‘I swam past a small village in Kent and knew I had to move there'

Telegraph

7 days ago

Mark Sawyer first set eyes on the small Kent village which would become his home from the Channel. It was 2006 and he was swimming from England to France in a team relay with two others.
'I distinctly remember the captain of the boat saying, 'There's St Margarets, it's a really pretty village '. I saw it from the water for the first time.'
The 56-year-old and his ex-partner had determined that their second home would be in the east of the country, as they eschewed Devon and Cornwall. Then, on a trip to Kent in 2008, they drove through the village. Sawyer says: 'We saw this house, at the end of the sea promenade, and just fell in love with it. There was no For Sale sign nor evidence it was on the market. It didn't even tick any of the boxes that we had set ourselves.'
But it was love at first sight. The couple liked the property so much that Sawyer paid £20k to the estate agent to take it off the market immediately.
They paid £800k for the three-bedroom house, Mermaid Cottage, and Sawyer says he has spent in the region of £1m renovating it – including buying extra land to cultivate a garden.
Mermaid Cottage was built in 1929 in Art Deco style. Playwright Noel Coward bought it after the Second World War, and lived there for seven years. Guests at the house included actress Katharine Hepburn and Ian Fleming, the author of James Bond, who later took over custodianship of the house, and wrote it into his 1955 Bond thriller Moonraker.
'I'm a massive Bond fan. For me that was the cherry on the cake,' says semi-retired Sawyer, who works in private equity.
'Most people say when we're down there: squint and you could be in the Mediterranean,' he adds.
'In the winter, the bay is so much quieter. You sit there with the log-burning stove roaring with a storm blowing outside. You're immersed in nature. The only land you can see from our living room is France.
'It gets into your soul a bit. You feel that you are in the middle of nowhere – but you're not.'
His partner, Lara Jewitt, is a former Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist, and the garden emulates Derek Jarman's Prospect Cottage.
In 2014, the couple bought land from the council to develop a garden, something which became a lockdown project. But they still wanted more garden space. 'We developed every square inch down there, and we just wanted a bit more room.'
Sawyer says: 'I never thought I would sell it, to be honest with you. It has three bedrooms, and that is too small to have both of my children back, potentially in the future with their partners, and my family to stay.'
The decision to sell has not been popular with every member of his family. 'My daughter is still not talking to me since I told her I am selling it. She'll get over it eventually.'
The cottage is listed for sale with a guide price of £1.75m.