Penshurst Place is one the finest manor houses in England; it sits in the heart of the Weald at the confluence of the Rivers Medway and Eden, surrounded by wooded hills and ridges. On a fine autumn day, the house and the grounds look like something out of an 18th or 19th century painting.
What was it Ben Jonson wrote about Penshurst? ‘A noble pile’ – always amused that, that ‘pile’. How words change, it now sounds like ‘a pile of old…’.
So easy to forget that are places and grounds like this and these around in this over-peopled ‘pile-of’ an island.
Yes, it is a noble pile in the best sense. For good or ill, landownership in England still reflects our feudal past; the comfort blanket of continuity perhaps.
“To Penshurst” by BJ is here https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50674/to-penshurst
Thanks.
I am also fond of this placehttps://wealdwalking.wordpress.com/hildenborough-to-three-bridges-1-5-days/
Great stuff…will keep tabs on your posts