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The picturesque town of Sevenoaks stands high on the Greensand Ridge overlooking the North Downs. A bare one hour’s mile drive from London and you are in the Heart of Kent, farming country famous for its fruit orchards and hop production. The countryside around Sevenoaks is particularly varied with hills, woods and meadows dissected by the valley of the River Darent, which meanders through pretty villages on its way to meet the Thames below Dartford.
Sevenoaks derives it name from the seven majestic oaks, which stood at the northern approach to the town. Alas the hurricane that swept through the area in October 1987 felled six of the mighty oaks, but replacements have been planted so that the town can once more live upto its name.
Uniquely positioned at the junction of the main trade routes between London and the Channel ports, Sevenoaks rose to economic success and importance with the founding of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s market in the 13th Century. A market operates in the town under the old charter to this day. Dominating the town since the 15th Century is the great house and park of Knole, one of the grandest unfortified mansions in the country and former home of the writer Vita Sackville-West, creator of the famous garden at Sissinghurst close to nearby Tunbridge Wells.
Many other famous people lived in the splendid stately homes, castles and houses for which the Heart of Kent is famous. Within easy reach of Sevenoaks lie Chartwell, home of Sir Winston Churchill and preserved as if he still lived there; Penhurst Place, home of Viscount de L’Isle; Hever Castle where the ill-fate Anne Boleyn was courted by Henry VIII; Quebec House, home of General Wolfe, hero of the Battle of Quebec, and many more.
A drive around the area will take you through villages each with a history and charm of their own – humpbacked stone bridges over rivers and streams, village greens, half-timbered houses and comfortable country inns serving traditional Kentish ploughman’s meals and beers brewed from hops dried in Kent’s famous oast houses. Barns, churches, and oasts feature among a variety of buildings, many of them listed, as part of our national heritage. Wherever you stay, be it a top class hotel or a more intimate bed and breakfast establishment, a warm welcome awaits you in Sevenoaks – right in the Heart of Kent.
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