Knole House & Park Visitor’s Guide: What to see & do
Kent is home to many stunning stately homes, but for me, nothing quite compares to the sheer scale and beauty of Knole. I’ve been visiting this incredible National Trust property for years and every time I walk or drive into the park I feel very happy to be there again.
It truly is one of the greatest places to visit in the county, not just because of its astonishing size (it’s famously said to have 365 rooms!), but because of the interesting history, from its days as an Archbishop’s palace and a Tudor royal residence, to the ancestral home of the Sackville family for the last 400 years.
What makes Knole special, though, is the continuing commitment of National Trust to open more of Knole to public. You can climb the Gatehouse Tower for sweeping views over a medieval deer park, explore hidden attic rooms filled with secrets of the past, or stroll through Lord Sackville’s private garden, only recently opened to the public.
My favourite reasons for visiting Knole
I first visited Knole about 25 years ago and I like how every time I visit now there is always something new I find that I’ve not seen before. Some of it, like the tower or orangery wasn’t even open back then. I love to walk around the park and see the deer and then go for afternoon tea at the house tearooms guessing what the ‘Scone of the month’ is this time!
The tower has amazing views from the top and it’s lovely to see the inside presented in 1920s deco – very refreshing to the usual Medieval or Victorian style in most other stately homes.
I am also not very good at ‘staying in’, so one of my favourite walks is to follow the Greensand Way from Knole to Ightham Mote. I’ve done this several times and once with my mum who also enjoyed the walk. It’s just under 7 km and takes about 2 hrs one way.
The walk takes you through the woods, meadows and it’s very easy type of walk to follow. Ightham Mote is also National Trust and you can visit the house or at least have something in their tearooms (open to all, no ticket needed) before returning back to Knole. We normally don’t take car when we do this walk, but if you do, I’d suggest to park it outside the Knole Park, just in case you don’t make it back before 5 pm.
MORE CASTLES & MANOR HOUSES IN KENT
What is new at Knole
If you haven’t been to Knole House and Park in a while, there are several relatively new experiences and restored areas now open to visitors:
- The Orangery – This historic building has been carefully restored and reopened. It now serves as the entrance to Lord Sackville’s private garden, which had been closed to the public for centuries.
- The Attic Tours – These guided tours will take you into Knole’s hidden attic spaces, which are very different from the grand rooms below. They reveal centuries of stored objects, graffiti left by servants, and the architectural history of the house. This is a behind‑the‑scenes experience that wasn’t available in the past and should be pre-booked in advance.
- The Gatehouse Tower – Now fully open to the public, this tower includes the recreated rooms of Eddy Sackville‑West (a cousin of Vita Sackville‑West and part of the Bloomsbury circle) and has panoramic views across Knole Park from the rooftop.
- Conservation Studio (Knole Conservation Centre) – Opened as part of the National Trust’s “Inspired by Knole” project completed in 2019, this studio lets you watch specialist conservators at work on paintings, furniture, and textiles from Knole’s collections.
- Lord Sackville’s Private Garden – For the first time in its 600‑year history, the private 26‑acre garden is open about 8 days a year and have to be pre-booked in advance. There is £5 extra admission fee even for National Trust Members.
- The Tearooms – The tearooms have also been upgraded and they are open to all visitors to the park (no house ticket needed)
- Second-hand book shop – there is also a new (ish) second hand book shop by the Orangery as well the regular National Trust shop.
MORE CASTLES & MANOR HOUSES IN KENT
What to see at Knole
The Great Hall was built in the 15th century by Archbishop Bourchier and still has its original hammerbeam roof. The King’s Room, or King’s Bedroom, was created for a royal visit that never took place and is filled with 17th‑century furniture, including an elaborate state bed and tapestries.
The Cartoon Gallery is decorated with copies of Raphael’s famous tapestry designs and considered one of the earliest art galleries in an English house.
Beyond the main rooms, the attics reveal a very different side of the house, filled with old trunks, furniture, and objects that illustrate how the building was lived in over centuries.
The Sackville family’s collections are also unmissable, including one of the most important assemblies of 17th‑century royal furniture, silver, and paintings, much of it acquired when the family served under James I and Charles I.
The Gatehouse Tower was originally part of the 15th‑century archbishop’s palace built by Thomas Bourchier and later became a symbol of Knole’s status when it passed into royal and Sackville hands. The tower sits above the main entrance and offers some of the best views over Knole Park and the surrounding Kent countryside.
Inside, the Gatehouse Tower is closely linked to the Sackville family. One of its most famous residents was Eddy Sackville‑West, a cousin of Vita Sackville‑West, who lived there in the 1920s and 1930s. He was part of the Bloomsbury circle of writers and artists, and his rooms have been recreated to reflect his life and tastes.
MORE CASTLES & MANOR HOUSES IN KENT
History of Knole House & Park
Knole House is one of England’s largest and most historic country houses. The earliest records of the estate go back to the late 13th century, when it was a modest manor owned by Robert de Knole. In 1456, Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, built the main house that still forms the main part of Knole today.
In 1538, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was forced to give Knole to King Henry VIII, who wanted it as a royal residence. Henry used Knole as a convenient stopover when travelling, though it was never his primary palace. Later monarchs also held it, including Elizabeth I, who in 1566 granted the house to her cousin Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset. The Sackville family has owned Knole ever since, through more than 13 generations.
The Sackvilles expanded Knole on a huge scale. The house now covers 4 acres of floor space and is often described as a “calendar house,” with 365 rooms, 52 staircases, and 7 courtyards. Much of its Tudor and Stuart interiors survive, including furniture from the reigns of James I and Charles I. By the 18th century, parts of the house were opened to visitors, while the Sackvilles withdrew into private apartments at the centre of the building. Knole is now managed by the National Trust and the Sackville family still lives in part of the house.
MORE CASTLES & MANOR HOUSES IN KENT
Vita Sackville-West connection to Knole
Vita Sackville‑West, the writer and poet, was born at Knole House in 1892 and grew up as the only child of Lionel Edward Sackville‑West, 3rd Baron Sackville. She adored the house and its history, but because of the laws of primogeniture, she could not inherit the estate—it had to pass to a male heir. This loss deeply affected her and became one of the defining themes of her life and writing.
Vita’s attachment to Knole also inspired her friend and writer Virginia Woolf to write novel Orlando (1928). Vita left Knole after her marriage in 1913 and eventually bought a run down Sissinghurst Castle, which she has made into her home, often inspired by the Knole house interior and gardens.
The Knole Park
Knole Park is one of the last surviving medieval deer parks in England and covers around 1,000 acres of ancient woodland and open grassland. It is home to a free‑roaming herd of about 350 deer, made up of both fallow deer and sika deer.
The park was first enclosed for hunting in 1456 by Archbishop Bourchier, and remarkably, it has remained a protected deer park ever since. You can often see the deer grazing close to the house or resting in the shade of the trees, but they are wild animals, so it’s important to watch them from a distance.
Interestingly, the deer are so much a part of Knole’s identity that they even appear in local folklore and feature in the Sackville family history.
Practical Information for visiting
Address: Sevenoaks, Kent, TN15 0RP
Tickets
Showrooms, Outdoor & Tower ticket (full access, including historic showrooms, Gatehouse Tower, courtyards, Brewhouse Café, shops, and car park):
Adult: £18
Child (5–17): £9
Family (2 adults + up to 3 children): £45
Family (1 adult + up to 3 children): £27
Outdoor & Tower ticket (Gatehouse Tower, courtyards, café, shops, facilities, and car park, but not the historic showrooms):
Adult: £6
Child (5–17): £3
Family (2 adults + up to 3 children): £15
Family (1 adult + up to 3 children): £9
Children under 5: Free
National Trust members: Free entry (but you still need to book a ticket online).
Tickets are released every Thursday for the next four weeks, and parking is included with all admission tickets.
How long to allocate for your visit
I’ve visited Knole many times, and every time I always find something new to explore. But, if you are visiting for the first time, I think it’s best to set out a whole day for your visit as there is so much to see. The inside house visit is a ‘free-flow’, but it’s quite a large house so there are many rooms to see. You also don’t want to miss the tower for the views and the orangery on the side of the house.
The gardens are only open about 8 times a year, but if you do visit on the day, when they are, you need at least another 60 minutes for these alone.
One summer evening we only visited the park and walk around the widest circle path and that took a good two hours! If you see everything you want to see and still have some time left, the Sevenoaks town centre is only about 20 minutes walk through the park (from the car park) or you can re-park your car in the town car park right in the centre. There you have plenty of independent shops, cafes, restaurants and regular farmer’s markets, plus pretty high street with lovely houses.
Parking
Since Knole House & Park is very popular, especially during weekends and school holidays, it’s not a good idea to simply just turn up and hope there will be free space. National Trusts advises that parking should be pre-booked (via their website), especially for weekends and school holidays, otherwise you might arrive and there won’t be any space available. There are about 150-200 parking spaces, but they do fill up quite quickly.
Parking at Knole House is inside Knole Park itself, reached via the entrance gate on Knole Lane from Sevenoaks main street.
The car park is about 5 walk to the house and about 8 minutes walk to the Knole House Tearooms.
Parking Charges: Parking is included in your admission ticket. There is no longer just a ‘parking ticket’ for the car, you need to have an admission ticket for each person in your car.
This means that if you only want to visit the outdoor park and perhaps the tearooms (open to all), you need to at least pay for the ‘Outdoors & Tower’ ticket, which is £6 per adult and £3 per child. If you are National Trust member, then of course your admission (and parking) is free as part of your membership, but it’s still a good idea to pre-book to make sure you have a parking space when you arrive.
If you are a family or a small group in one car and you just want to visit the deer park, it’s going to be cheaper to park in the town car park and walk into the park from there. Last time I looked the car parks in the centre were about £5 for long stay over 4 hrs, which is less than one ticket, but it does involve longer walk (about 20 minutes).
The drive through Knole Park to the car park is narrow and shared with deer, so you need to drive slowly and carefully.
Opening Times
- Showrooms (historic state rooms)
- Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00 – 16:00 (last entry 15:30).
- Closed on Mondays (except Bank Holidays).
- Gatehouse Tower
- Open daily, 11 – 16 (last entry 15:30).
- Café, shop, and facilities
- Open daily, usually 10:00 – 17:00
- Knole Park – doesn’t close for pedestrians as such and it’s open from dawn to dusk, but the gates on the car park road closes at 5 pm
Facilities
Tearooms (accessible to all), Toilets, National Trust Souvenir Shop, Second-Hand Bookshop
How to get to Knole House
By Car
- From London: Take the A21 southbound from the M25 (Junction 5) towards Sevenoaks. Exit at the Sevenoaks junction, then follow signs into the town centre. From there, follow brown tourist signs for Knole House / Knole Park.
- Parking: Drive through the park gates on Knole Lane (near Sevenoaks town centre) to reach the onsite car park. Parking is included with your entry ticket, but there is no ‘just parking ticket’ available, so the cheapest parking ticket also includes the entry to the tower. Tickets have to be purchased for each person in the car (or if you are National Trust members, it’s free)
- Sat Nav postcode: TN15 0RP
- The drive into the park is narrow and shared with pedestrians and deer, so drive slowly.
By Public Transport
- Train: The nearest station is Sevenoaks, which is about 1 mile (20 minutes on foot) from Knole.
- From London Charing Cross, London Bridge, or Waterloo East, trains run frequently and take around 30–40 minutes.
- From London Victoria, the journey is about 45 minutes.
- Walking from the station: Exit onto London Road, walk through Sevenoaks town centre, then enter Knole Park via the main gate on Knole Lane. The walk through the park to the house takes about 20-30 minutes, because it’s largely uphill.
- Bus: Local buses stop in Sevenoaks town centre, from where you can walk to Knole. There is no direct bus into the estate itself.
- Taxi: Taxis are available at Sevenoaks station; the ride to Knole takes about 5 minutes.
This blog post was originally published on 25 September 2025 and last updated on 25 September 2025
