Galleting at Riverhill

This shows the technique of galleting where little pieces of stone are embedded in the mortar of a wall. Very common in Sevenoaks but can't be found in Tonbridge just 5 miles away.
This wall is one of the recent restoration projects at Riverhill Himalayan Gardens which was featured in Channel 4's Country House Rescue programme in 2010. This was a turning point in the fortunes of the house. Without the advice and publicity generated by the programme the new heir and his wife would have sold up . I had dragged  some friends to visit today after hearing a talk by Sarah Rogers the new heir's wife .  She told us that at the time of the television programme they sold the worst coffee in Sevenoaks in polystyrene cups out of an urn with her great grandma-in -law selling entrance tickets to 1000 visitors a year when they opened one day a week for 3 months a year.  They are now open 5 days a week for 7 months a year and she hopes it's the best coffee in Sevenoaks. There's still masses of restoration work still to do and it's good to see they now a have viable business model to see it through..