Kenfield Hall

About Kenfield Hall

Dating from 1730, the garden is referenced in the Kent Gardens Compendium. Vestiges of the original garden remain which include the arboretum and the large circular bowling green. Beech hedging respects the form of the original walled garden where a wild flower meadow and herbaceous border combine to provide interest.

The garden was neglected for 90 years as the house was used for different purposes before being restored as a private home 20 years ago. Since then, the estate has been replanted extensively with native trees and hedgerows, and a programme established to restore the gardens, with care taken to integrate new buildings into the AONB landscape.

The organic gardens are a mix of formal and informal areas. Views from the house are designed to take the eye through a creation of paths and gateways into different parts of the garden and estate.

The current owners have restored the 18th century formal sunken garden to the rear of the house, with the central circular pool with its ornamental statue set in a lawn quartered by brick paths, and the whole surrounded by raised mixed herbaceous beds.

Other notable features of the garden include a Japanese water garden with natural swimming pool, an impressive wooden arched pergola, topiary box hedges and herbaceous borders. There is also a rose garden, vegetable garden with glasshouses and woodland garden with wildlife pools.

Parts of the garden continue to be restored and developed and this presents a unique opportunity to see how they are put together, the thought processes behind the decisions, through to the landscaping and planting.