Balcombe Farmhouse

Balcombe Farmhouse is a Grade II* listed house located on Buckhurst Road in Frittenden. It dates back to the 15th century, with alterations made in the 16th and 18th centuries. The building features a timber frame clad with red brick and tile hanging on the first floor, topped by a plain tiled roof. It has a truncated three-bay Wealden plan, standing two storeys high with an attic on a plinth. The two hall bays on the right are recessed, and the eaves are supported by brackets. The roof is hipped with gablets, particularly pronounced on the right side, and includes one hipped dormer and a moulded stack cluster at the rear left. There is a truncated stack at the right end, with its base in English Bond, originally housing a bread oven, now part of a single-storey extension.

On the first floor, there are two three-light and one two-light wooden casement windows. The ground floor features two three-light windows and a central tripartite glazing bar sash. A four-panel door is located to the centre left, sheltered by a trellised porch. The extended left return includes wooden casements and glazed doors.

Inside, the framing details indicate that this was never a full Wealden plan; it may have been built next to a now-lost earlier service wing or always existed as a single wing Wealden, as suggested by Mason in "Framed Building of the Weald" (1964). The interior includes a dais screen made of lapped vertical boarding, a brattished beam, and an integral four-centred arched doorway leading to the parlour, along with a central 19th-century doorway. A rear through passage doorway remains intact. The ceiling beams feature late 16th-century ovolo and cavetto mouldings, while early 19th-century doors have strap hinges and boarded partitions. The main hall solar frame includes a double arch-braced spere truss, and the tall (5½ feet) octagonal moulded crown post roof rests on simple and hollow chamfered cambered tie beams of large scantling.