Idyllic rural Paley Estate, 450 acres, yours for £9.5million Paley Estate was a thriving farm producing fruit and hops Farm has remained in same family for almost a century Once employed hundreds of part-time fruit and hop-pickers Framed by climbing lilac and overlooking a croquet lawn and orchards filled with apples and pears, this picture-perfect farmhouse is every inch the rural English idyll. And that's before you get to the traditional oast houses and 11 farm cottages nestled in the some 441 acres of glorious Kent countryside that make up the historic Paley estate. A thriving fruit farm before the Second World War, when hundreds of part-time workers were employed at Paley to help harvest dessert apples, pears, cherries and plums, the entire sprawling estate is now on the market for £9.5million. Picture perfect: The idyllic white farmhouse at the heart of the vast Paley Estate in the Kent countryside Rural splendour: The Paley Estate stretches across some 441 acres of pasture, woodland, and apple and pear orchards The main farmhouse, which is set back from a private road, has five double bedrooms along with a reception hall, drawing room, dining room, kitchen and study. Ithas its own two acre garden with a swimming pool, a croquet lawn, an all-weather tennis court and cascading rhododendron bushes. Beyond it lies around 293 acres of pasture, almost 46 acres of apple and pear orchards, and nearly 93 acres of woodland. The mixture of 11 modern and period cottages were used to house part-time workers employed on the farm, which produced hops and cider as well as corn and various fodder crops to feed pigs, cattle, sheep and horses. Hops: The roofs of the traditional oast houses can be seen beyond the farmhouse, which has a croquet lawn, a swimming pool, and an all-weather tennis court Traditional: Before the Second World War the Paley Estate was a thriving fruit farm producing apples, pears, cherries and plums as well as cider and hops Kent countryside: The Grade II listed property is surrounded by 11 period and modern farm cottages once used to house fruit and hop pickers The 1940 Agricultural Census reveals 400 people - most of whom had travelled from London's East End for a working holiday in the Kent countryside - had been taken on to help with hop picking. That was in addition to 22 full-time male workers, 29 part-time women, and a further 20 fruit pickers. The farm was bought by James Day in 1917, and then handed down through generations of the family until his grandson Jim Day's death in 2012. Extra accommodation: The estate, which has 11 extra cottages alongside the main farmhouse, is for sale either as a whole or in 18 lots Sprawling: Traditional oast houses on the estate have the potential for development Employer: The additional properties at Paley were built to house full and part-time workers employed at the farm Quaint: The estate features a picturesque valley, with fields of top fruit and pasture bordered by woodland on either side Cottages: Swathes of the orchards on the Paley Estate have now been grubbed, but some of the apple and pear orchards still bear fruit today Mr Day, who had taken over from his own father Albert in the early 1960s, kept it running as a farm until the fortunes of fruit took a hit when Britain joined the Common Market in 1973. Competition from imported apple varieties saw Paley's fruit production begin to peter out, and as the beer produced from bitter English hop varieties declined in popularity, so did he hops operation. Mr Day finally stopped growing hops in the late 1980s. The farmer and keen gardener retired and eventually let out the farm a decade later. By that time the dessert apples had been grubbed, but Bramley apple and pear orchards at Paley still produce fruit today. Part of the Paley Estate forms a valley, with fields of top fruit and pasture bordered by woodland on either side. A shop, pub and parish church are in the nearby village of Goudhurst, while the larger town of Cranbrook is five miles to the south. The estate is convenient for a range of independent and prep schools.