Godinton House is one of the most important houses in the Kentish parish of Great Chart. It is 2 miles north-west of the center of the town of Ashford, Kent

Ashford, Kent

Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...

, UK..

Description

Godinton House (a.k.a. "Godinton House and Gardens", a.k.a. "Godinton Park") is an ancient brick house with a Jacobean architecture

Jacobean architecture

The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...

 style exterior. The roof has a distinctive system of shaped gables (also called Dutch or semi-classical gables). The Jacobean house was built around a medieval great hall. Of particular note is the elaborate carvings in chestnut wood on the main staircase.

The gardens include one of the longest Yew hedges in England.

The house also has a Steinway piano, which is one of the best pianos in Kent.

History

Godinton House was the seat of the Toke family for about 455 years from 1440 to 1895 ¹.

Around the turn of the century (1800/1900) then owner Mr. Ashley Dodd hired architect Sir Reginald Blomfield

Reginald Blomfield

Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period.- Early life and career :...

 to update the house and redesign the gardens. Blomfield planted the famous yew hedge, shaped to repeat the gable form seen on the house.

In 1991 Major Alan Wyndham-Green, the last owner of Godinton, established the "Godinton House Preservation Trust". Since Major Wyndham-Green's passing in 1996 the Trust has continued to preserve, restore, and enhance the house and parklands.

External links

• Official website: Godinton House and Gardens
• Godinton House Preservation Trust (www.charity-commission.gov.uk)
• "Godinton House: The Gardens" Photographic website by Hedley Grenfell-Banks.

Further reading

• The Account Book of a Kentish Estate 1616-1704, Edited by Eleanor Constance Lodge
  Eleanor Constance Lodge
  Eleanor Constance Lodge, CBE, was born on 18 September 1869 at Hanley, Staffordshire. She was Vice-Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 1890 to 1921 and then Principal of Westfield College, Hampstead, in the University of London from 1921 to 1931...
  
   (1927). This book features a comprehensive introduction by Eleanor C. Lodge analysing an ancient Toke account book. She describes life at Godinton (and county Kent in general) in the seventeenth century.
• A Saunter Through Kent with Pen and Pencil, Vol. 2, by Sir Charles Igglesden (1900). Published at the Offices of the Kentish Express
  Kentish Express
  The Kentish Express is a weekly newspaper serving southern Kent. It is published in four editions - Ashford, Folkestone, Hythe and the Romney Marsh, and Tenterden. It is owned by the KM Group and is published on Thursdays.-History:...
  
  , Ashford, Kent. The chapter about Godinton is a unique coverage. It includes fascinating stories, including traditional local gossip, about murder, intrigue, ghosts, secret rooms, and secret passages. The description of the house and garden is beautifully written.
• "Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. G. Ashley Dodd" Country Life Magazine
  Country Life (magazine)
  Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
  
  , London, July 18, 1903, pp. 90–98.
• "Godinton, Kent, the seat of Mr. George Ashley Dodd" Country Life Magazine, London, May 11, 1907, pp. 666–673.
• "GODINTON PARK, KENT - I, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey
  Christopher Hussey
  Christopher Edward Clive Hussey was one of the chief authorities on British domestic architecture of the generation that also included Dorothy Stroud and Sir John Summerson.- Career :...
  
  , Country Life Magazine, London, December 6, 1962, pp. 1396–1400.
• "GODINTON PARK, KENT - II, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, December 13, 1962, pp. 1546–1549.
• "GODINTON PARK, KENT - III, The Home of Mr. Alan Wyndham-Green" By Christopher Hussey, Country Life Magazine, London, December 20, 1962, pp. 1600–1603.
• "Painted Catalogue" (letter), Country Life Magazine, London, December 27, 1962, page 1662. This letter concerns the famous painting, "The Last Day in the Old Home" (1862) by Robert Braithwaite Martineau
  Robert Braithwaite Martineau
  Robert Braithwaite Martineau was an English painter.He attended Colfes school for a few years at the age of 15. He first trained as a lawyer and later entered the Royal Academy where he was awarded a silver medal. He studied under Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt and once shared a studio...
  
  . The painting is on display at the Tate Britain
  Tate Britain
  Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
  
  . The setting in this painting is a composite of rooms at Godinton (including Toke family crests).