PENSHURST PLACE AND GARDEN FRIDAY 27 AUGUST 2021

Cost: £28.00 (House tour, free-flow access to Gardens & Toy Museum) £36.00 (House & Garden Tours and Toy Museum) N.B. Both prices include tea/coffee on arrival

Described as “the grandest and most perfectly preserved example of a fortified manor house in all ”, Place is the ancestral and private home of the Sidney family and the birth- place of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier Sir . It is a beautiful, historic house with eleven acres of formal gardens. The house, gardens and surrounding estate have stood on the banks of the river Medway since the 14th century, when the awe-inspiring medieval Baron’s Hall was completed in 1341 as a country retreat for the Lord Mayor of . Once owned by Henry VIII, the house was left to his son King Edward VI and granted to Sir William Sid- ney in 1552. The Sidney family have been in continuous occupation ever since.

It is often used as a filming location, The Other Boleyn Girl, Wolf Hall, Anne of the Thousand Days and, would you believe, The Beverley Hillbillies, are just a few that have made use of the house and grounds.

The historic walled gardens are the jewel in the Penshurst Place crown, with records dating back to 1346. They provide a superb example of Elizabethan garden design, with eleven acres of gar- den “rooms” providing a variety of form, foliage and bloom throughout the year. Also in the grounds is a small but interesting, free Toy Museum.

Our first stop will be the guided tour of the house which lasts about an hour with the garden tour, also about an hour, in the afternoon. In between the two tours there will be time to visit the Toy Museum and to eat at either the Porcupine Pantry or the Garden Restaurant and to browse in the gift shop. There is also the Penshurst Church of St John the Baptist which is outside the main grounds and a walk of about ten minutes away.

N.B. Please note that there is a walk of about ten minutes from the coach park to the Palace and most paths are uneven in places and unpaved.

We will leave Upminster at 09.30 and leave Penshurst for our return journey at about 15.30. The cost includes transportation, driver tip and tours and also tea/coffee on arrival which will be served to us to avoid everybody having to queue.

Organiser: Chris Slade - Please see the booking form for payment details