Finchcocks

[1] It is now owned by Neil and Harriet Nichols[2] who use it as a family home and a venue for residential piano courses and classical concerts.

[9] During the Second World War pupils and teachers from Kings School Rochester lodged there before the house was requisitioned by the army.

[12] When they decided to retire and downsize in 2015, much of the important collection was dispersed at auction, but Finchcocks itself was sold to another musical couple, Neil and Harriet Nichols, who run courses for pianists at the house and host charitable concerts,[13] as well as making it their home.

The house has an elongated rectangular main block with curved and projecting flanking wings in the English Baroque style.

The imposing front façade displays a painted moulded cornice supported on Tuscan corner pillars and a pediment containing the Bathurst coat of arms.

The main building has 4 storeys above the cellar, with a central hall running the full depth of the house.

The rooms within, with their high ceilings and oak panelling, provided an ideal setting for music performed on period instruments; the house and instruments were used regularly for recordings by leading exponents of early music such as Trevor Pinnock, Simon Preston and Nigel North.

The building housed the Katrina and Richard Burnett collection of over 100 historical keyboard instruments; about forty of which were fully restored to playing condition.

Aerial view of East elevation of Finchcocks
View of the Kent countryside from Finchcocks
Another view from Finchcocks