12 Best Sights in The Southeast, England

Art and life mixed at Charleston, the property that Vanessa Bell—sister of Virginia Woolf—bought in 1916 and fancifully decorated, along with Duncan Grant (who lived here until 1978). The house, which is more farmhouse than grand country manor and lies 6 miles east of Lewes, became a refuge for the writers and artists of the Bloomsbury Group. On display are colorful ceramics and textiles of the Omega Workshop—in which Bell and Grant participated—and paintings by Picasso and Renoir, as well as by Bell and Grant themselves. Entry to the house is by guided tour; you can buy tickets when you arrive or book in advance online. There are also art exhibition spaces to explore and a nice little walled garden. Come in May for the annual Charleston Festival, which attracts big-name writers and artists from all over the world. The house isn't suitable for those with mobility issues, although reduced-price ground-floor-only tickets are available. In 2023, Charleston opened Charleston in Lewes, an exhibition gallery and cultural center on Southover Road in Lewes.

This wonderful, higgledy-piggledy, timber-framed medieval manor house looks like something out of a fairy tale. Even its name is a bit of an enigma—"Ightham" is pronounced "Item" (we can't quite figure that out either) and "Mote" doesn't refer to the kind of moat you get in a castle, but an old English word for meeting place. Perhaps it's also fitting, then, that finding the place takes careful navigation down tiny, winding country lanes, and then even to reach the front door you must first cross a narrow stone bridge over the moat (yes, it has one of those, too). But it's all worth the effort to see a fanciful vision right out of the Middle Ages.

Built nearly 700 years ago, Ightham's magical exterior has hardly changed since the 14th century, but within you'll find that it encompasses styles of several periods, from Tudor to Victorian. The Great Hall, the Tudor chapel, and the drawing room are all highlights of the main property. Nearby is the smaller but equally pretty Laundry Hall, home to a second-hand bookshop and exhibition, as well as shaded woodland walks (awash with bluebells in spring), a pretty pond, and a natural play area for little ones. Ightham Mote is six miles north of Tonbridge on the A227.

The pleasant but workaday town of Sevenoaks, seven miles northwest of Tonbridge, lies in London's commuter belt, a world away from the baronial air of its premier attraction: Knole, the grand, beloved estate of the Sackville family since the 16th century.

Begun in the 1400s and enlarged in 1603 by Thomas Sackville, Knole's sprawling complex of courtyards and outbuildings resembles a small town. In fact, with more that 300 rooms, 51 chimneys (count them!), and a total footprint covering five acres—the equivalent to almost four football fields—it's England's largest house. Factor in the supremely stroll-worthy (and free-roaming deer-filled) 1,000-acre park surrounding the property, and you'll need at least an afternoon to explore Knole thoroughly.

The house is noted for its wonderful tapestries, embroidered furnishings, and an extraordinary set of 17th-century silver furniture. Most of the salons are in the pre-baroque model, rather dark and armorial. The magnificently florid staircase was a novelty in its Elizabethan heyday. Vita Sackville-West grew up here and used it as the setting for her novel The Edwardians, a witty account of life among the gilded set.

Also on the property is the Conservation Studio, which showcases the work that the National Trust does at Knole and other local properties (you can also see the conservators in action), as well as the beautiful private garden, though this is only open on rare occasions.

In contrast to the property itself, the entrance is surprisingly low-key; look for the signposted track opposite St. Nicholas Church.

This 16th-century house, a fragile-looking, timber-frame building, was part of Anne of Cleves's divorce settlement from Henry VIII—although she never lived in it. Today, it offers a fascinating slice of high-class Tudor life, with well-preserved interiors including a kitchen, parlor, and a large bedroom divided into a Great Chamber with an antique four-poster bed and a smaller Hall Chamber. There's also the main hall (now the reception area and shop), a charming little Tudor garden, gallery spaces displaying collections of Sussex ironwork and pottery, and a room full of medieval dress-up clothes for kids. To get to the house from Lewes Castle and the High Street, walk down the steep, cobbled Keere Street past lovely Grange Gardens, then hang a right onto Southover High Street.

A grand Victorian mansion with a pond-dotted estate offering views over the surrounding countryside, Chartwell was the beloved private home of Sir Winston Churchill from 1924 until his death in 1965. Virtually everything has been kept as it was when he lived here, with his pictures, books, photos, and maps. There's even a half-smoked cigar that the World War II prime minister never finished. Churchill was an amateur artist, and his paintings show a softer side of the stiff-upper-lipped statesman; outdoor art trails show his work displayed at the points where he likely sat to paint them. Admission to the house is by timed ticket available only the day of your visit. To get here from Hever, head north on the B2027 and follow signs. Be sure to explore the rose gardens and take a walk in the surrounding countryside.

This house was originally the home of Mary Pearson Strong, on whom Dickens based the character of Betsey Trotwood, David Copperfield's aunt. Dickens lived here from 1837 to 1839 while writing The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. Some rooms have been decorated to look as they would have in Dickens's day, and there's a reconstruction of Miss Trotwood's room as described by Dickens. The house is in Broadstairs, 16 miles up the coast from Deal.

There's something about Lamb House, an early-18th-century dwelling in the heart of Rye, that attracts writers. The novelist Henry James lived here from 1898 to 1916, while E. F. Benson, onetime mayor of Rye and author of the witty Mapp and Lucia novels (written in the 1920s and 1930s), was a later resident. The ground-floor rooms contain some of James's furniture and personal belongings.

Of particular interest to Bloomsbury Group fans, this property 3½ miles south of Lewes was the home of novelist Virginia Woolf and her husband, writer Leonard Woolf, who bought it in 1919. Leonard lived here until his death in 1969. Rooms in the small cottage include Virginia's study and her bedroom. Artists Vanessa Bell (Virginia's sister) and Duncan Grant helped decorate the house. Prebooking online is essential. 

At the center of the adorable hamlet of Penshurst stands this fine medieval manor house, hidden behind tall trees and walls. Although it has a 14th-century hall, Penshurst is mainly Elizabethan and has been the family home of the Sidneys since 1552. The most famous Sidney is the Elizabethan poet Sir Philip, author of Arcadia. The Baron's Hall, topped with a chestnut roof, is the oldest and one of the grandest halls to survive from the early Middle Ages. Family portraits, furniture, tapestries, and armor help tell the story of the house, which was first inhabited in 1341 by Sir John de Pulteney, the very wealthy four-time London mayor. There's also a Victorian kitchen exhibit. On the grounds are a toy museum, a gift shop, and the enchanting 11-acre walled Italian Garden, which displays tulips and daffodils in spring and roses in summer. Take time to study the village's late-15th-century half-timber structures adorned with soaring brick chimneys. To get here from Hever, take the B2027 east and follow signs to Penshurst.

Located 13 miles northeast of Chichester (en route to Guildford), Petworth is one of the National Trust's greatest treasures. The imposing 17th-century home of Lord and Lady Egremont, it holds an outstanding collection of English paintings by Gainsborough, Reynolds, and van Dyck. There are also 19 oil paintings by J. M. W. Turner, the great proponent of romanticism who often visited Petworth and immortalized it in luminous drawings.

A 13th-century chapel is all that remains of the original manor house. Other highlights include Greek and Roman sculpture and Grinling Gibbons wood carvings, such as those in the spectacular Carved Room. Six rooms in the servants' quarters, among them the old kitchen, are also open to the public. The celebrated landscape architect Capability Brown (1716–83) added a pleasure garden and a 700-acre deer park; today, it has the largest herd of fallow deer in England.

This gorgeous, cream-yellow Regency mansion, built in 1824, contains impressive collections of fine French furniture, Chinese porcelain, and Dutch and Italian paintings from the early part of the 20th century. Edwardian society hostess Margaret Greville was responsible for the lavish interiors—including the extraordinary, slightly over-the-top gold saloon—which have been enjoyed by everyone from British royalty to Indian maharajas; the future King George VI stayed here for part of his honeymoon in 1923. On summer days you can wander its vast landscaped lawns (you can even rent croquet equipment from the house) and walled garden. The house is in Great Bookham, 10 miles east of Guildford.

A well-preserved family country house dating from the 1890s and set in a beautiful hillside garden, Standen typifies the Arts and Crafts movement. Designed by the influential architect Philip Webb (1831–1913), it contains a wealth of William Morris carpets, wallpapers, fabrics, and even original electric-light fittings. Look out for the particularly beautiful mother-of-pearl cabinet. The house is 2 miles south of East Grinstead.