Mount Ephraim gardens

Mount Ephraim has been home to the Dawes Family for over 300 years. The present gardens were laid out in the early 1900s, but after wartime neglect were substantially restored by Mary and Bill Dawes from the early 1950s. In total the Estate amounts to 800 acres, the gardens taking up 10 acres.The Dawes family have been associated with Mount Ephraim since the 1650s. A branch of the Northumberland family came to Kent and built a small, elegant house in the early 1700s, acquiring small parcels of land at the same time. In 1880 Sir Edwyn Dawes returned from India with sufficient wealth to entirely rebuild and enlarge the house in a rather stark brick and stucco style, adding various wings over the years, and employing Italian craftsmen to create the marble entrance hall and other embellishments. 1,000 acres of land were also added to the estate at this time. William Charles Dawes succeeded in 1903 and he entirely remodelled the garden in a more formal Edwardian, French style with terracing, balustrades, rose gardens, yew hedges and topiary. A large rock garden was made at this time, reputedly by Waterer in 1912. All the stone was hauled by steam tractor from a ragstone quarry at Maidstone. The Japanese style was much in vogue then, and the rock garden incorporates lanterns, cascades and a stone bridge near the lake. Ornamental conifers were extensively planted at this time.