Riverhill Himalayan Gardens

LOGISTICS:

• Regular trains from London Bridge to Sevenoaks take 30 minutes
• Walk or take a bus the 0.7miles from the train station to the bus station in order to catch bus 402 (every 20 minutes) to Julians Hill (6 stops, 5 min)
• Riverhill is a 5 min walk along a sidewalk and drive way from the bus stop

THE KID FACTOR:

• Brilliant adventure playground perfect for age 2+. Younger kids will enjoy toddling about the den area and turning the bottom of the slide into a sand pit
• Ship swing hiding in the wood gardens
• Toy shed full of exciting toys next to cafe
• Lovely and spacious baby change in the female toilets

OUR DAY OUT:

We took the 9.31 train from London Bridge in order to make use of reduce off-peak pricing after 9.30am. From Sevenoaks train station I decided to walk up the hill and through town to the bus station instead of catching a bus. It took me approx. 15 minutes and we easily managed to catch the 10.20 402 bus. The bus driver had no idea what the Julians Hill bus stop was (this keeps happening to me on days out where most people go by car!), but I just told him that it is within the Sevenoaks zone and paid for that. Worth getting a Day Saver or return ticket to save a bit on the pretty expensive country busses!

From the bus stop it was a quick walk to the gardens. The entry fee can be paid by card (something I always appreciate as I tend to forget to carry cash on me!) And then one is in the cafe area.

We opted to start our visit with a relaxed coffee on the terrace enjoying the view while the boys entertained themselves in the toy shed that is conveniently located right next to the cafe. Seriously, every place should have a toy shed next to the food/drink. There were some really neat toys here, highlights include a ball run along the side of the shed, a ride-on motor cycle and vespa, and a firetruck the toddler would have loved to bring back home.

Full of energy we headed up along the woodland path towards the Explorers Escarpment & Adventure Playground. The playground is perfectly located in shady woodland. Highlights are a big tube slide, a tree house that connects two trees, and a spider web type climbing structure that was the perfect size and difficulty for our 2.5 year old toddlers.

Once the toddlers got hungry around noon we walked a bit further up the hill to get to Little Everest viewpoint. There we grabbed one of the picnic tables to have a snack with a great view. The boys decided we were crowding their style and buggered off to sit down a bit away from us in the grass instead. We took our time to enjoy the glorious views over the Weald of Kent while the kids were happy exploring the grass and rolling down the hillside. Since it is an open field it was easy to keep an eye on them without having to immediately chase after them.

Post snack (and running around the field) we headed towards the hedge maze. I lost my toddler a couple meter into the maze, but luckily the maze isn’t huge and there are exit gates to enable a quick exit, so I quickly was able to hunt him down again. I really enjoy that the toddler is now at an age where he enjoys racing around mazes playing hide and seek. I have been waiting for this since he started walking over a year ago.

Now it was finally time to go and check out the gardens. We followed a bunch of ‘secret’ paths past azaleas and rhododendrons through the Wood Garden. These much be absolutely gorgeous during April/May time. Here we came across a ship swing which entertained the kids for a while before we headed onwards to the Rose Walk and into the Walled Garden.

Inside the Walled Garden the toddler would have loved to get up close to the fountain that forms the centre piece of this contemporary garden. The straight lines and hard edges of the pond and fountain are such a contrast to the Himalayan-inspired grass -sculpted terraces and surrounding woodland. I love it. There was also a gorgeous pavilion overlooking the garden which would make a perfect picnic spot. We didn’t bring any food with us, so our day took us back to the cafe for a (very late!) lunch and some more play time in the toy shed before it was time for the boys to take a nap while we headed back home.

A lovely day out. I don’t think the place is big enough to warrant a whole day, but we easily spent 4 hours there.