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, left the capital so their two sons, aged eight and five, could have more space to play.
The couple discovered the 11,000 sq ft Georgian property, Lawn House, near Canterbury, while on a drive. Formerly a 24-bedroom care home, it had been abandoned since 2017. They bought it for £1 million and moved in during February 2026.
Ben, a film producer, and Sam, a model, still commute to London several times a week for work. They plan to spend at least a decade restoring the house, stripping out the care home bedrooms and returning each room to its original purpose. The family currently lives in a modern wing at the rear, as the main house is plagued by leaks, mould, and a partially missing roof.
So far, they have cleared 20 tonnes of rubbish, including old wheelchairs and hospital beds. Ben said: 'It's all being hand done and repaired, we're not looking to change anything, we're just looking to slowly repair it and allow it to operate as the Georgian house it was.' The property sits on one acre of land, which they plan to turn into a vegetable garden with a chicken coop.
