Hall Place & Gardens in Bexleyheath: Visiting Guide & Local Tips

ByMagdalena Marsden

Hall Place is a pretty Grade I listed stately home in Bexleyheath in South East London, but postcode wise it’s already in Kent. It was built in 1537 for Sir John Champneys, a wealthy merchant and former Lord Mayor of London.

The gardens and grounds are free to enter and there is a cafe with a lovely views of the gardens and meadows. The monthly farmer’s market is also free to visit and it’s a great place to pick up locally produced food, freshly baked bread and jams and cheese.

Hall Place is my favourite place to go locally, when I want a stroll in the park, visit the gardens or see interesting exhibition. For more than 20 years this was also my local place where I had my chocolate stall every Christmas Fair and it was lovely to be part of the pre-Christmas festivities here.

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Hall Place House & Garden History

The house is a Grade I listed Tudor Mansion built in 1537 for the former Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Champneys.  Much of the stone was taken from the ruins of nearby Lesnes Abbey in Abbey Wood which has connections with Thomas A Beckett. A century afterwards a red brick wing was added to the main building and the differences in the Tudor and Stuart architecture are clearly apparent over 500 years later.

As well as the Tudor kitchen, there’s a panelled Great Hall with a ministrel’s gallery. It’s easy to imagine how lively this hall must have been during medieval times with music being played upstairs whilst the ladies and gentlemen were dancing on the floor below.

Upstairs, the Long Gallery is vaulted while the Drawing room has a fine plaster ceiling of floral motifs which was recently fully restored. So all in all there’s plenty to look up to throughout the house.

During World War II, the house was used by American soldiers as an army communications centre and under the code word Santa Fe had a role in intercepting German military signals which it transmitted to Bletchley Park for decoding. The last tenant, Lady Limerick who died in 1943, planted an impressive topiary garden of fierce heraldic figures – the Queen’s Beasts – with wyverns, griffins and dragons standing proudly in a row.

In 2015, thanks to a £2m Heritage grant, Hall Place has re-designed the outside space and added a new visitor’s centre with a large cafe. The garden has also been give a make-over, which have given it more of a community feel. At the same time (and for the first time), entrance fee was introduced to enter the House itself.

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What to see & do at Hall Place

Hall Place House

The house inside is quite large and includes large medieval hall, kitchens, galleries and lots of large and smaller rooms on two floors. It used to be open for free, then open with tickets as a free flow visiting with regular exhibitions on the first floor and now it’s only accessible via paid guided tour.

Over the years, I’ve seen quite a few amazing exhibitions there. One year we saw a display on the Mobo Toy Factory called ‘The way we had fun’. Made in nearby Erith, Mobo toys were successfully exported to the States and the Mobo Bronco, Night Rider and Toy-Toise were favourites with children in the 1950s and early 60s. The factory was open until 1972.

You can walk nearly around the whole house to get an idea what it’s like if you can’t get on to one of the guided tours. The lovely courtyard in between the house wings can be seen if you walk out from the car park and walk by the fence towards the roundabout.

  • Tickets: £9
  • Opening Times: Visit is only with a guided tour – there are two tours a month – one House History Tour and the other one focusing on the permanent war exhibition.

Hall Place Gardens & Grounds

There are 65 hectares of landscaped gardens, grounds and park around Hall Place House and towards the river Cray. The gardens are more formal closer to the house, including the Queen’s Beasts – the animal topiary planted in 1953 to celebrate the coronation of the Queen Elizabeth II.

The new garden entrance from the car park will take you straight into the display gardens – sort of examples of ordinary house gardens, where you can find an inspiration for your own garden. I also like the kitchen and cut flower garden which is on the right as you walk in.

The other side of the river Cray is worth venturing too, as you can see rockery garden, rare trees and remains of what used to be a fruit orchard with apples, pears, cherries and plums.

The gardens are open until dusk every day, which means that even when the visitor’s centre and house closes for the day, you can still use a side entrance to get in and out of the gardens. The gate is by the Miller & Carter Steakhouse from the car park.

Butterfly House

One of the large greenhouses is now being used as a tropical butterfly house where you can walk among exotic butterflies in a colourful rainforest environment with banana trees, flowers and a pond in the middle. There are plenty of benches to sit on and admire the butterflies flying around. I like that you get given a butterfly guide with colourful pictures, so that you can learn the butterflies names as you see them.

The greenhouse is kept at around 30 C, so it’s a perfect place to visit when it’s a bit chilli outside. I visited in the summer, so it was quite hot both outside and inside, but the good thing is that once you purchase your ticket you can come back as many times as you like, during the same day.

It was nice to see the butterflies merging from their cocoons in a special display boxes as you walk in. There is also a well stocked gift shop with all things related to butterflies, where you purchase your ticket.

  • Tickets: Adults £8, Children £7, Under 3s £3 (book online to get £1 off)
  • Opening Times: Monday – Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm (Summer Time), Monday – Friday, 11 – 3.30 pm, Saturday – Sunday, 10 – 4 pm (Winter Time). Last admission is 30 min before closing time

Jambs Owl Experience

Right next to the Butterfly Greenhouse, you can also find the Owl centre where children can handle captive owls, including barn owls, eagle owls and many other species and learn all about the owls live in the wild.

Tickets: Adults £4, Children £3

Opening Times: Summer Time – Friday, Saturday & Sunday (+ Bank Holidays), 10 – 5 pm, also open on Wednesdays & Thursdays during school holidays. Winter Time – October – December + February – March, Friday, Saturday & Sunday 10 – 4 pm

Miniature Railway

The miniature railway is run by a volunteers from a Welling & District Model Engineering Society and it’s set up in a large loop through a part of the Hall Place grounds. To get there you need to cross the river Cray by the Riverside Cafe and follow the park slightly to the left. Once you are closer you will even see a little train station with an old fashioned wooden canopy where you wait for your train. The train runs on elevated rails and it’s super fun to watch and of course to take a ride!

  • Tickets: £1,25 per ride – no booking needed just turn up
  • Opening Times: Sundays 12.30 – 4 pm during Spring & Summer only.

Visitor’s Centre Stables Gallery

As you walk to the visitor’s centre you can also visit the Stables gallery that puts on art exhibitions by local artists.

The entrance is free and opening times are the same as the visitor’s centre and cafe.

Riverside Cafe

The Riverside Cafe does breakfasts, lunches and afternoon teas, together with homemade cakes. It can get super busy during weekends and school holidays, but there are also tables outside.

Farmer’s Markets

The farmer’s market with 10-15 stalls is always based in front of the visitor’s centre and you can buy here locally produced food, including freshly baked bread, meats, pies, jams, sauces, cakes, chocolates and other treats.

Opening Times : 1st Sunday and 3rd Saturday of every month – 10 am – 2 pm

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Events at Hall Place

Annual Christmas Craft Fair – early November – entry free

As winter approaches, I always think of Hall Place in Bexley and the annual Christmas craft fair which is held in mid November. Magdalena starts making chocolates the month before and soon the kitchen table and surrounding space is full of truffles, mini Christmas puddings, chocolate buttons and building blocks and hot chocolate spoons.

So the Christmas craft fair fast approaches and we start to think about how best to arrange the stall. This year, we’ll be in the Tudor Kitchen – appropriately perhaps – although I think it was haunches of venison that were spit roasted on the great hearth – and not toasted chocolate marshmallows!

All in a dazzling range of colours and flavours from cinnamon to orange and mint to almonds. Altogether there are over 40 stallholders for the weekend fair with a selection of traditional crafts and more modern gifts, including handicraft, jewellery and, of course, handmade chocolates.

Apart from the annual festive fair, there are also regular outdoor events, such as summer cinema screenings, theatre, bat walks and activities for children during school holidays.

Practical information for visiting Hall Place in Bexleyheath

Location: Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent DA5 1PQ

Opening Times:

  • House and Gardens: Daily 10am-5pm (last admission 4pm)
  • Gardens only: Daily 9am – dusk (9.30 pm in summer and early autumn and 4-5 pm in winter & spring)
  • Closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day

Tickets:

  • House & Exhibitions: Adults: £9, Children (5-16): £5, Concessions: £8
  • Gardens only – Free
  • Family ticket (2 adults + 2 children): £24.50
  • The Butterfly House, Jambs Owl Experience & Miniature Railway has their own ticket admissions (no need to book, just turn up)
  • Special events and temporary exhibitions may have different opening times and ticket prices.

Refreshments & Shop

  • The Riverside Cafe and shop inside the visitor’s centre have the same opening times as the house and gardens (free access)
  • Miller & Carter Steakhouse – A steak restaurant run independently from Hall Place, but based in one of the large barns in the corner of the car park (access not restricted by Hall Place opening hours)
  • Farmers Markets – outside the visitor’s centre (free to enter) – every 1st Sunday and 3rd Saturday

Attractions on site

  • Owl Centre – A small zoo area with owls, meerkats, reptiles and insects. Tickets £4
  • Butterfly House – Beautiful butterflies in a large greenhouse. Tickets £8
  • Miniature Railway – Take a ride on this miniature railway through the park (Sunday’s 12.30 – 4 pm Summer time only). Tickets £1.25

Parking

  • There is a large car park onsite at Hall Place with approximately 150 parking spaces (during events it can get quite busy, but otherwise there are plenty of parking spaces for all).
  • The onsite parking is free
  • There are 3 designated coach parking spaces
  • Additional free street parking is available on Bourne Road, but spaces are limited and it’s quite a busy road
  • Nearby paid street parking is also available around Hall Place, such as on Bourne Road and St John’s Road
  • There are several other paid car parks within walking distance of Hall Place in central Bexleyheath (about 20 min walk down the hill).

How to get to Hall Place in Bexleyheath

  • By car: Hall Place is located just off the A2 Rochester Way at Black Princ Interchange turn-off. The nearest motorway is the M25, junction 2 is about 5 miles away.
  • By train: The closest train station is Bexleyheath or Bexley Village, about 1 – 1,5 miles from Hall Place. You can take Southeastern trains here from London Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street etc.
  • By bus: Several bus routes stop near Hall Place (bus stop ‘Gravel Hill’) or on Bexleyheath Broadway (bus stop ‘Bexleyheath’) and Albion Road, including the 89, 229, 492, B13. The Gravel Hill bus stop is the closest one and then it’s only about 5 minutes walk.
  • On foot: Hall Place is about 15-20 minutes walk down the hill from Bexleyheath town centre

This blog post was originally published on 4 April 2016 and last updated on 26 July 2025

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