The House

House Tour

A private guided tour can help make your group visit to Penshurst Place & Gardens a truly memorable one. The House tour option provides you with a guided tour of the House with non-guided entrance to the Gardens. Guided tours of the House, conducted by one of our experienced and knowledgeable guides, may take place from 9.30am - 11.00am before the House opens to the public at 11:30am or again from 3:30m - 4:30pm. Our guided tour normally starts in the private Inner Courtyard and takes approximately 55 minutes. Visitors are divided into groups of about 25, with one Guide per group. The maximum group size we can accommodate in one day is 110 people. We also offer this tour in foreign languages.

Specialised House Tour

Why not have a House tour tailored to your group’s interest? The tour includes non-guided entrance to the Gardens plus a private guided tour of the House with a key focus on one of the following: portraiture, needlework and textiles, medieval life, architecture, art and its politics, furniture or porcelain and china. Guided tours of the House may take place from 9.30am - 11.00am before the House opens to the public at 11:30am or again from 3:30pm - 4:30pm. Our guided tour normally starts in the private Inner Courtyard and takes approximately 55 minutes. Visitors are divided into groups of about 25, with one Guide per group. The maximum group size we can accommodate in one day is 110 people.

Behind the Scenes Tour

Get a first-hand look into the workings of a modern day ‘Downton Abbey’ with a peek behind the scenes at Penshurst Place. The ‘Behind the Scenes’ tour features the Head Housekeeper relaying how the State Rooms are cleaned and conserved. This includes a guided tour of the House with non-guided entrance to the Gardens. Guided tours of the House may take place from 9.30am - 11.00am before the House opens to the public at 11:30am or again from 3:30pm - 4:30pm. Our guided tour normally starts in the private Inner Courtyard and takes approximately 55 minutes. Visitors are divided into groups of about 25, with one Guide per group. The maximum group size we can accommodate in one day is 110 people.

House & Gardens Free-Flow

We welcome groups to book a free-flow visit to the House & Gardens to see what Penshurst Place has to offer at their leisure. Built in 1341 and described as “the grandest and most perfectly preserved example of a fortified manor house in all England”, take a tour of the 10 rooms open to groups including the impressive medieval Baron’s Hall. Then walk around the one mile of yew hedging that divides the Gardens into a series of ‘rooms’, each with its own season and colour.