Goldenhurst Manor

Goldenhurst Manor is a house that dates from the 17th century or earlier, with cladding added in the 18th century and extensions made between 1927 and 1930. The building features a timber frame covered with painted ragstone and tile hanging, topped by a plain tiled roof. It has two storeys and a hipped roof with gablets, along with a stack at the right end. There are two wooden casement windows on each floor. The rear of the house includes a 1930s bow window and a two-storey hipped wing made of red brick in English bond. At the north end, there are single-storey extensions constructed of painted brick with plain tiled roofs, featuring a moulded stack. The extension to the west of the main range has the current entrance, which is a boarded door with a flat hood. The main block has the date 1707 inscribed on the down-pipes, along with the initials T.G.M. The extensions and refurbishment were primarily carried out for the playwright Noel Coward, who combined the farmhouse, cottage, and barns on the site into a single dwelling, which has since been divided into two again. Coward lived in the manor from 1926 to 1956, and most of the building work was completed between 1927 and 1930, serving as his main residence outside of London and Switzerland. Notably, his play 'Cavalcade' was written here in 1931.