Introduction
The site has formal gardens associated with the country house which dates form around 1719. The old gardens feature areas enclosed by walls and yew hedging, whilst newer gardens were added in the 1950s and 1960s.
On the next level there is a large rectangular lawn, overlooked to the north by a new garden house. The house was built in the 1960s by Albert Richardson, to the same design and on the original site of one built in the 18th century. The lawn was originally a bowling green. Steps lead up to the east to the rose walk, where there is a wonderful collection of old shrub roses.
To the south of this and running across the width of the garden, is a new garden area created largely in the 1950s. This area has a mixture of vegetables and walkways of irises and modern shrub roses. The herbaceous borders here are all of carefully planted colour schemes. Below these borders is a green border surrounding the greenhouses, which extend downwards to the coach house and stables. There is also a large cobbled courtyard entered from the road next to the main entrance to the house. On the other side of the road opposite the house is a curved boundary and two cedars, (remnants of an old avenue) and clearly marked in Badeslade's engravings.
- Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts
Directions
The site is on the outskirts of village of West Farleigh. It is four miles south-west of Maidstone, on the corner between the B2163 and the B2010.
- History
The house was finished in 1719, when it was known as Smiths Hall. Badeslade's History of Kent shows an engraving of the formal gardens in 1720. The basic layout is remarkably unchanged today. The garden extends largely to the south of the house. There are stables dating from 1790 to the south-west of the house.
- Associated People
- Features & Designations
Features
- Hedge
- Wall
- House (featured building)
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- Stable Block
- Description: There are stables dating from 1790 to the south-west of the house.
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- Rose Garden
- Description: There is a rose garden reached by a grass slope, bordered by yew hedges. This area is very formal.
- Lawn
- Description: There is a large rectangular lawn, overlooked to the north by a new garden house.
- Garden Building
- Description: There is a new garden house, which was built in the 1960s by Albert Richardson, to the same design and on the original site of one built in the 18th century.
- Earliest Date:
- Latest Date:
- Walk
- Description: Steps lead up to the east to the rose walk, where there is a wonderful collection of old shrub roses.
- Tree Avenue
- Description: On the other side of the road opposite the house is a curved boundary and two cedars, (remnants of an old avenue) and clearly marked in Badeslade?s engravings.
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- Key Information
Type
Garden
Purpose
Ornamental
Principal Building
Domestic / Residential
Survival
Extant
Civil Parish
West Farleigh
- References
References
- Kent County Council Planning Department {The Kent Gardens Compendium} (Canterbury: Kent County Council, 1996) 162 The Kent Gardens Compendium
- Newman, J. {The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald} (London: Yale University Press, 1976) The Buildings of England: West Kent and The Weald
- Oswald, Arthur {Country Houses of Kent} (London: Country Life, 1933) Country Houses of Kent