A family of four who ditched their terraced London home to move to an abandoned mansion in the countryside will fork out ‘hundreds of thousands’ to transform the ‘mouldy’ property to its former glory.
Ben Charles Edwards, 42, and his husband Sam, 34, decided to move out of the city, so that their two sons, eight and five, would have more space to play and have adventures.
After going for a drive just outside Canterbury, Ben, a film producer, and Sam, a model, spotted an enormous 11,000 sq ft Georgian property, Lawn House, that had been turned into a care home, and left to rot since 2017.
They immediately fell in love, and purchased the home for £1million, before moving in in February 2026.
Despite moving, however, the main house is currently uninhabitable, with leaks everywhere, tons of mould, and part of the roof missing.
The family are currently living in a wing at the back of the house, that was built by the care home, so is far more modern than the rest of the property.
Ben and Sam plan to spend at least a decade, slowly returning the home to its former glory, ripping out the 24 care home bedrooms, and restoring each room to its original function.
The couple, who still commute to London a few times a week for work, have settled well into countryside life, and say their kids are thrilled with all the extra space to explore.
Ben Charles Edwards (pictured left), 42, and his husband Sam (pictured right), 34, ditched London for a derelict former care home just outside of Canterbury
The couple are now hoping to restore the £1million home back to its former glory – but believe it will take them a decade
Ben, from east London, said: ‘London’s an amazing city, I owe so much to London, it’s always going to be my home.
‘But we wanted to move to the countryside so that the boys would have more outside space. We wanted them to feel alive.
‘They’ve never had more cuts and bruises from playing outside than they have in the last couple of months.
‘They’re climbing trees and doing things that London couldn’t offer a young family.
‘Lawn house was a dilapidated mess when we found it, but it’s one of the most stunning examples of Georgian architecture I’ve ever seen.
‘It’s only 50 minutes on the train to London, which is great when we need to commute into the city for work.
‘You get a different form of community in the countryside; everyone is so friendly and supportive.
‘Within the first few hours after we moved, five or six people came and introduced themselves.’
The couple have moved to the countryside mansion, called Lawn House, with their two children eight and five
The family-of-four are currently living in the back wing of the home because the main house is uninhabitable
The couple believe that the restoration project will likely cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds
Lawn House was previously converted into a 24-bedroom care home, before being abandoned in 2017
Ben and Sam have spent the last 10 years moving into various properties in East London, doing them up, and then moving out, and onto their next project.
‘We bought each one with the intention of staying, but I love a project,’ Ben said.
Since having their children, the couple had talked about moving to the countryside, so that their two boys could have more outdoor space to play in.
Then, one day in August 2025, Ben and Sam were driving in the countryside, just outside of Canterbury, and they spotted the huge mansion on the top of a hill.
They climbed up the hill and walked up the window, where they saw a ballroom with a huge white marble fireplace, with a Greek goddess carved into it.
‘I immediately fell in love with it, and I said to Sam, ‘We need to move here’, Ben said.
A few months later, in February 2026, the family left their four-bed terrace house, and moved into Lawn House, an 11,000 sq foot Georgian mansion, 10 times the size of their London home.
The property is situated on one acre of land, which Ben and Sam plan to transform into a vegetable garden, as well as having a chicken coop.
After going for a drive just outside Canterbury, Ben and Sam spotted the enormous 11,000 sq foot Georgian property
The couple’s young children love adventuring outdoors, which is made easy in their new home compared to in London
The couple have removed 20 tonnes of rubbish from the home – including old wheelchairs and hospital beds, and have stripped everything back to the original material
The couple said that they’re not looking to change anything – but repair the mansion back to what it once was
‘There’s a gorgeous walled garden, and so much space for the boys to play and run around and have adventures,’ Ben said.
Ben and Sam are currently undertaking the mammoth task of slowly restoring the property, which could take decades.
‘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,’ Ben said.
So far, they have removed 20 tonnes of rubbish from the home – including old wheelchairs and hospital beds, and have stripped everything back to the original material, to allow it to breathe.
‘There were floorboards on top of floorboards, the care home kept adding bits instead of restoring anything,’ Ben said.
‘We found a new staircase the other day that we didn’t know we had, it was hidden by plywood.’
During the process, the couple were able to find an auction paper, from 1901, which shows the original layout of the house, and using this, they plan to restore each room to its original use.
Ben said: ‘It was like a treasure map, we were able to use it to go, this is where the library was, this was the parlour, this was the drawing room.’
As the family plan to restore the house slowly, over a long period of time, they have no idea, how much the renovation will cost, but estimate it will be hundreds of thousands of pounds, over the course of their lives.
