Riverhill House and Gardens

Today I joined a private tour of Riverhill House and gardens near Sevenoaks in Kent. The house has been owned by the Rogers family since 1840, and today there are currently four generations of that family living in the house. Six generations after this property was bought, the current family find it more of a challenge these days than an asset. In 2009 they participated in Country House Rescue, the BBC TV program, and the confidence and publicity this brought has enabled them to invest more on the garden for the future.

Today this enormous garden is managed by one full time gardener (who gets some help from contractors) and under his guidance the garden is being restored to its former glory. The walled garden has been made into a Himalayan garden (see extra) which is often used for open air concerts - our school is performing Molliere's The Miser here next month.

It was a very interesting tour of both the house and garden as the family has a fascinating history. Their ancestors were all keen botanists and so they collected seeds from other countries which were brought back and planted, resulting in some rare trees being in the garden. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were walking through the gardens which meant we arrived at the café damp and in desperate need for a hot drink by the end of the tour.