Ightam Mote - A Modest Gem

The thing is with Ightam Mote is that it takes you by surprise. The gardens are not the thing you go to see but when you get there the garden is worth a look. This day we had a friend with us on her first visit who wanted to see the house so we concentrated on that more than on the garden.

The house is most interesting and fascinating as it is set in a moat, obviously the earlier builders having decided that a water protection was a good idea and utilised the stream. Later the ponds were developed into fish holding ponds. The main pond was later filled in and looks now like a croquet green.

The National Trust houses rarely change but instead develop as more is discovered about them and more is opened up to the visitor. Naturally this access is also depenedent on the expensive maintenance needed to keep the places viable and protected. Ightam Mote is an old building developed over the centuries from as long ago as 1340 (approximately) starting with the basic baronial hall and developing from there.

Have a look at the roof and look for the spiral brickwork (not shown here) and this row of immaculate, precisly uniform chimneys.

The garden was developed to act as the provider of vegetables and fish with grazing animals and horses for transport and work with stables, converted to cottages and a walled garden. The feature of Ightam Mote is the fish ponds that fed the moat and passed down through into the reed beds and lake - for cleaning the water - and on out of the burn to the Medway. This part of the garden which once included a nuttery is steadily being restored. You take a guided tour which is a most interesting experience. we did not have time to do this but will perhaps do it when we go again.

The garden tour will take you around the grounds with a knowledgeable guide who will tell you much about the place in such an entertaining fashion that we witnessed spontaneaous applause by one group. The gentleman concerned took a polite, and very English bow. On the left is the wall and the entrance to the walled vegetable and flower garden from the lawns in front of the stables.

However, the house is worth the walk through as one of the most interesting places in Kent. from the hall to the chapel - more a crypt - to the Victorian additions and modifications - the chapel cieling decorated in the expectation that Henry VIII was about to visit and Mr Robinson's rooms are worth the visit alone. Although ostentatious in some of its decor, the Chinese wallpaper and the magnificent fireplace in the drawing room are offset by the lived in appearance of the rest of the house giving the place a modest, functional aspect that the visitor can identify with quite easily. The surprise is not so much the sheer age of the place but that it was a home right up 1985. Walk into Mr Robinson's room and the visitor is taken into an almost modern decor.