Living in Sevenoaks

01

Knole Park, on your doorstep

Few towns have anything like it. Knole Park is a deer park of around 1,000 acres right on the edge of the town centre, home to around 800 deer.

It centres on Knole House, cared for by the National Trust, and the park is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Early mornings are the time to go: mist in the valleys, long views across the Weald and the deer moving between the trees. The great storm of 1987 took most of its trees, and the park you walk through today has grown back since.

“Around 1,000 acres of deer park, a ten-minute walk from the High Street.”

02

The Vine, one of the oldest cricket grounds in the world

Cricket has been played on The Vine since at least 1734, when Kent played Sussex here.

The ground was given to the town in 1773 by the 3rd Duke of Dorset, and the pavilion, built in 1850, is Grade II listed. Today it is the town’s green: summer cricket, the bandstand, and The Vine Gardens next door with their bridge, pond and pergola walk. It is one of the quieter places to sit in town, a few minutes from the shops.

03

London in about half an hour

The fastest trains from Sevenoaks reach London Charing Cross in about 34 minutes. A typical journey takes around 52.

That is why so many people move here from London: you keep a realistic commute but come home to green space, good schools and a town with a real centre. The old fingerpost by the fountain still points the way: London, 24 miles. For every local station and where it goes, see our Getting to London guide.

04

A town with a proper High Street

Stone, brick and timber buildings line the Upper High Street, with independent shops, cafés and period details on every corner.

The town keeps evolving. Tesco and Oliver Bonas are taking the new shop units at Chandlers Place on the High Street, and the council’s plans for the land east of the High Street include a new leisure centre. Look up as you walk: the columned porch of the Grand Royal Oak is one of our favourite doorways in Kent.

05

The villages around it

Part of the appeal is choice. Within a few miles you can live in the town or in a village with its own character.

Chipstead, with its lake and painted village sign. Chevening, set against the North Downs. Riverhead, Otford, Kemsing, Seal and Sevenoaks Weald, each with its own pace and price point. Our Area Guide covers them one by one, and weekends on the water at the nearby lakes are only a short drive away.

06

What’s changing

Sevenoaks District’s new Local Plan, for 2027 to 2042, is heading for examination by a Government inspector in 2027.

It has to plan for around 17,460 new homes across the district, and it will shape where they go for the next 15 years. Closer to home, restoration of Bradbourne Lakes is getting under way. We follow it all every week in our Property & Planning Hub, in plain English.

Sources: Knole Park facts from Geograph (DS Pugh, 2026) and the National Trust; The Vine history from Wikipedia’s Vine Cricket Ground article; train times from Southeastern; town and planning news from Sevenoaks District Council and Sevenoaks Online, October 2026. All photographs taken in Sevenoaks by Oak & Acre.