Riverhill Himalayan Gardens
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens
4.3
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
2025 Season: 12/03/25 - 02/11/25, Wednesday - Sunday 10-5, plus Bank Holiday Mondays. Beautiful, relaxing hillside Gardens with stunning views over the Weald of Kent & an excellent cafe. For garden experts we have a magnificent collection of rhododendrons & azaleas, some grown from seeds brought back by the plant hunters. We have a wonderful Rose Walk, Walled Garden, with spectacular terraces & water feature, our newly restored Rock Garden, filled with ferns & water cascades & giant specimen trees. For families we have a fab adventure playground, den building woods, boat swing, holiday activities & our much loved resident yeti (weekends & school holidays 2-4). Seasonal highlights include: bluebell woods in early spring, rhododendrons & azaleas later in spring, our alium & peony borders early summer, followed by fragrant roses, rounding off the season with spectacular autumn colour, especially from our beautiful acer collection. Free onsite parking. Dogs on leads very welcome.
Duration: 2-3 hours
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4.3
494 reviews
Excellent
296
Very good
122
Average
44
Poor
15
Terrible
17
Julezbabe
Surrey, UK306 contributions
May 2024 • Couples
A secret escape on the outskirts of Sevenoaks . A delightful picturesque private garden at this time of year full of azaleas and rhododendrons a hue of pinks and mauves set amongst the hillside location.tulips and bluebells just over and roses ready to bloom next month. A walled garden of wisteria and a variety of ferns .
Plenty of pathways for children to have fun with hide n seek and dogs too! There’s play areas and plenty of seating for picnics and quiet times to admire the breathtaking views!
There’s a cafe ( £ a little bit top end) we had a coffee pot of decaf tea and Brie croissant and spinach twist £17 they also don’t take cash.
Lots of seating with umbrellas outside and indoors . Ice cream shack too serving vegan lollies .There’s a shopping area with plants and trinkets .
Free Parking easy- disabled access.
You could easily spend 3 hours here.
Plenty of pathways for children to have fun with hide n seek and dogs too! There’s play areas and plenty of seating for picnics and quiet times to admire the breathtaking views!
There’s a cafe ( £ a little bit top end) we had a coffee pot of decaf tea and Brie croissant and spinach twist £17 they also don’t take cash.
Lots of seating with umbrellas outside and indoors . Ice cream shack too serving vegan lollies .There’s a shopping area with plants and trinkets .
Free Parking easy- disabled access.
You could easily spend 3 hours here.
Written 14 May 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for this lovely review, this will be really helpful for our future visitors, really appreciate you taking the time to leave all the info.
Hope we will see you again!
Written 24 May 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Gem
Kent, UK440 contributions
Mar 2024 • Friends
Lovely walks around gardens and woodland area. A great place for kids to build dens, play and run free.
One star down as theCoffee shop was lovely but overpriced- £5 for a sausage roll is excessive but panini, muffins and sandwiches were reasonably prices. Some beautiful spots for a picnic!!
Plants and pots were good prices.
Garden and spaces are well maintained and immaculate!
One star down as theCoffee shop was lovely but overpriced- £5 for a sausage roll is excessive but panini, muffins and sandwiches were reasonably prices. Some beautiful spots for a picnic!!
Plants and pots were good prices.
Garden and spaces are well maintained and immaculate!
Written 24 March 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Immaculate!! Thank you so much, we will take that!
Hope you will be back soon & thank you for taking the time to review us.
Written 24 April 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Cyberwho
329 contributions
Aug 2024 • Couples
My wife and I stopped here to break up a journey, and decided to have lunch here instead of motorway service.
What a great decision.
The surroundings were very relaxing, especially after being on the motorway.
It really felt like a tranquil oasis.
The cafe was really good, we both had the sausage rolls which were really tasty, and coffee and cakes excellent.
Having lunch here made our journey so much better as it was a chance to relax before continuing our journey.
And being dog friendly was great as it meant our dog could enjoy a relax as well.
We would happily revisit here if in the area again.
What a great decision.
The surroundings were very relaxing, especially after being on the motorway.
It really felt like a tranquil oasis.
The cafe was really good, we both had the sausage rolls which were really tasty, and coffee and cakes excellent.
Having lunch here made our journey so much better as it was a chance to relax before continuing our journey.
And being dog friendly was great as it meant our dog could enjoy a relax as well.
We would happily revisit here if in the area again.
Written 21 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Munbun
Croydon, UK224 contributions
Apr 2024 • Couples
We had a lovely relaxing walk yesterday. Loved the bluebells and early blooming rhododendrons. Great atmosphere and calm ambience. Enthusiastic staff who clearly enjoy their job. I think we visited at the best time of year.
Written 25 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
You definitely did BUT...there is still plenty more loveliness to come!! Definitely worth popping back for peonies and alliums and the roses.
Thank you for leaving such a lovely review, so glad you found it calm and welcoming here, those two things are really important to us!!
Written 14 May 2024
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Gary S
London15 contributions
Aug 2024 • Couples
Lovely Bank Holiday Monday visit to this enchanting location. Something for everyone kids dens and a slide in the woods with a visiting Yetti. A maze and lovely walks looking at plants with a decent cafe . It’s Not huge but a lovely way to spend a couple of hours .
Written 28 August 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jerryskc
Kansas City, MO557 contributions
May 2022
These are lovely gardens, although I should declare that I am no horticulture expert. The entry to Riverhill is well signed but would still be easy to miss as it is on the apex of a bend in a fairly fast road out of Sevenoaks. I was here with elderly relatives who require disabled spaces and there are several close to the main entrance to the gardens and right by the house. The main parking lot is further a way and requires a walk that is on a slope, as is the whole garden, so be aware if you have folks with you for whom walking is an issue.
As one enters, everything is well signposted and there is a kiosk to pay - we actually reserved entry times which may be worth doing at busy times. To the right of the entrance is an excellent small cafe and tables outside which is great for refreshments either before or after experiencing the gardens.
The gardens themselves are delightfully presented and are, apparently, in the throes of a long term restoration and renovation to reclaim their former glories but don't let that worry you. Everything that you can see is completed and there is plenty of it. We engaged one of the volunteer gardeners who told us a bit of the history and the plans to reclaim all the former areas in due course. What you can see is extremely well kept and the plants are labelled so those, like me, of a less botanical bent know at what they are looking.
There are wonderful views across southern Kent and it pays to walk down to the summer house (just past the washrooms) to get the best vistas. The paths are largely gravel, and one of our party was in a wheelchair. As I mentioned, the garden is on a hillside so there are some slopes to go up and down. It is perfectly doable in a wheelchair, at least the main areas, but it does take some pushing!
All in all a great garden to spend a couple of hours and they have regular displays of sculpture etc. although we were a little early to see this season's exhibits which run June through August I understand. We were there in spring so a great many plants were in flower and delightful they were. Well worth a visit
As one enters, everything is well signposted and there is a kiosk to pay - we actually reserved entry times which may be worth doing at busy times. To the right of the entrance is an excellent small cafe and tables outside which is great for refreshments either before or after experiencing the gardens.
The gardens themselves are delightfully presented and are, apparently, in the throes of a long term restoration and renovation to reclaim their former glories but don't let that worry you. Everything that you can see is completed and there is plenty of it. We engaged one of the volunteer gardeners who told us a bit of the history and the plans to reclaim all the former areas in due course. What you can see is extremely well kept and the plants are labelled so those, like me, of a less botanical bent know at what they are looking.
There are wonderful views across southern Kent and it pays to walk down to the summer house (just past the washrooms) to get the best vistas. The paths are largely gravel, and one of our party was in a wheelchair. As I mentioned, the garden is on a hillside so there are some slopes to go up and down. It is perfectly doable in a wheelchair, at least the main areas, but it does take some pushing!
All in all a great garden to spend a couple of hours and they have regular displays of sculpture etc. although we were a little early to see this season's exhibits which run June through August I understand. We were there in spring so a great many plants were in flower and delightful they were. Well worth a visit
Written 13 May 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you so much for this very lovely and thoughtful review. I am sure lots of potential visitors will find it very helpful! Hope you will be back!
Written 25 June 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Smp/Chp
London, UK224 contributions
Apr 2023
Visited here before, disappointed with this visit. Unable to book in advance so a queue at the entrance, came for the bunny walk, tickets are expensive as pay for adults and children, obviously children can’t do the walk by themselves so price should be for adults only. After walk went to cafeteria, such along time to wait for our order, six members of staff behind counter but only one was actually serving, extremely expensive for all food, best to take a picnic. This was a bunny Easter walk but children received a bag of gummy bears or raisins when completed walk, this was Easter, surely eggs should of been the reward and raisins for those that don’t want chocolate. Most disappointing.
Written 9 April 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review. Very sorry to hear you were disappointed in your visit to us, that is never how we like our visitors to leave.
We made the decision to stop pre booking for this season. It was something we had never done pre-pandemic and was always a temporary measure to manage visitor numbers during that time. The overwhelming feedback from our regular visitors was that they preferred to be able to just turn up and not have to book.
Easter is probably our busiest time of the season and so there will always be a bit of a queue to enter at peak times. We try to manage this the best we can by making sure the Duty Manager is helping our ticket office volunteers to try to make the queue as short as we possibly can, it is difficult as people do tend to arrive around the same sort of time.
Regarding our entry prices, we charge an adult and a lower child price. The charge you are paying is to enter the Gardens. The additional activities that we put on throughout the season, like the Bunny Hunt, are an added extra and we don't charge additionally for these. The charge is really to enjoy our beautiful 12 acres of historic gardens with many different areas to explore.
Our little sweet treat for the children is meant to just be a small token, really the fun part is finding all the bunnies. As we don't charge for our activities we can only offer a small reward.
Our Cafe is run by an external company so I can't really speak too much for them. I know that they have been working extremely hard over Easter to try to keep wait times down but it has been very busy and so a queue is sadly a bit inevitable during peak times. We think their food is very competitively priced for the area but we always do welcome picnics out in the gardens so that our visitors always have a choice whether to use the cafe or not.
Written 14 April 2023
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Minitravellers
1 contribution
Oct 2021
We've been coming to Riverhill for at least the past 7-8 years, since the children were tiny, we absolutely love it, it's our garden away from our garden. However last year it was understandable bringing in the timed slots - we bought our season ticket as usual but didn't get much use out of it as the slots were always fully booked when we wanted to come - part of the joy of Riverhill with a season ticket is that you can just 'pop in' for an hour of fresh air and a run around! I'm disappointed to see that the time slots system has remained, there's no reason for it when there are now no restrictions, and even on very busy days the gardens never feel busy once you're away from the cafe. All other local gardens you don't have to book in advance, so sadly we won't be visiting this year and will opt for Hever or Penshurst membership instead. The prices have also crept up quite a lot in the past couple of years for the size of the gardens and the time open, shame as we've had so many happy times here.
Written 10 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello,
Thanks so much for your feedback. I am really sorry that you have decided not to come back again this Season. You are right, we really do want to create a garden away from your garden and it wasn't our intention to alienate our loyal visitors.
We decided to keep our booking system because we thought that it made for a more relaxing visitor experience. People don't all arrive at 10:30 and we can ensure that on sunny days or Bank Holidays we don't get too full to be comfortable (especially for the car park, cafe, toilets and craft activities).
We have now increased the number of slots per half hour quite considerably so we don't expect to 'sell out' as we did last season. We are also finding that people are booking much later so it is far easier to make a last minute decision to visit now than it was last season (the other thing to bear in mind is that last season there were far less options for people and as a result, as an open air venue, we were incredibly popular).
I have just changed the booking system as well in the hope that it is now quicker and easier to use, especially for Season Ticket Holders, as it is possible to create an account and manage your own bookings.
Regarding price, we decreased our prices during covid, and have increased this season from £7 to £8. Mainly in response to the Vat reduction ending. You mention Penshurst and Hever (both wonderful places). Their family season tickets for Garden only are £85 and £157.15 respectively. So at £80 for 4 people here I think we are competitive and offer good value, with our seasonal programme of craft activities and family events included in the price.
Sorry for the long response, I of course respect your opinion and decision, I just felt that it was worthy of a proper explanation, especially as this is a public forum and this review will be read by many people.
Written 2 April 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Kathryn C
73 contributions
Mar 2022
My family and I enjoyed our visit very much apart from one thing, which really spoilt our experience. We had lunch at the cafe and the service wasn't as great as it should have been. The food was very nice but cold when it arrived (it should have been hot as they came from the grill bar). The waiter said he would bring us cutlery but he never did. Luckily we had travel cutlery with us. We had a long wait for our drinks (2x tea and 2x juices) which arrived after our food was served and the waitress couldn't tell us which was the Earl Grey and which was the English breakfast. I also asked her for some sugar which she said she would bring over but she never bought it over either. We spent nearly £80 on food and drinks and expected better service. The food was also overpriced (£16 for a steak roll and new potatoes and £15 for chicken thighs on flatbread). We will visit the gardens again but will give the cafe a miss and bring our own food in future.
Written 13 March 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hello and thank you so much for your feedback.
I am so sorry, your experience is not what we want for our visitors. The Cafe here is run by an external company so I will be discussing this with them.
I don't want to make excuses for them but they only opened for the season on the 10th of March, with an entirely new team so I think the issues were due to new and inexperienced staff members and teething issues. I feel sure that with more training and working out the best ways to do things this will not happen again as the season progresses. Please be assured that we will be monitoring the situation closely.
I very much hope that you will visit the gardens again.
Written 2 April 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Olly R
Sevenoaks, UK9 contributions
Aug 2022 • Family
River hill is always pleasant to have a walk around and is excellent value for money. Our personal favourites are the maze and the rock garden. The play area is excellent for young children and the cafe is always nice. Likewise the shop sells some decent things for the garden.
I would recommend going when there are some activities on like pumpkin making at Halloween, yeti spotting at the weekend or general art works when they are on. However, the place is always great to visit.
I would recommend going when there are some activities on like pumpkin making at Halloween, yeti spotting at the weekend or general art works when they are on. However, the place is always great to visit.
Written 10 August 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you, this is such a lovely review, really appreciate it.
Can not wait for the pumpkin festival, hope you will be able to come.
Written 24 August 2022
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
How much is it to get in please
Written 1 July 2017
RiverhillGardens
Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
Hi,
You'll find all the ticket prices and opening time information on our website.
Adults £8.25
Senior £7.45
Child £5.95
Family £26
Written 1 July 2017
How close is the cafe from the disabled parking please.
Written 12 April 2017
Hello,
The disabled parking is in front of the house and the cafe is to the left hand side of the house, so not far at all.
We look forward to welcoming you.
Written 12 April 2017
i was just checking for parking and whether i could bring 2 small dogs on leads for walks, is there any outdoor cafe seating for enjoying a cup of tea with my husband and dogs?
Written 25 March 2017
Last time I went, dogs were not permitted.
Written 26 March 2017
Is it possible to take a small well behaved dog on a lead at all times to the Himalayan Gardens?
Written 27 February 2016
RiverhillGardens
Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
Yes, of course! This year, we welcome well behaved dogs on leads throughout the season. We look forward to seeing you!
Written 3 March 2016
Coming to Open air theatre tonight 4 th July. Is it ok to bring a picnic?
Written 4 July 2015
Hi I would like to know what kind of car parking is available and if there is a cost please
Written 18 June 2015
RiverhillGardens
Sevenoaks, United Kingdom
Hello. We have a free car park in our grounds. It's a short walk downhill to the ticket office and the rest of the gardens. We are also able to offer accessible parking - just phone ahead and we'll make sure there's a space available.
Thank you
Written 18 June 2015
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