A family has swapped their terraced London home for a derelict countryside mansion, planning to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds restoring the mouldy property. Ben Charles Edwards, 42, and his husband Sam, 34, moved with their two sons, aged eight and five, from the capital to Lawn House, an 11,000 sq ft Georgian mansion near Canterbury.
The couple discovered the property in August 2025 while driving through the countryside. They purchased it for £1 million and moved in February 2026. The house had been converted into a 24-bedroom care home before being abandoned in 2017, leaving it plagued by leaks, extensive mould, and a partially missing roof.
The family currently lives in a modern wing at the rear, while they tackle the enormous restoration project. Ben, a film producer, said: 'We wanted to move to the countryside so that the boys would have more outside space. They're climbing trees and doing things that London couldn't offer a young family.'
So far, they have cleared 20 tonnes of rubbish, including old wheelchairs and hospital beds, and are stripping everything back to original materials. Ben added: 'It's all being hand done and repaired. We're just looking to slowly repair it and allow it to operate as the Georgian house it was.' The couple plans to spend at least a decade on the restoration, transforming the one-acre grounds into a vegetable garden with a chicken coop.
