Yahoo Finance For sale: the 'perfick' house that starred in The Darling Buds of May
Forget novelty mugs and memorabilia. If you want to invest in your own piece of television history, Buss Farm in Kent may be one for you.
The 18th-century, Grade II listed farmhouse and oast house provided the backdrop for ITV’s hit Nineties television show The Darling Buds of May, starring David Jason and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The programme captured the imagination of a generation of viewers with its visions of the “perfick” life of the Larkin family in Fifties rural Kent.
Now fans wanting their own piece of the Larkins’ country idyll can enjoy just that.
The Darling Buds Farm in Bethersden comes with 20 acres of rolling countryside. The old-world values that enchanted audiences can still be found hidden in the nooks and crannies of the grand fireplace and wooden beams that adorn the farmhouse’s large open-plan living area.
There is a small stream and pond where the farm’s own team of ducks come to paddle. The farmhouse has five bedrooms, with two more in a carthouse and an extra four in an oast house.
The farm was first brought to life in the novels of H E Bates, who lived in the nearby village of Little Chart. A fan of the show for many years, Buss Farm’s current owner Simon Coulson bought the site in a dilapidated state in 2012. Six years and more than £1 million later, the house has been returned to its former glory.
After the cast of the show returned to the farm in 2017, David Jason remarked: “It was moving and reassuring to discover how unchanged the place was.”
Buss Farm is on the market with Savills for £3 million (01580 720161; savills.com).
