Hall Place and Gardens

Last Friday we visited Hall Place, once the country home of Sir John Champneys, who was a merchant and Lord Mayor of London.    A Tudor house.  It is situated on the banks of the River Cray, on the edge of the A2, a main arterial road from Dover to London.   And only 10 minutes drive from our house.   But sadly we have not visited the gardens for years, at least not since the Cafe was built. 

So we set off, after having eaten a lovely lunch, plus coffee, with our friend, Kathy, in order to visit the gardens of Hall Place.  

The front of Hall Place is very imposing.     The entrance to the building is now at the side, and the entrance costs £5 for pensioners, and if you gift aid the entrance fee, you can return as often as you like for free.    Good value.       

A view of the back of the house, from the formal rose garden, with the line of topiary Royal Beasts in the centre of the photograph.

The Royal Beasts, mythical of course, are magnificent topiary creations.

 In fact the gardens are full of topiary creations of all shapes and sizes.

 And beautiful parkland, with plenty of benches to sit and reflect on the lovely surroundings.    Unfortunately, the A2 runs behind the trees at the back of the gardens so the roar of traffic does detract from the peacefulness of the park land.   Perhaps ear muffs may be the answer.

 The River Cray tumbling over the weir.    The fence of the cafe is just visible on the right of the picture.    This cafe, which includes a visitor centre and exhibition centre, has been operating for the past five years.   A cafe steeped in the English tradition of cream teas, healthy lunches, and herbal drinks, does not have a coffee machine, so no latte, cappuccino or espresso, just cafetiere coffee, if you are really desperate.   And we were not, thank goodness, as we had just had a delicious cups of espresso coffee at Kathy's house.

Walter standing in front of the cafe, which provides a sunny terrace, that is, when the sun is shining of course.

 There is also a wild life area, for schools to use, plus vegetable and fruit gardens.   I really loved the formal lavender garden.

 And a glass house, not quite Kew Gardens, but very pleasant.    And it contained magnificent banana plants, with two or three bunches of well developed bananas on them.   The best I have seen, outside of tropical countries.

So we intend to visit the gardens again, and spend time looking around the inside of Hall Place.    An outing to look forward to.