Seeking Sanctuary, Godinton House & Gardens

This is a bit of a back blip (I'm writing this on the 14th). After going to the wonderful, beautiful gardens at Doddington Place (see previous blip) we decided to venture to another Gardens we had never been to before, Godinton, which is not far from Ashford. Like Doddington it was in the middle of nowhere, deep into the countryside, down some very narrow lanes and again we got slightly lost and had to refer to Google Maps to find it. We actually arrived at the exit so entered the estate from the wrong direction! We sought out both Gardens as they felt like places to seek a bit of sanctuary from the outside world, to feel some calmness and be surrounded by beauty and nature instead of ugliness (the day before our visit to Doddington the odious, malevolent ball of gurning, verbal flatuelence that is Farage and his cronies swept into power at  Kent County Council - whose first and most important task, apparently, is to remove the Ukraine flag from the council chamber, which tells you everything you need to know about the repulsive bunch).
Godinton House itself dates back to the 14th Century but the majority of it was constructed during the Jacobian period. We chose to just go around the gardens but will go back in the future to take a tour of the house itself. The gardens were stunning and beautifully looked after. They  were designed by Reginald Blomfield, a great exponent of the revival of 17th century formal gardens, in 1902. The boundary between the garden and the countryside was planted with one of the largest yew hedges in the country clipped to reflect the Dutch gables of the house (you can see this in my first extra image).
The gardens are split into different areas which include a rose garden, a Pan garden, an Italian Garden, a walled garden, two ponds (a wild one and a lily one), two greenhouses (one alpine and the other ornamental) and herbaceous borders to name but some of its delights.
My main image was taken looking outwards from the Italian Garden. When we reached it there were two women in beautiful saris taking many images of each other on their phones. They even asked me if I could take an image of them together - I was happy to oblige but I think they preferred my second effort to the first! I then waited to see if I could capture an image of one of them with the statue and this was the result.
The second extra shows the many chimneys of the house from one of the lawns with this wonderful topiary in front of it. The last extra is of one of the many sculptures placed in the wilder part of the garden.
After all the walking and taking of photographs it was time to visit the tearoom (which used to be the billiard room) for a lovely piece of homemade cake and a cup of coffee. It was a great way to finish our hugely enjoyable time at Godinton and we will definitely be going back again soon (this time hopefully by the correct entrance!).