Treasure ISLAND

The restoration and extension of a 17th-century farmhouse on the Isle of Sheppey has turned it into a comfortable home from home, in harmony with its surroundings

- AMANDA HARLING

The Isle of Sheppey isn't renowned as a holiday destination but, in these challenging times, taking a break closer to home has certainly increased in popularity. Situated just off the north Kent coast and linked to the mainland by two bridges, the island is just over an hour by rail from St Pancras. This is hard to believe as you gaze across the marshes from the garden of Kingshill Farmhouse, tucked away at the end of a two-mile track that leads to the Elmley Nature Reserve. The nature reserve borders the Swale, a channel of the Thames estuary, which separates Sheppey from the mainland,' explains Georgina Fulton, who manages the property with her husband Gareth. It is internationally significant as a breeding ground for nesting birds such as lapwings, redshanks and avocets, and an important winter migratory destination for tens of thousands of wildfowl and wading birds.

The Fultons took over running the 3,300-acre reserve in 2013 after Gareth retired from the army. After we were married in 2011, we began to think seriously about the future - ours and Elmley's - and how we could combine the two,' says Gareth. At the time, the RSPB, which had leased Elmley from Georgina's father Philip Merricks a farmer and conservationist - for the previous 30 years, was about to vacate the neighbouring farmhouse. No maintenance had been done on the house, or the adjacent farm buildings, for decades and they were falling apart - some more than others.