Ightham Mote is free all day on Thursday 17 September. Normally £19 an adult, £4 parking, no booking needed. Hours, dogs and buses, checked at source.
Ightham Mote is the quietest of the three big National Trust houses within reach of Sevenoaks, and for many visitors the best of them. It is a medieval manor house begun around 1340, sitting inside a square moat in a hidden valley six miles south of the town, with over 70 rooms wrapped around a cobbled courtyard (National Trust, Ightham Mote; Wikipedia).
One date matters more than any other this month. On Thursday 17 September, for Heritage Open Days, admission to the house and garden is free for everyone (National Trust, Heritage Open Days). On any other day an adult pays £19.
Every figure on this page comes from the National Trust’s own Ightham Mote pages, checked on 3 September 2026. Where the Trust does not publish something, we say so rather than guess.
Ightham Mote key facts
| Question | Answer | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Opening times | House 11:00 to 17:00; garden, café and shop 10:00 to 17:00; estate dawn to dusk. Last entry to the house and garden 16:30. Last café orders 16:45. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Is any of it free? | The estate countryside walks are open dawn to dusk. The house and garden are ticketed, except on Thursday 17 September 2026, when Heritage Open Days makes admission free for all. On every other day, only under 5s and National Trust members go free. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Admission | House, garden and estate to 1 November: adult £19.00, child (5 to 17) £9.50, family £47.50, one adult with two children £28.50. From 2 to 20 November only a garden and estate ticket is sold, at £8.50 an adult. From 21 November to 3 January the house ticket returns at £14.00 an adult. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Parking and its cost | £4 per vehicle, coins at the machine or card in the visitor centre. Free for members who scan their card. Blue Badge and family bays, cycle racks, and six 11kW electric vehicle charging points run by RAW Charging. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Booking | Not required, for any day. The Trust's page says so in as many words. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Dogs | On short leads everywhere except the natural play area, the enclosed garden and the house. You can order in the café with your dog but must eat outside. Assistance dogs go everywhere. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| How long to allow | The Trust does not say. With the house, the 14-acre garden and a walk on the estate, plan for half a day; that is our estimate, not the Trust's. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Getting there | Mote Road, Ivy Hatch, TN15 0NT; use TN15 0NU for sat nav. Six miles south of Sevenoaks on the A25, brown sign right along Coach Road. Nearest stations: Borough Green & Wrotham (3.5 miles), Hildenborough (4), Sevenoaks (7); the Trust advises a taxi from all three. | 3 Sep 2026 |
| Contact | 01732 810378; ighthammote@nationaltrust.org.uk. | 3 Sep 2026 |
Free for everyone on Thursday 17 September
Ightham Mote’s Heritage Open Day is Thursday 17 September 2026. Admission to the house and garden costs nothing, and free garden and history talks run during the day (National Trust, Heritage Open Days). The Trust’s listing says nothing about the £4 parking charge being waived, so assume you will still pay it unless you are a member.
It is one of a run of free days at the Trust’s Kent houses that week: Knole opens free on Tuesday 15 September and Chartwell on Monday 14 September. Three of the county’s best houses, £62 of adult admission, free within four days of each other.
What a ticket costs, and why the date matters
Ightham Mote’s prices run in three seasons, and the gap between them is large (National Trust, Ightham Mote):
- To 1 November: house, garden and estate. Adult £19.00, child £9.50, family of two adults and up to three children £47.50, one adult with two children £28.50.
- 2 to 20 November: garden and estate only, so these are the weeks the house is off the menu. Adult £8.50, child £4.25, family £21.25.
- 21 November to 3 January: the house ticket returns for the Christmas season. Adult £14.00, child £7.00, family £35.00.
Under 5s go free all year, and National Trust members pay nothing, including for parking. Gift Aid prices are 10% higher: £20.90 for an adult on the main-season ticket. Groups of adults pay £18.00 each.
Two discounts are worth knowing. Gardener’s World 2-for-1 cards are accepted on weekdays, but not on weekends or bank holidays, and a single visitor with the card gets 50% off; the offer runs until 1 April 2027. And unlike Chartwell, where the garden alone costs £17, Ightham Mote’s autumn garden ticket is £8.50 (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
What it means for you: a family of four pays £47.50 plus £4 parking this autumn. Go on 17 September and the same visit should cost £4. If the garden and a walk are the point rather than the house, the first three weeks of November cut the family bill to £21.25.
What you are actually visiting
The Trust’s own strapline calls Ightham Mote an outstanding 14th-century moated manor house, and the claim holds up. It was begun around 1340, and instead of being rebuilt by each new owner it was added to, so the house is a 700-year layer cake of medieval, Tudor, Jacobean and Victorian work in Kentish ragstone and timber framing (Wikipedia; National Trust, the house).
Inside, the set pieces come quickly (National Trust, the house):
- the Great Hall, with medieval carvings of musicians on the walls
- the New Chapel, with a painted Tudor ceiling on which you can still spot Catherine of Aragon, awkwardly for every owner after Henry VIII’s divorce
- the Drawing Room fireplace of 1612, Dame Dorothy Selby’s pride, with carved eyes that follow you round the room
- the courtyard’s Grade I listed Victorian dog kennel, built in 1890 by Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson
- the last owner’s rooms, kept in 1950s New England style
That last point is the odd one. The house’s final private owner was an American, Charles Henry Robinson, who bought it in 1953 and left it to the National Trust on his death in 1985 (Wikipedia). The Trust then spent from 1989 to 2004 on its biggest house conservation project, dismantling and rebuilding much of the structure at a cost of more than £10 million (Wikipedia).
Introductory talks about the house and tours of the garden run daily from March to October, weather and volunteers permitting, at no extra charge (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
The garden, the estate and the play area
The garden covers 14 acres in the valley around the moat, with an accessible route through it and around the South Lake (National Trust, Ightham Mote). Beyond it the wider estate is open dawn to dusk for countryside walks, and the house sits just off the Greensand Way, the long-distance path across Surrey and Kent, so a determined walker can arrive on foot.
For families there is a natural play area with chimes, balance beams and stepping stones, a picnic area by the café kiosk, and a second-hand bookshop in the Coach House. The Mote Café opens at 10:00 daily; the kiosk is seasonal and does soft scoop ice cream (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Access provision is better than most historic houses: the ground floor of the house is step-free, manual wheelchairs and a Tramper mobility scooter can be booked on 01732 810378, and a volunteer-driven buggy shuttles visitors between the visitor centre and the house (National Trust, Ightham Mote). Corridors in the house are narrow; the Trust says so itself.
Getting there from Sevenoaks
By car it is simple: six miles south on the A25 towards Borough Green, then right along Coach Road at the brown sign. Use postcode TN15 0NU for sat nav, because TN15 0NT sends some systems the wrong way (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Without a car it takes planning. No ordinary bus route serves the house. The Trust points visitors to the bookable Go To bus service from Sevenoaks station, on 01732 463964 or the Go to Sevenoaks app. The nearest stations are Borough Green & Wrotham at three and a half miles, Hildenborough at four and Sevenoaks at seven, and the Trust’s advice from all of them is a taxi; walking from Sevenoaks station would take well over an hour (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Concerts in the house this September
The Music@Malling festival, which runs from 18 to 27 September 2026, brings three of its events to Ightham Mote (Music@Malling):
- Mendelssohn with Guy Johnston and Melvyn Tan, Sunday 20 September, 4pm, in the Drawing Room
- On the Wings of Song with Ruby Hughes and Huw Watkins, Tuesday 22 September, 7pm, in the Drawing Room
- Inside Colour, Music Maps with Deborah Pritchard, Saturday 26 September, 2pm, in the Great Hall
Tickets are sold through the festival, not the Trust. Hearing chamber music in a medieval manor’s own rooms is not something the bigger houses round here offer; if that appeals, our things to do in Sevenoaks page has the rest of the month covered.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ightham Mote free for National Trust members? Yes, admission and parking are both free for members; scan your card at the parking machine. Everyone can walk the estate paths free between dawn and dusk, but the house and garden need a ticket (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Do you need to book Ightham Mote tickets in advance? No. The Trust’s own page states booking is not required, on any day, including the free Heritage Open Day on 17 September (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Are dogs allowed at Ightham Mote? On short leads in most outdoor areas, but not in the natural play area, the enclosed garden or the house. Dogs can come to the café counter with you, then it is outside seating only. Assistance dogs are welcome everywhere (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
How much is parking at Ightham Mote? £4 per vehicle for non-members. The machine takes coins only; card payments are handled in the visitor centre. There are six electric vehicle charging points (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
When is the house closed in 2026? Between 2 and 20 November only the garden and estate ticket is on sale, so those are the weeks not to come for the house itself. The house ticket returns from 21 November to 3 January at the reduced winter price of £14 (National Trust, Ightham Mote).
Which is better, Ightham Mote or Knole? Different days out. Knole has the free 1,000-acre deer park and the vast showrooms; Ightham Mote is smaller, moated, and you see far more of how a house was actually lived in across 700 years. Knole is walkable from Sevenoaks town; Ightham Mote realistically needs a car.
Sources
- Opening times, prices, parking, dogs, access and travel: National Trust, Ightham Mote, checked 3 September 2026
- House rooms and the dog kennel: National Trust, the house at Ightham Mote
- Heritage Open Days free entry: National Trust, Heritage Open Days
- History, Robinson bequest and the 1989 to 2004 conservation project: Wikipedia, Ightham Mote
- September concerts: Music@Malling, what’s on
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