A long-abandoned golf course is being transformed into a luxury estate where the five-bed homes cost £1.6m.

The exclusive houses – some of which are already occupied – sit on the ex-Great Chart Golf Club near Ashford, which previously formed part of the Great Chart Golf and Leisure complex.

Developer Clarus Homes started work on the 10-home development in 2022 after its plans for the site, which lies off Bears Lane next to the Ashford to Charing Cross railway line, were approved in December 2021.

New drone images show how the properties, which are set within 25 acres, currently look, with four of the houses still in build.

Each home on the ‘Bears Green’ estate has a double garage and is part of a gated community, bosses say.

A further 10 homes similar to those currently being built were proposed to be constructed on the former leisure complex next door, on land to the south of the railway line, but planning permission was refused by Ashford Borough Council (ABC) in November.

Concerns were raised over the development's impact on the countryside, with objectors saying it would “cause significant harm to the character and appearance of the immediate area and the wider landscape”.

The developers said there would have been an "off-site contribution in lieu of on-site affordable housing" which would have been discussed with ABC, but the authority’s decision notice outlining the refusal says these benefits did not outweigh the harm it could cause.

Despite this, Chris Dickens, managing director of Clarus Homes, says he is now preparing a planning appeal against the decision.

“We have just two plots remaining for sale on the golf course priced at £1.6m,” he said.

“This is a unique development to Ashford, providing executive family homes in a beautiful private estate setting.

“We are preparing a planning appeal on the driving range land to provide a similar development to that on the golf course.”

While the development is on the former Great Chart Golf and Leisure Complex, it falls within the boundary of Bethersden Parish Council which objected to the latest proposals.

Cllr Alastair Boyd, chairman of Bethersden Parish Council, said: “I wasn’t aware there was going to be an appeal but we will wait to hear about it from ABC and we will consider it as a council.

“We were very surprised they wanted to develop out there at all because it is in the middle of nowhere.

“But after the first development was approved, it naturally follows that they would try to move on to the next one.

“But we raised our objections as a consultee.

“We do try as a matter of principle to keep development within the confines of the village envelope.

“Although we know that will inevitably expand, we hope to retain the countryside, that’s our main principle.”

Having started with just a field of cows in 1989, the leisure complex owners had run the site for more than 25 years before it closed unexpectedly in April 2019.

Facilities included a nine-hole golf course and 20-bay driving range, with visitors also able to try paintballing, archery and zorbing.

Before the site closed for good, it was popular with residents from Ashford and further afield, with the owners promoting the "cheapest paintball centre in the country".

The plot was originally part of a larger piece of land called Bridge Farm and was acquired by Leonard and Iris Kay, along with brothers Grant and John, in 1989.

Inspired by Grant's time as a professional golfer, the family opened the floodlit driving range in 1990 alongside a clubhouse, cafe and merchandise shop, before expanding the business over the following years.

They bought the adjoining piece of land to the north of the railway and turned the redundant grade three agricultural spot into the nine-hole Great Chart Golf Club, creating the small nine-hole golf course where the homes are now being built.