June 30 - Penshurst Place and Chiddingstone Castle

First stop today is Penshurst Place one of the oldest family-owned estates in the UK. We got there just when the gardens opened and they were incredible.  Much of the garden designs date back to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.  The garden has one head gardener, one deputy gardener, five gardeners and one apprentice gardener.  Mary assumed at least 20 or more would be required to maintain the gardens as they are massive.

The 11 acres of gardens were laid out in rooms that were divided by walls of yew hedges.  According to the research there are over a mile of yew hedges with one of the yews being over 450 years old.  There were views of the Place from all over the gardens.

Garden rooms that we toured were:

The Union Jack Garden with beds laid out like the British Union Jack in red, white, and blue flowers.

Diana’s Bath

The Paved Garden

The Italian Garden

The Heraldic Garden

The Blue and Yellow Border

The Rose Garden (and roses tucked into many other gardens and along walls),

And the Long Border.

Topiary and statues were scattered around the grounds in various gardens and alley ways.

Other gardens that we didn’t photograph as the flowers were entirely spent or the areas we didn’t find particularly interesting included the peony garden (100 meters long but not flowers, we must have missed it by only a couple of weeks, too bad), the orchard, the magnolia garden, the Nut and Tree Garden, and the Stage garden (stage and amphitheater carved into the ground).

There were other really beautiful areas that weren't described as rooms but they were just as beautiful.

Mary had a grand time wandering the gardens and taking pictures.  Paul followed her around.  We were early enough in the season that many of the flowers were at the peak of their blooming season.

The house opened later so we headed there as soon as it opened.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside.  However, if you watch the “The Other Boleyn Girl” or the BBC show “The Wolf” you will see parts of Penshurst was used for some of the filming for both.

The oldest section, the Baron’s Hall, dates to 1341 and the home has been in the same family for 450 years.  It was massive with the original 60 foot high chestnut beamed ceiling.  We couldn’t find anything giving the dimensions of the room but the room contains two medieval banquet tables dating to the 1400’s that are each almost 20 feet long.  And they barely take up much space…so that tells you how big the hall must be.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get photos of the front of the house as the front lawns and approaches were closed to the public.  But we did get sort of a side view as we were heading to the exit.

After our tour we had lunch at the Garden Restaurant and then headed for our next sight, Chiddingstone Castle, only a few miles away.  Unfortunately they were closed for some event.  However, Mary was content to photograph the hydrangeas and hollyhocks growing in profusion around the castle.

We then went back to town, found a parking spot and Paul crashed for a nap.