ‘study corner’ is ridiculous, an old desk littered with ancient but sadly not antique detritus and a 90’s cheap hifi, but no chair or even space to sit. The curtains throughout the house are old, dusty and dirty.

The garden was lovely, but I fear more attention is paid to maintaining the garden than the house and furniture.

I feel that this is a little cash cow for the owners who live abroad and want to minimise their investment and maximise their margins.

This property is not priced appropriately for its condition, fixtures and fittings.


Phillip from Dubai stayed at Bell House for 4 nights in September 2025