Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Historical informally planted garden and commercial plant nursery of county/ local interest.

Monument Types

• GARDEN (Unknown date)

Full description

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A formal, compartmentalised garden laid out in the mid 1930s mainly to the west and south of the house the origins of which date back to at least C16.

From the 2011 report "The site on which the present Edenbridge house stands was known for nearly a thousand years as Lyndhurst (various spellings). It was first mentioned in the Saxon Charter in AD973 and is one of the oldest place names in Edenbridge. John Irwin (Place Names of Edenbridge) suggests that this derives from the Old English meaning the edge of the (Eden Valley) forest or possibly ‘the wood near the rush beds’ due to the name ‘Rushetts’ used nearby. The site was a tenanted farm into the C20 with owners in the early C19 including Robert Holmden and Lord of the Manor, James Shearman (History of Edenbridge). The occupants from the middle of the C19 included the Coleman, Saunders and Tidy families until 1934 when the house with about 5 hectares (including two fields) was sold off separately from the rest of the farmland. Around this time the property name was changed to Tibbs Farm, reputedly after Mrs. Tidy’s cat. Wealthy city merchant Harold Mosenthal, a South African, and his wife, the fashion designer Eileen Mitchell (known as Idare) bought the property. The Mosenthals divided the garden into its current layout of different areas and reduced the size of the old Victorian orchard (pers.com. Later owners; previous extent is shown on 3rd edition OS map of 1907-23). Following Harold Mosenthal’s death, Sir Val Duncan, chairman of Rio Tinto, bought the property with his wife Lorna c1953 and renamed it Edenbridge House. They added the water garden and put in the swimming pool. (pers.com) Both the Mosenthals and the Duncans enjoyed having houseguests and over the years many famous names signed the visitors’ book including the Queen Mother and Ginger Rogers as well as Ivor Novello who was inspired to write ‘We’ll Gather Lilacs’ during his stay.

A Dutch national, Mr. Schaafsma, and his wife bought the property (through a company) from the Duncan estate in 1977. A wealthy international businessman, he retained the existing head gardener, Frank Sands (who had worked in the garden since a boy of 14) with three under-gardeners. It was during this era that the garden was first opened to the public under the National Gardens Scheme (pers.com)

In 1986, David Lloyd, a London solicitor and his wife Mair came to live there with their family. They refurbished the attics as living accommodation but their main interest was the garden. Maintaining much of the Mosenthals original layout, Mrs. Lloyd restored and enhanced the garden, enlarging the beds and improving the borders and planting. A 21m (70ft) long greenhouse was also restored. Mair did most of the gardening herself, originally helped by a full time gardener and latterly by four part-timers. The Lloyds opened the garden up to eight times a year under the National Garden Scheme, as well as to various local charities for fund raising garden parties and concerts. The house was sold again in 2010 and remains in private ownership."(2)

<1> Kent County Council, 1996, The historic parks and gardens of Kent (Kent Gardens Compendium) (Unpublished document). SKE12972.

<2> Kent Gardens Trust, 2011, Edenbridge House, Sevenoaks: The Kent Compendium of Historic Parks and Gardens for Sevenoaks District (Unpublished document). SKE30603.

Sources and further reading