Penshurst Place: from £45 a family, and it shuts 1 November

Penshurst Place is the medieval house and walled gardens in Penshurst village. After Hever, it is the other big historic house in the south of the Sevenoaks district. It is cheaper than Hever, the parking is free, and there is no booking: you pay at the gate.

The date that matters this autumn is Sunday 1 November. That is the last day of the 2026 season for the house, the gardens, the adventure playground and the Toy Museum. After that only the café, the gift shop and the free parkland stay open until spring (Penshurst Place, opening times).

Every figure below comes from Penshurst Place’s own website, checked on 1 October 2026. Where Penshurst does not publish something, we say so.

Penshurst Place key facts

What a ticket costs

Penshurst sells two day tickets. The gardens and grounds ticket covers the walled gardens, the playground, the woodland trail and the events in the grounds. The house ticket adds the state rooms and costs £2 more for an adult (Penshurst Place, admission prices).

Two things catch people out. A 16-year-old pays the adult price, where Hever and the National Trust charge child rates to 17. And the free under-5 allowance is two per paying adult; a third is charged £2.50.

Several memberships get you in free or cheaper (Penshurst Place, admission prices):

• Historic Houses members: free to the house and gardens all season.
• English Heritage members: buy a gardens ticket and the house upgrade is free.
• RHS members: the named adult cardholder gets free gardens entry, Monday to Friday only, not in school holidays or on bank holidays.
• Gardener’s World 2for1 card: one free gardens ticket with one full-paying adult.
• Carers: one registered carer free with a full-paying disabled visitor, on showing a benefit award letter or local authority letter.

Only one offer can be used per transaction. Penshurst is privately owned by the Sidney family, so National Trust membership does not help here (Penshurst Place, FAQs).

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What it means for you: a family of four pays £48 to see everything at Penshurst. The same family pays £66.60 at Hever booked online, from 2 September to 19 November (Hever Castle, prices). If you are torn between the two, our Hever Castle page has its prices and what is included.

Is a season ticket worth it?

Penshurst’s season tickets cover the gardens and grounds for a year from the day you buy them (Penshurst Place, admission prices):

• individual (cardholder plus one adult guest): £69
• family, 2 adults and 2 children: £99
• family, 1 adult and 3 children: £95
• family, 2 adults and 1 child: £93

The family card costs £99 against £45 for a gardens day ticket. It pays for itself on the third visit. You do not have to decide at the gate either. Buy a day ticket, and if you upgrade at the visitor entrance at the end of your visit, Penshurst refunds the day ticket (Penshurst Place, season tickets).

Bought now, a card runs to next October, so it covers most of the 2027 season. Holders also get a little winter access: the adventure playground opens on selected weekends in the closed season, 9am to 4.30pm, for season ticket holders only, announced by email.

One oddity. Penshurst’s own pages give the charge for adding an extra child to a family card as £7.50, £8 and £8.50 in different places, so ask at the desk.

The house: what you are paying £2 extra to see

The heart of the house is the Baron’s Hall, finished in 1341 as a country retreat for a Lord Mayor of London. It has its original chestnut roof, 60ft high, and an octagonal hearth in the middle of the floor. The Sidney family has owned the estate since 1552 (Penshurst Place, the house).

The route then climbs to the state rooms:

• the Solar, the medieval family’s private withdrawing room, with a copy of the painting of Elizabeth I dancing La Volta
• the Queen Elizabeth Room, where Elizabeth I held audience on her visits, with early upholstered furniture
• the Tapestry Room and the small Page’s Room beside it
• the Long Gallery, begun in 1599, lined with royal and family portraits and replica Tudor costumes
• the Nether Gallery, on the ground floor, with arms and armour around Sir Philip Sidney’s funeral helm

The Victorian Kitchen, opened in 2023, shows the house’s main kitchen as it was used up to 1950, with a large collection of copper pans and hands-on bits for children (Penshurst Place, the Victorian Kitchen).

Fans of period drama will recognise the rooms. The BBC’s Wolf Hall used the Queen Elizabeth Room, the Tapestry Room, the Solar, the Long Gallery and the Crypt. The Baron’s Hall is the setting for the execution scene in Mary Queen of Scots, filmed in 2017 (Penshurst Place, Penshurst in film).

The house opens later than the gardens, at 11.30am, with last entry at 3.30pm. If you arrive at 10am, do the gardens first.

The gardens and the Toy Museum

The grounds cover 48 acres, of which 11 are the formal, Grade I listed walled gardens. Penshurst says records of the gardens go back to 1346, which makes them among the oldest in private ownership (Penshurst Place, gardens and grounds). In October the interest is the fruit. The walled design began in the 1560s to protect hundreds of fruit trees, and there are now more than 130 apple trees (Penshurst Place, October events).

The Toy Museum keeps the house’s hours. Penshurst’s price list does not say which ticket covers it, so check at the entrance if you buy gardens only. It reopened in July 2025 after a £100,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund refit. It holds around 2,000 toys from the Georgian period to the 1980s, in four themed zones, plus an activities area and a trail. The 1920s mechanical Drinking Bear is still there. A lift now serves the museum (Penshurst Place, Toy Museum).

Taking children

For most families the playground is the reason to pick Penshurst. It has a commando trail, a wooden high top, a big slide, swings, a toddler area and a new zip line (Penshurst Place, adventure playground). A gardens ticket gets you in.

Close by is a 1km woodland trail loop, with carvings, log piles, a den-building area and a spotting sheet (Penshurst Place, woodland trail).

Practical points from Penshurst’s FAQs (Penshurst Place, FAQs):

• Scooters and bikes are not allowed past the visitor entrance. There are bike racks outside.
• Baby change is in the toilets at the café, the playground, the Lime Walk and the Stable Yard.
• Food: the Porcupine Pantry café sits by the entrance, and a kiosk opens into the playground on busy days.

More options for a day with children are on our things to do with kids page.

What is on before it closes

October is the last month of the season, and Penshurst has packed it (Penshurst Place, October events):

• Revenge of the Scarecrow murder mystery, Saturday 10 October, 7.30pm, £72 a head with a three-course dinner.
• Apple Weekend, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, 10am to 5pm. Apple pressing, tastings, children’s crafts and games. Included in admission. It falls on the first weekend of the half term most Sevenoaks schools take.
• Autumn Amble walk and lunch, Sunday 18 October, 10.30am to 2pm, £49 a head. A two-hour guided estate walk, a two-course roast lunch and entry to the house and gardens.
• Beware the Bad Apple! Halloween trail, Saturday 24 October to Sunday 1 November, 10am to 5pm. Included in admission.
• Halloween crafts, 24 October to 1 November, 11am to 3.30pm, in the Old Coach House.
• Halloween storytelling, 26 to 31 October, panto-style and “not too scary”, at 11.15am, noon, 12.45pm, 2pm and 2.45pm.

How Penshurst’s half term compares with Hever, Chartwell, Emmetts and the rest is on our Halloween events page. Why Sevenoaks families get two weeks off rather than one is on our October half term page.

After 1 November

The house and gardens shut for the winter, but Penshurst does not go quiet. These stay open all year (Penshurst Place, opening times):

• the parkland, free, with two walking routes, the Parkland and Riverside walks; guides are sold in the gift shop
• the Porcupine Pantry café, daily 9am to 5pm, hot food to 3.30pm
• the gift shop and plant centre, 9am to 5pm

Dogs are welcome in the parkland but must be on leads near the ewes and lambs. For a first visit Penshurst recommends the AA’s 5.7km parkland walk (Penshurst Place, admission policies). The café is also the cheapest afternoon tea we found locally, at £19.95 a head on weekdays, pre-booked; details are on our afternoon tea page.

December brings ticketed events (Penshurst Place, December events):

• The Christmas Cavity Calamity mini panto, 5 to 23 December in the Garden Room. It runs about 25 minutes, is aimed at ages 0 to 12 and ends with a photo with Father Christmas. Tickets are £9.50 each plus a booking fee; babies under one on a lap go free (Liveit, mini panto booking). Two quiet sessions for children with SEND are capped at 50 tickets.
• Christmas wreath workshops, 26 November and 1 and 2 December, £65.
• A Christmas Carol, a one-man immersive show, Saturday 12 December at 7pm, from £22.

The full-length shows in the area are on our pantomimes page.

Getting there

Penshurst’s directions from both the M25 and the M26 run down the A21 to the Hildenborough exit. From there, follow the brown tourist signs. Sat nav TN11 8DG; the what3words for the visitor entrance is ///juices.test.remove (Penshurst Place, find us).

Going on Sunday 4 October? The Tonbridge Half Marathon closes roads in and around Leigh from 8.30am to 12.30pm, including Penshurst Road and the B2027 High Street (Temporary Traffic Regulation Notices, via the Public Notice Portal). If you come that morning, plan to arrive after 12.30pm.

Without a car it is harder (Penshurst Place, find us):

• Tonbridge station, then a 6-mile taxi
• Edenbridge station, then the 231 or 233 bus, not on Sundays
• Penshurst station, then a 2.5-mile walk on roads with no footpaths, which we would not do with children
• By bike, Regional Cycle Route 12 runs mostly off-road from Tonbridge through the estate

For lunch outside the estate, the village pubs, including the Leicester Arms and the Spotted Dog, are in our Penshurst business listings.

Accessibility

Penshurst is open about its age. Parts of the grounds are hard work in a standard wheelchair because of slopes and terrain. It offers to talk visits through on 01892 870307 (Penshurst Place, access information). What it provides:

• two manual wheelchairs, booked in advance
• mobility scooters allowed in the grounds at walking pace
• a recommended wheelchair route through the gardens, on a leaflet at the entrance
• ramps into the Baron’s Hall and level access to the Nether Gallery; the upper state rooms are up one staircase
• a lift in the Toy Museum
• accessible toilets by the café and near the house entrance

Frequently asked questions

How much is Penshurst Place? £17 an adult, £9.50 a child aged 5 to 15 and £48 for two adults and two children, for the house, gardens and grounds. Gardens only is £15, £9 and £45. Two under 5s per paying adult go free (Penshurst Place, admission prices).

When does Penshurst Place close for the winter? After Sunday 1 November 2026. The house, gardens, playground and Toy Museum open daily until then. The café, gift shop and parkland stay open all year (Penshurst Place, opening times).

Do you need to book Penshurst Place? No. Penshurst has no pre-booking system and all day tickets are bought on arrival. Only special events, such as the murder mystery dinner and the mini panto, are booked ahead (Penshurst Place, FAQs).

Is parking free at Penshurst Place? Yes. The main visitor car park by the entrance is free, with blue badge spaces at the front of the grassed car park (Penshurst Place, find us).

Can you take dogs to Penshurst Place? Not into the house, gardens, playground or woodland trail; only assistance dogs go past the entrance. Dogs are welcome in the free parkland, on leads near the sheep, in the gift shop and at marked tables in the café (Penshurst Place, FAQs).

Is Penshurst Place National Trust? No. It is a privately owned family home, so National Trust cards do not work. English Heritage, RHS and Historic Houses members do get concessions (Penshurst Place, FAQs).

Sources

• Prices, concessions and dog policy: Penshurst Place, 2026 admission prices and policies
• Opening times: Penshurst Place, opening times
• Booking, dogs, toilets and food: Penshurst Place, FAQs
• Directions and parking: Penshurst Place, find us
• Events: October and December calendars
• Hever comparison: Hever Castle, prices

All figures checked on 1 October 2026. If you find one that has changed, tell us and we will correct it.