Bateman's

Bateman's was built around 1634. The house itself is built of local sandstone, quarried from a site across the lane. The tiles are all baked from Wealden clay and the internal structures and interior woodwork is made from local Sussex oak. The property is known mostly for being residence to Rudyard Kipling. The house had no bathroom, no running water upstairs and no electricity but Kipling loved it. 'Behold us, lawful owners of a grey stone lichened house - A.D. 1634 over the door - beamed, panelled, with old oak staircase, and all untouched and unfaked. It is a good and peaceable place,' he wrote in November 1902. 'We have loved it ever since our first sight of it.'

Bateman's was Kipling's idea of home - a sanctuary, private and protective, away from the noise of village and road, embedded in the richly wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald. 'A real House in which to settle down for keeps,' was how Kipling described it in his autobiography. The interior reflects the author's strong associations with the East. There are many oriental rugs and artefacts, and most of the rooms - including his book-lined study - are much as Kipling left them.

The delightful grounds run down to the small River Dudwell with its watermill, and contain roses, wild flowers, fruit and herbs. Kipling's Rolls Royce is also on display. The garden, tearoom and shop remain open after the house has closed in October