Chevening
Open to visitorscheck opening times and admission before you go
Chevening House is the country residence of the Foreign Secretary, gifted to the nation by the 7th Earl Stanhope, so the house itself stays closed. The 40-acre gardens are a different matter: laid out in French formal style around 1700 and softened into a more informal English look in the 1770s, with a lake, a maze and a walled kitchen garden. They open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from spring to early autumn, ticketed, plus one charity day for the National Garden Scheme. The North Downs Way passes within a kilometre.
