London to Knole House: Private day trip

Main attractions

• The house itself — a late medieval and Jacobean palace of ragstone set within a 1,000-acre deer park — provided the labyrinthine interior world of Fennell's film; its sheer scale and atmospheric accumulation of centuries made it the only credible choice for a house that functions almost as a character in its own right
• The state rooms preserve one of the most important collections of original 17th-century furniture in existence — the King's Bedroom, the Venetian Ambassador's Room and the Brown Gallery are among the finest interiors in National Trust ownership
• The Cartoon Gallery contains a set of copies of Raphael's Vatican cartoons commissioned by Charles I — painted on the wall-length canvases that give the long gallery its extraordinary atmosphere
• The deer park surrounding the house is freely accessible year-round — 350 acres of ancient parkland with a herd of wild fallow and sika deer, unchanged in character since the medieval period

Things to do

• Walk the deer park perimeter for the exterior views of the house that appear in the film — the approach from the park gives the full sense of Knole's mass and age that no interior shot can convey
• The National Trust shop and café occupy the stable buildings within the outer courtyard — a good stop before or after the house tour

What to eat

• The Brew House Café within the stable courtyard serves good lunches and cakes; the town of Sevenoaks is a five-minute drive with a wider range of restaurants and cafés if you want a full sit-down meal