Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United Kingdom / Lenham / Chilston Park Hotel
Chilston Park Hotel
Lenham, Kent, United Kingdom · Independent · Near Luxury
Chilston Park is a Grade I Kent manor near Lenham whose bones go back to the Fitzhamon lords of Leeds Castle, rebuilt around 1728, a hotel from 1984 under the Miller's Antiques couple, about 36 rooms by a spring-fed lake. John Evelyn called it a sweetly watered place in 1666.
- 36 rooms
- Opened 1984
- Neighborhood: Lenham / parkland
About Chilston Park Hotel
- Aretas Akers-Douglas, later Viscount Chilston and Home Secretary, owned it from 1875. An orangery came in 1988.
History
Chilston Park is a Grade I-listed country house near Lenham in Kent whose origins reach back to at least 1100, when a manor here ('Childeston') was held by the Fitzhamon lords of Leeds Castle. The house was begun as a courtyard house in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century, and its handsome red-brick and stone form largely dates from a reconstruction around 1728, with the courtyard infilled in the 1880s.
The estate passed through many owners, among them the diarist John Evelyn's host Edward Hales and, from 1875, Aretas Akers-Douglas, later Viscount Chilston and a Home Secretary. It became a country-house hotel in 1984 under Martin and Judith Miller, authors of Miller's Antiques Guide, who added an orangery in 1988, and has been part of Hand Picked Hotels since around 1999-2001. The 53-bedroom hotel is set in parkland with a spring-fed lake.
The setting
In parkland near Lenham, Kent, with a spring-fed lake.
Amenities
- Fine dining
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- AA Four Red Stars (2025)
Open Chilston Park Hotel in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.