Today we left our packs at the motel and walked the short distance to Knole. This is a large property just outside Sevenoaks, the childhood home of Vita Sackville-West. Back the the laws of primogeniture prevented her from inheriting the estate and Knole and the title instead passed to her uncle. It is a huge place and I can't help but wonder what suffering the normal person went through just so a few could live like this just on the whim of the current King. we arrived before it opened and walked around the walled house and garden and that in its self took long enough. It is (and probable was) more like a town than a house.
This is a photo in the main (I think) court yard looking back away from the house.
This is the main staircase and a nice lady. Apparently it was the then owners mistress and he had it made and put it in the house. Talk about rubbing it in.
After taking these I realised that No Photos In The House Please applied. Enjoyed our visit and some of the rooms we saw were magnificent and the guides on hand were very chatty as we found in most places and you can learn a lot by talking to them. The grounds outside the house are open to the public and are home to a large herd of deer which we saw on the way in. Lots of people were walking around the park or had driven in to have a picnic lunch.
Finished and back to town and collected our packs and caught the train to London. The station was huge and had this statute. I asked Annette to pose beside him and didn't realise until later what she was doing. You really can't take her anywhere. I suppose it could have been worse, it might not have been his pocket she had her hand in.
Stayed in a YHA 5 bedroom hostel just across from the train station.
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