A rundown Grade II* listed mill and mill house have been sold, after being touted as a potential wedding venue or restaurant.

Swanton Mill in Mersham, between Ashford and Hythe, went under the hammer this week and was sold for £800,000, with bidding starting at £750,000 on Monday and finishing yesterday.

The new owners will need a lot of elbow grease however, as pictures show a rundown pool full of dirty water and windows boarded up at the property.

The historic residency, which sits at the end of a lane off South Stour Road, was occupied by the previous tenant from 2002.

The five-and-a-half acre site comprises of The Mill House, a mill which was previously used as a museum, the Granary, Swanton Cottage, an indoor swimming pool and outbuildings.

The Mill House has five bedrooms, while the Granary has three and Swanton Cottage has two.

There is also a woodland area and a bridge connecting the mill to the swimming pool.

Auctioneer Kevin Gilbert, from Clive Empson, previously said the site has plenty of potential.

He explained: “It’s a fascinating property, one that if the museum was to be restored could be a great local and historic visitor attraction.

“Equally, it could make a super wedding venue, restaurant subject to any necessary consents.”

“Ashford is a short distance away with its railway station and we anticipate a great deal of interest in this lot.”

A Mersham history article outlined the site was owned and run by Elizabeth Parkes and her son John in 1841.

Another of her sons, Stephen, was a baker at the mill. He had a wife and three children, one of whom, aged three in 1841, appears in the 1881 census as a baker and grocer in the premises next to the Royal Oak, a pub.

The present wheel inside the mill is by Holmans of Canterbury and is unusually sized at seven and a half feet in diameter, and eight feet wide. It also had 42 buckets and is now feeding two wheels. It was originally capable of driving four.