Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Tanners has a garden laid out in 1928 by Harold Hillier, including rare and unusual varieties of plants. Features of the garden include a pond, clipped Yew hedges, a rose garden, a row of Scots pine and a cherry avenue. In recent years the lower rock garden and pool have been restored

Monument Types

• PARK (Post Medieval to Modern - 1540 AD to 2050 AD)
• ORNAMENTAL POND (Modern - 1928 AD to 2050 AD)
• ROCK GARDEN (Modern - 1928 AD to 1928 AD)
• ROSE GARDEN (Modern - 1928 AD to 2050 AD)
• TREE AVENUE (Modern - 1928 AD to 1928 AD)
• ARBORETUM (Modern - 1950 AD to 1950 AD)
• WATERFALL (Modern - 1950 AD to 1950 AD)

Full description

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Originally the land was part of the Mond estate (fields). In 1928 Mr Scott-Arnott bought 25 acres, which were laid out by Harold Hillier. Some rare and unusual varieties were planted, but they were laid out fairly close for an old man who wanted a rapid effect. Later, four acres along the bottom were sold to the City Timber Company, who sadly built on it. Part of the garden is woodland with mature oak and weeping ash.
Designer: Sir Harold George Knight Hillier (born 02/01/1905 died 08/01/1985)
Features of the garden layout include:
A small ornamental pond in front of the house below the terrace. A yew clipped hedge along the edge of this terrace. This acts as a backcloth to the herbaceous border (originally roses). A rose garden with clipped box hedges to the west of the house. A row of Scots pines along the south boundary of the garden, (bottom of slope) which were planted in 1928 close to the swimming pool. Above this is a terrace wall. An old rockery and two wide herbaceous borders running from north to south are now gone. A cherry avenue down this wide path replaces them.
Owners in the 1940s and 1950s allowed wild growth and only the trees and some of the shrubs survived. The present owners, however, completely restored the hidden lower rock garden and pool. They also replanted all the herbaceous and ground cover planting, only recently totally revealed in good state. There has been some new major planting of rhododendrons and so on in the oak wood, and a path has been created to form an interesting woodland walk.
There are a good variety of shrubs and trees, including witch-hazel (Hamamelis parrotia), snowdrop/snowbell-shrub (Halesia carolina), a unique 60 year old gnarled specimen, Cercidiphyllum japonicum and a large variety of acers, rhuses and magnolia. Since the hurricane, hundreds of new and interesting trees and shrubs have been planted, and in the old rockery a pond has been created with a waterfall.
The garden is on a south-facing slope, and from the enclosed garden there are glimpses of a view down to Brasted and beyond to the Greensand Ridge. It is located in a sheltered enclosed pocket and therefore several semi-hardy species flourish.
The October 1987 storm caused widespread damage. Over 170 trees were lost including oaks, beeches, Scots pine, ash, chestnuts and firs. Many others were damaged and have been given remedial surgery treatment. Extensive new planting has been done in the last year. Rapid storm debris clearance has been undertaken.
An arboretum has been made in one of the fields and there is the possibility of a lake being created, there also. (1) (2)

Kent County Council, 1996, The historic parks and gardens of Kent (Kent Gardens Compendium) (Unpublished document). SKE12972.

<1> Parks and Gardens Data Services Limited (PGDS), 2005, Parks and Gardens UK (www.parksandgardens.org) (Website). SKE16061.

<2> Kent Gardens Trust, 2011, Tanners, Sevenoaks: The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Sevenoaks District (Unpublished document). SKE30616.

Sources and further reading