(Map pointer only indicates approximate position, full details will be provided after booking)
The Apartment on Granville and The Residence on Granville are both situated in a leafy road in the heart of Sevenoaks and are ideally placed for the town centre and station. The station is a 7 minute walk away and provides fast and frequent train services to London Bridge, London Waterloo East (connecting with Waterloo Main Station) and London Charing Cross. London Cannon Street Station is served Monday to Friday during peak travel times. Train services to the Kent coast and to Ashford International (connecting with Eurostar services to Paris, Lille and Brussels) run equally frequently in the opposite direction. Ebbsfleet International is 30 minutes away by car (19 miles) with more frequent Eurostar services (than Ashford International) to Paris, Brussels and beyond.
Sevenoaks town centre is a 7 minute walk away. The town centre has a choice of restaurants offering a range of cuisines including Chinese, English, French, Indian, Italian and Thai as well as several coffee houses. Sevenoaks has a number of independent shops including women’s outfitters, gentlemen’s outfitters, a florist, a chocolate shop, jewellers, photography/camera shop, a cook’s shop, an excellent butcher, and a shop stocking CDs. Well known high street names are also represented in the town including Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Laura Ashley among others.
Apart from fast train services to London, Sevenoaks is an ideal base from which to tour Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Sevenoaks and its surrounding area have much to offer visitors. Nearby, for example, is Knole House, the ancestral home of the Sackville-West family owned by the National Trust. Knole Park is open to all and children (and adults) delight in seeing the park’s family of deer.
Either side of Sevenoaks are three more National Trust properties – Ightham Mote in the village of Ightham (pronounced Eye-Tam) and Chartwell, the much-loved home of Sir Winston and Lady Clementine Churchill, in Westerham. The third National Trust property, also in Westerham, is Quebec House, birthplace of General James Wolfe (b.1727) who took Quebec from the forces of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, commander of the French army in North America in 1759.
Sevenoaks has several literary connections, not least with Jane Austen whose uncle once lived in the town. His house is still to be seen toward the end of the High Street (No. 50) and is rather splendid. It is now the home of a firm of solicitors going by the glorious name of Knocker and Fosket.
Other literary connections include Vita Sackville-West who was born at Knole, and H. G. Wells, who lived at 23 Eardley Road in 1894 (round the corner from The Apartment on Granville) from where he finished writing the first ever science fiction thriller The Time Machine – a blue plaque commemorates the fact. Sevenoaks can boast an association with The Revd. Dr. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s, lawyer, poet and Queen Elizabeth I favourite priest. Dr. Donne held the living of rector of St. Nicholas, Sevenoaks between 1616 and 1631.
For cricket fans Sevenoaks and Kent will have a special appeal. The cricket pitch on The Vine was established on or before 1734 making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in the world and it is still home to Sevenoaks Vine Cricket Club. The first nationally reported cricket match took place on The Vine in 1734 when The Gentlemen of Kent played The Gentlemen of Sussex – Kent won the match.
Though the origin of the game is unclear it is thought that it was devised during Saxon or Norman times by children of families living in the Weald which lies across Kent and Sussex. If you wish to pay homage The Vine is an 11 minute walk away (you can refresh yourselves at The Vine Restaurant overlooking the cricket pitch when you get there) and Weald village is 2.2 miles away. Welcome to the home of cricket!