18.07.2018, 08:30 A.M.
We have arranged a special day visit to Kent that includes two houses not normally accessible to the general public: Sprivers Mansion and Matfield House.
Sprivers Mansion in Horsmonden, near Tonbridge, is a National Trust-owned property occupied by a private tenant. Sprivers takes its name from its early owner of the 1440s Robert Sprivers when it was one of the medieval manors of Kent.
It was purchased in 1704 by the Courthope family who derived their wealth from the local iron industry, including making canonballs. Their son, Alexander (1697-1779), radically extended and altered the house in 1756 adding a Georgian façade; his imposing portrait hangs in the Yellow Room. The principal building is a two-storey, red-brick house with an attic, incorporating an older Elizabethan structure, traces of which can still be identified.
Alexander also built a stable block, game larder and other outbuildings, which are still standing and of considerable historic interest. In the early-20th century, the family planted hedges and built garden walls, spending a windfall win from the Grand National. The house remained in the family until 1966 when it was bequeathed to the National Trust by Robert Courthope.
Matfield House is a charming Grade I-listed Georgian house in the village of Matfield, overlooking the largest village green in Kent. Our tour guides will be owners John and Sarah Garthwaite who bought the house in 2011.
It was built in 1728 in the Queen Anne style for Thomas Marchant, a yeoman farmer from Horsmonden, and his heiress wife Mary. The Marchant family were a prominent Kent family for many generations and were Mayors of Rye in the time of Edward II. Inside, there is a substantial oak staircase rising from the central entrance hall, unusual for a house of relatively modest proportions. The interior has been sympathetically restored and a superb, copper-clad extension with an open-plan kitchen has been added by the award-winning architect Nicholas Kidwell.
To the east of the house is a courtyard with a Grade I-listed stable block featuring a clock turret and cupola rising as high as the house itself, and an early-17th-century Grade II*-listed barn and garage, formerly used for housing the village fire engine. The gardens have undergone a complete transformation, including a mirror pond and pergola. The front railings have been replaced and the kitchen garden has been restored with raised beds and a Victorian potting shed and croquet lawn.
Details
Group sizes to both residences will be limited to 16 persons on each tour. The group will, therefore, be split in two, each half alternating between visiting one house in the morning and the other in the afternoon. In between the two tours, we will have lunch in a local pub, The Poet, in Matfield. Towards the end of the day, we will all gather and enjoy a cream tea together in Matfield House’s garden, weather permitting.
The coach will leave from the V & A Museum at 8.30am sharp and is expected to return to London at about 6.30pm, subject to traffic conditions. The cost per person is £79 members, £70 YIG members, and £85 non-members. Tickets to non-members are limited. The cost includes coach to and from the V&A, entry to both residences, a two-course pub lunch, and afternoon cream tea.
Numbers for this day trip are limited so early booking is advisable.
For further information, please contact the event organiser:
Esme Fay - esmefay@aol.com (01708 437372 landline or 078 0289 8835 mobile)
(Image from matfieldhouse.uk)
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