Belmont House and Gardens

Over het museum

Belmont stands on high ground near Throwley in Kent, which gave the house its name. The first house on the site was built in 1769 by Edward Wilks, storekeeper at the Faversham gunpowder mills, and was designed by the architect Samuel Wyatt. Between 1789 and 1793 Colonel John Montresor of the Royal Engineers created much of the present building. In 1801 General George Harris, later the first Lord Harris, bought the house at auction for £9,000, and the Harris family lived there for more than 200 years.

The house reflects several generations of collecting. The armoury holds armour and weapons from India, the South Pacific, Africa and Europe, including armour from the Mysore armouries and the Waterloo Sword given to the second Lord Harris by his officers. The third Lord Harris, a governor of Trinidad, commissioned 34 paintings of the island in the 1850s from the local painter Michel-Jean Cazabon. The fifth Lord Harris, founding president of the Antiquarian Horological Society, built up one of the finest private collections of clocks and watches in Britain; when he died in 1984 the house held 340 of them.

The house is now cared for by a charity set up by the family. The gardens include a walled garden, a pinetum, a Victorian shell grotto and an orangery, and the kitchen garden was restored in 2001 to a design by Arabella Lennox-Boyd. The estate also includes farmland, woodland and a cricket pitch.

Hoogtepunten

• Clock and watch collection assembled by the 5th Lord Harris
• Armoury with Mysore armour and the Waterloo Sword
• 34 paintings of Trinidad by Michel-Jean Cazabon
• Guided and self-guided tours of the Georgian house
• Walled garden, pinetum, shell grotto and restored kitchen garden

Vaste collectie

• The clock collection – One of the finest private collections of clocks and watches in Britain, assembled by the 5th Lord Harris and displayed throughout the house.
• The armoury – Armour and weapons from India, the South Pacific, Africa and Europe gathered over five generations of the Harris family.
• Cazabon paintings of Trinidad – Thirty-four watercolours and oils of Trinidad in the 1850s by Michel-Jean Cazabon, commissioned by the 3rd Lord Harris.

Beheerder

Harris (Belmont) Charity

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

Prices are for the 2026 season, and the gardens ticket is the lowest admission price; 2027 prices have not yet been published. Historic House members enter free. Holders of a Gardener's World 2-for-1 card are welcome in the gardens and pay an upgrade fee for house tours. Garden tickets can be bought at the welcome point in the car park or online; house tickets are bought online.

Toegankelijkheid

• Deels rolstoeltoegankelijk
• Lift: niet aanwezig
• Aangepast toilet
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: niet aanwezig
• Hulphonden welkom
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

The ground floor of the house is accessible, but there is no lift to the first floor, and the stairs consist of three sections of shallow carpeted steps. A ramp can be placed on the external house steps; visitors should ask staff for help. The courtyard has uneven cobblestones that can be slippery when wet. There is a unisex accessible toilet with a handrail but no alarm call system. The gardens have wide, mostly level gravel paths. There are no designated Blue Badge spaces in the gravel car park. Folding stools are available for the house, and staff help with evacuation. Assistance dogs are welcome in the house; other dogs are welcome in the gardens on a lead. An AccessAble access guide is available.

Kinderen & gezin

Children under 12 enter the gardens free and children aged 12 to 16 pay £4; children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

The estate is signed from the A251, and the lanes are narrow; satellite navigation may not lead to the right part of the estate. From Faversham and the M2, leave at junction 6 and head south on the A251; from Ashford and the M20, leave at junction 9 and head north. Turn at Badlesmere and follow the brown tourist signs for about 1.5 miles. The what3words address is ///cable.unrealistic.shame.

Service & horeca

• Café

The Orangery Tea Room is open from April to September, Thursday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00; in 2026 it is in the Orangery. Dog waste bins are provided in the gardens. Gift vouchers are available online.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

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