History of Woodlands
The story of Woodlands begins in a landscape much older than the house itself. For centuries, the higher ground above Yalding was a patchwork of farmland, orchards and hop gardens. Historic maps from the 19th century show the eastern end of Lughorse Lane still largely undeveloped.
That changed around the beginning of the 20th century with the creation of Broomfield, the substantial country house next door, and the small estate that surrounded it.
The evidence suggests that Broomfield was established around 1902 to 1905, most likely for Charles Edward Fletcher, whose family had previously lived at nearby Kenward. Kenward was sold in 1902, and within only a few years Charles Fletcher is documented commissioning improvements at Broomfield. By 1909, Broomfield appears clearly by name on the Ordnance Survey map as an established country residence with its surrounding grounds and service buildings.
The Fletcher family were prominent locally, but their wealth and connections reached considerably further afield. Charles's grandfather, Edward Fletcher, had served with the East India Company in Bengal, where he rose to become Chief of the Company's trading establishment at Santipore, an important centre of the Indian textile trade. On returning to England he became a partner in a London East India agency house and invested in substantial property. Charles's mother, Frances Marsham, was meanwhile the daughter of the 2nd Earl of Romney.
By 1905, Charles Fletcher was investing significantly in his new home at Broomfield. Surviving records from the celebrated horticultural engineers Messenger & Co. show that he commissioned a purpose-built plant house for the estate.A plant house was not the mansion itself, but a substantial Edwardian glasshouse used for growing valuable, ornamental and often exotic plants. Such buildings were a familiar part of well-appointed country estates and could include heating systems, decorative ironwork and specialist glazing. Its construction gives us a wonderful glimpse of Broomfield being developed not simply as a house, but as a proper Edwardian country estate.Woodlands is understood to have formed part of Broomfield's original service buildings, serving as its coach house and stabling. Nearby Wood Lodge accommodated estate staff. Census records from around a century ago show the coachman living there with his wife and three children.It is easy to imagine a very different scene here then. Horses and carriages arriving through the grounds, the coachman and his family living next door, gardeners tending Broomfield's lawns and glasshouses, and Woodlands occupied not by holidaymakers but by the people, animals and equipment needed to keep the estate running.The surviving evidence suggests that Broomfield, Woodlands and Wood Lodge were created at roughly the same time, probably in the first few years of the 20th century, as the principal house and service buildings of Charles Fletcher's new estate following the sale of the family's former home at Kenward.More than 120 years later, the buildings still stand together at the end of Lughorse Lane. Their purpose has changed considerably, but the layout of the old estate remains remarkably easy to recognise.Today, Woodlands is our forever home, and we love welcoming guests to our two cottages. Enjoy your stay!