A Little Curiosity
During a summer drought at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent, the lake level dropped enough to reveal a sword that had been lying on the bottom for around 200 years. Nobody knows how it got there. What animal is depicted on the sword's hilt? Answer at the end.
THE ONE TO SEE
Pendennis Castle, Falmouth
Photo source: Darren Shilson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Henry VIII built Pendennis in the 1540s as part of a chain of coastal forts designed to stop a French or Spanish invasion that never came. It did see action in the Civil War, holding out for five months in 1646 before finally surrendering, one of the last Royalist garrisons in England to fall. English Heritage has now announced £2.3 million of upgrades to the site, so if you want to see it before the works change the experience, now is the time. The castle sits on a headland above Falmouth harbour with views across the Carrick Roads estuary, and it is one of those places where the setting does as much work as the history.
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Four Worth the Drive
Penshurst Place, Kent
Illustration by Land & Legacy
Penshurst Place has been lived in continuously since 1341, which makes most stately homes look like recent builds. On 12 and 13 September, the house is running a Tudor Re-enactment Weekend, with characters from 1528 walking the grounds and demonstrating what daily life in the house actually looked like when the Sidney family first moved in. It is the kind of event that works well if you go with the right attitude, and the medieval Baron's Hall alone is worth the trip.
Plan your drive → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
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Gainsborough's House, Sudbury
Photo source: Oxyman, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
Gainsborough was born in this house in Sudbury in 1727, and it is now the only museum in the world dedicated to him. The current exhibition brings together works by Gainsborough, Turner, and Constable, including pieces that have not been on public display for decades. Turner's watercolour of Abergavenny Bridge and Gainsborough's Landscape with Cattle are both in the show. For a small Suffolk market town, this is a serious exhibition.
Plan your drive → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
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Scampston Hall, North Yorkshire
Photo source: John Robinson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Walled Garden at Scampston was designed by Piet Oudolf, the Dutch plantsman behind the High Line in New York, and it is one of the most interesting modern gardens in the north of England. On Sunday 13 September, the hall is running its Autumn Plant Fair, with independent nurseries, garden stalls, talks from the garden team, and live music. September is a good moment to visit anyway. The perennial planting is at its late-season peak, and a plant fair gives you a reason to come away with something.
Plan your drive → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
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Wallington Hall, Northumberland
Photo source: Glen Bowman from Newcastle, England, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Wallington is the kind of National Trust property that rewards repeat visits because there is always something you missed. The central hall, roofed over in the 1850s, is lined with Pre-Raphaelite murals depicting scenes from Northumbrian history, and the staircase that has been getting attention recently is genuinely worth seeking out. The estate covers 13,000 acres of farmland and moorland, so you can make a full day of it without going near the house at all. It is about 12 miles west of Morpeth, a reasonable drive from Newcastle.
Plan your drive → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
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Hidden Gem
Kenwood House, Hampstead
Photo source: TheFrog001, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kenwood sits on the northern edge of Hampstead Heath and most Londoners have never been inside it, which is a genuine waste. The house was remodelled by Robert Adam in the 1760s for the Earl of Mansfield, and his library is one of the finest Adam interiors in the country, all pale blue and cream with a curved ceiling and mirrored recesses. The collection includes a Rembrandt self-portrait and a Vermeer. Entry is free. It is a 20-minute walk from Hampstead tube, and if you come on a summer evening there are sometimes free outdoor concerts on the lawn beside the lake.
Plan your visit → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
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As Seen on Screen
Historic Environment Scotland in Outlander: Blood of My Blood
Photo source: McPhail, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Outlander: Blood of My Blood, the 2025 prequel series, filmed at multiple Historic Environment Scotland sites including Falkland Palace, Linlithgow Palace, Culross Palace, and Blackness Castle. Scottish castles and abbeys have a habit of doing their own acting, and seeing a familiar site through a production lens sharpens what you notice when you are standing in front of it. Historic Environment Scotland has details on which sites featured and how to visit them.
Plan your visit → and see which other heritage sites are along the route
Discover More → on the Historic Environment Scotland website
Coming Up…
Free Entry to Welsh Heritage Sites in September
This September, nineteen Cadw monuments including Strata Florida Abbey and Harlech Castle are opening free of charge as part of a wider campaign across hundreds of Welsh heritage sites. Strata Florida is one of the great lost abbeys of Wales, a Cistercian house that was the cultural centre of medieval Welsh life and is now a quiet ruin in a river valley in Ceredigion. Free entry removes the last reason not to go. Check the Cadw website for the full list of participating sites and dates.
Brookwood Cemetery Heritage Open Day
Brookwood Cemetery in Woking is the largest cemetery in the UK and one of the most architecturally significant, with mausoleums ranging from Egyptian Revival to Arts and Crafts. For Heritage Open Days in September, the cemetery is opening its historic mausoleums to the public, including structures that are normally locked. It is free, it is unlike most heritage days out, and the Victorian funerary architecture is worth the trip on its own.
Heritage Open Days, Exeter
Heritage Open Days run across England in September, and Exeter's programme includes National Trust-managed sites that are normally closed to the public or charge admission. This year's access is free. Exeter has more Roman, medieval, and Georgian fabric than most cities its size, and the Heritage Open Days programme is the best way to get inside buildings that are usually locked. Check the Heritage Open Days website for the Exeter listings and specific dates.
Worth Knowing
Heritage Open Days
Heritage Open Days runs 11-20 September across England. Thousands of buildings and sites open for free that are usually closed or ticketed. Private homes, working buildings, places that rarely appear in any guidebook. Events range from guided walks to after-hours openings. Search by location at heritageopendays.org.uk.
Land & Legacy
What's new this week
Your visit history now syncs across devices. Log a visit on your phone at the property, and it appears on your desktop when you get home, with all the detail you recorded.
A few other updates live this week:
The account page now shows your full visit journal, with everything you logged: enjoyment, companions, cost, notes, and whether you'd recommend it
You can now edit the cost on a previous visit, which feeds into the membership savings tracker
New sign-up page at landandlegacy.uk/join if you haven't registered yet
A Little Curiosity: The Answer
A lion with a ring through its nose. The gilded brass hilt is one of the few parts of the sword still in reasonable condition after two centuries in the lake. The blade itself is heavily corroded and too fragile to handle without gloves.
That's it for this week. If you're heading to Wales in September, build a day around Strata Florida. It is in a valley near Pontrhydfendigaid and there is almost never anyone else there. Take the free entry and make an afternoon of it.
About Us
Rob & Ali
We are Rob and Ali, two heritage enthusiasts who got tired of spending more time researching days out than actually enjoying them. Land & Legacy is our answer: a curated guide to the heritage experiences worth your time.
We are building something bigger behind the scenes, but for now this newsletter is our way of sharing what we find.
Hit reply if you have got a place we should know about.
Until next time,
Remembering the places that matter.