“A Sweetly Watered Place”

So wrote John Evelyn, the Restoration diarist, in 1666. And Chilston Park remains the perfect place to restore body and soul in a setting of supreme elegance

- Sarah Sturt

Over the course of nearly 15 years of writing about our county’s finest restaurants, pubs and hotels for Kent Life, many friends and family have had the enviable job of being The Reviewer’s Friend. No pressure whatosever, just eat the nice food and tell me what they think.

But I hit a new high with my recent overnight stay at Chilston Park in Lenham, as I was accompanied not only by My Gorgeous Daughter but also by my baby granddaughter who, at just five months, is officially my youngest-ever dining companion.

Visiting from Sydney, MGD was immediately struck by the grandeur of the long entrance drive, which sweeps though 22 acres of parkland – including grazing sheep – before it finally reveals the 17th-century manor house overlooking the original lake. One nil to Kent methinks.