Port Lympne, at

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...

, Kent is an early 20th-century country house built for

Sir Philip Sassoon Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, (4 December 1888 – 3 June 1939) was a British politician, art collector, and socialite, entertaining many celebrity guests at his homes, Port Lympne Mansion, Kent, and Trent Park, North Lond ...

Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

and

Philip Tilden Philip Tilden (31 May 1887 – 25 February 1956) was an English architect, active in the early twentieth century, who worked for some of the most prominent members of English society, including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George, Lord Beaverb ...

. Completed after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Following Sassoon's death in 1939 it was bequeathed with its contents, including cars and planes, to Hannah Gubbay, his cousin. It was abandoned after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1973, it was purchased by John Aspinall as part of an expansion of his

Port Lympne Zoo Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe in Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon. The estate with an Edward ...

. The house is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

as of 29 December 1966.

History

Philip Sassoon Sir Philip Albert Gustave David Sassoon, 3rd Baronet, (4 December 1888 – 3 June 1939) was a British politician, art collector, and socialite, entertaining many celebrity guests at his homes, Port Lympne Mansion, Kent, and Trent Park, North Lond ...

, 3rd Baronet, GBE, CMG, purchased the estate in 1913 with the proceeds of the sale of his parents' home ( Aline Caroline de Rothschild and Edward Albert Sassoon),

Shorncliffe Lodge Shorncliffe Lodge in Sandgate, Kent, was a well appointed weekend house that belonged to Edward Albert Sassoon and Aline Caroline de Rothschild. It was sold in 1912 by Philip Sassoon to fund the purchase of land on which he built Port Lympne Man ...

, in Sandgate, Kent." The family is a scion of a family of wealthy Iraqi merchants.

The mansion

As the MP for

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

commissioned

Sir Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He wa ...

to design the house in the

Cape Dutch architecture Cape Dutch architecture is an architectural style found mostly in the Western Cape of South Africa, but modern examples of the style have also been exported as far afield as Western Australia and New Zealand, typically on wine estates. The styl ...

style. It was built for him around 1913/4 "on a superb site looking across Romney Marsh to the sea." Originally named Belcaire, it was renamed Port Lympne after the

, echoing

Portus Lemanis Portus Lemanis, also known as Lemanae, was the Latin name of a Roman Saxon Shore fort, settlement and port in southern Kent. The modern village of Lympne derives its name from the ancient port. History The first documentary mention of the site is ...

, a Roman port that was situated nearby. When work recommenced after the end of the War, Sassoon employed

, who also worked for Sassoon's political friends and colleagues,

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

and

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. "Tilden's job was to enlarge Port Lympne and to make it, in his words, "no more of the modest weekend home, but rather the epitome of all things conductive to luxurious relaxation after the strenuousness of war. It was to be a challenge to the world, telling people that a new culture had risen up from the sick-bed of the old, with new aspirations, eyes upon a new aspect, mind turned to a new burst of imagination." Tilden's additions and alterations during the early 1920s included doorcases, the east forecourt, the terraces, and the amazing external staircase leading to the pool. Internally the ground floor of the passageway, from east to west is decorated with patterned black and white marble in varying concentric curves with a

barrel-vaulted A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ceiling. The staircase is flanked by blue marble columns and pink on the first floor. The iron balustrade to the stairs was copied from the principal stair at

Caroline Park Caroline Park is a 17th-century mansion in the Granton, Edinburgh, Granton area of Edinburgh. It was constructed between 1683 and 1696 for George Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Cromartie, Sir George Mackenzie, 1st Viscount Tarbat, and his wife Anna. I ...

, Scotland. Sir

thought it a moderate house, yet it had 4 reception rooms, 2 libraries, 13 principal bedrooms, eight bathrooms as well as 17 staff bedrooms with a further 5 bathrooms. Although complete before the

the grand finishing touches, particularly the grounds were executed after 1918 under the guidance of Philip Tilden.

The grounds

The Italian style terraced garden was designed and executed under the guidance of

, these works started after 1918. Tilden added a bachelor's wing with Moorish courtyard, which Lady Honor Channon, (wife of

Henry Channon Sir Henry Channon (7 March 1897 – 7 October 1958), often known as Chips Channon, was an American-born British Conservative politician, author and diarist. Channon moved to England in 1920 and became strongly anti-American, feeling that Amer ...

), unkindly described as a Spanish brothel to accommodate young airmen from nearby

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...

flying field – among his other enthusiasms, Sir Philip was himself an aviator – and Tilden's twin swimming pools and monumentally classical garden staircase, a grand flight of steps, crowned with temples (letter removed), led up the cliff at the side of the house were in much the same theatrical spirit. Philip Sassoon thought highly enough of Tilden to recommend him to Churchill to work on his country house

Chartwell Chartwell is a country house near Westerham, Kent, in South East England. For over forty years it was the home of Winston Churchill. He bought the property in September 1922 and lived there until shortly before his death in January 1965. In th ...

in Kent. Cut out of the old sea cliffs there are 15.5 acres of gardens.

William Bainbridge Reynolds William Bainbridge Reynolds (London, 6 March 1855 – Brighton, 31 March 1935) was a British art metal worker and an architect who was active from 1870 to 1932. Reynolds was born in the Duke of York's Royal Military School, Chelsea, where his fath ...

, who had designed the metal work for the

Law Courts A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

, undertook all of the wrought-ironwork in and around the mansion . The garden planting was designed by

Norah Lindsay Norah Mary Madeleine Lindsay (née Bourke) (26 April 1873 – 20 June 1948) was a socialite garden designer who between the World wars became a major influence on garden design and planting in the United Kingdom and on the Continent. Biography ...

, who recreated the feel of Italy by setting herbaceous plants against the dark background created by the terraced hedges. Norah also advised Philip on his

Trent Park Trent Park is an English country house, together with its former extensive grounds, in north London. The original great house and a number of statues and other structures located within the grounds (such as the Orangery) are Grade II listed b ...

garden, which was thirteen miles from the center of London in

New Barnet New Barnet is a neighbourhood on the north east side of the London Borough of Barnet. It is a largely residential North London suburb located east of Chipping Barnet, west of Cockfosters, south of the village of Monken Hadley and north of Oaklei ...

. When John Aspinall (zoo owner) purchased the house in 1973 he began a ten-year renovation project. The great border which is 135 yards in all was dug over twice by hand and piled with 200 tons of Elephant dung and were redesigned and replanted with 2,500 herbs and shrubs with the advice of

Russell Page Montague Russell Page (1 November 1906 – 4 January 1985) was a British gardener, garden designer and landscape architect. He worked in the UK, western Europe and the United States of America. Biography Montague Russell Page was born in Lin ...

. The water used for the gardens comes from natural springs. A ram system pumps the water 300 ft. up to a storage reservoir holding approximately 15,000 gallons. Three hydraulic rams work together, driven entirely by water pressure. The system is designed to ensure there is natural fresh water for the gardens throughout the summer, even during a long drought. The main drive to the mansion was from the east gate (opposite Otterpool Lane) so visitors could enjoy views towards the Romney Marsh.

Artists commissioned to work in and around the house

Rex Whistler Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (24 June 190518 July 1944) was a British artist, who painted murals and society portraits, and designed theatrical costumes. He was killed in action in Normandy in World War II. Whistler was the brother of poet and ...

decorated the Tent Room, which is still painted in the 1920s. "Rex now hit on the right treatment. He would turn the room (the dining-room had a central door at each end and windows on one side only, also a barrel-vaulted ceiling of complex curves) into a blue-and-white striped tent. It would seem to have been put up between two doorcases of stone and be looked into by windows at the back. These would have real curtains of the same stripes, exactly matching the painted material stretched in wrinkled ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' across the curvy ceiling." "On the main wall real tent poles (half round) should be topped with real cords, bows, and tassels of gold braid Every chance of a trick should be taken, in this game between the real and the imagined." "Also he would lift the whole room, or tent, as it to the first-floor level of the pictured scene outside, so that we look down between the tent poles on a town with several favorite buildings – a Palladian Bridge, A

Stowe Stowe may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village **Stowe House **Stowe School * Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish * Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire * Stowe, Linc ...

pavilion,

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

. There are no spiders, there being no children, but there are several quiet jokes. The lady's country house, far off, is

Faringdon Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Rid ...

, and the little boy waiting for the

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

has a coroneted B on his trunk, for

Berners Berners is an English family name deriving from Hugh de Berners (Hugo de Bernières, from Bernières-d'Ailly, Normandy), who came with the Norman invasion in 1066. The name may refer to: * Juliana Berners (born c.1388), English nun and writer on ...

, the eternal schoolboy. M. Stulik, the proprietor, stands at the door of "

La Tour Eiffel The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed "'' ...

", where Rex and his friends often dined. It is all another metaphor for the ideal: an urban version of a golden age, and mostly very English, with here a very Roman church and procession, and there a canal that shoots away to outpace even Le Notre. Ideal worlds can afford to mix metaphors". "At last Rex braced himself to ask £800 for painting the entire room". *

Glyn Philpot Glyn Warren Philpot (5 October 188416 December 1937) was a British painter and sculptor, best known for his portraits of contemporary figures such as Siegfried Sassoon and Vladimir Rosing. Early life Philpot was born in Clapham, London, but ...

who undertook a series of friezes which are still on show within the house now *

Josep Maria Sert Josep Maria Sert i Badia (; Barcelona, 21 December 1874 – 27 November 1945, buried in the Vic Cathedral) was a Spanish People, Spanish muralist, the son of an affluent textile industry family, and friend of Salvador Dalí. He was particularly ...

-a Catalan artist who not only designed sets for

Serge Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪˈrɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), usually referred to outside Russia as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, pat ...

for the

Ballets Russes The Ballets Russes () was an itinerant ballet company begun in Paris that performed between 1909 and 1929 throughout Europe and on tours to North and South America. The company never performed in Russia, where the Revolution disrupted society. A ...

(Russian Ballet) but also decorated the

Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultz ...

in New York, and, in 1930, the

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

to replace murals by

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

- decorated the first room on the left in 1914–15. The drawing room painting was entitled an "Allegory of War in moss-brown and gold", with a frescoed ceiling and "elephants trampling the chimney-piece and the German eagle violently defeathered". Sert's murals were in due course painted out. "They had, however, served as an appropriate backdrop to the discussions which preceded the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

." The room is now decorated with murals by

Arthur Spencer Roberts Arthur Spencer Roberts (8 January 1920 – October 1997) was a British painter interested mainly in animal and wildlife subjects, but who also produced portraits and paintings of military scenes. His largest work was a mural for the Manor House ...

commissioned by John Aspinall. Josep Maria Sert also decorated the ballroom at No. 25

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from May ...

turning it into a desert oasis. Sir Philip Sassoon's Park Lane Ballroom is now at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona. * The mosaic work is probably all by Miss

Gertrude Martin Gertrude Martin (1911 – February 1952) became one of an elite group of women master mosaicists. Family Born to George Martin, a retired insurance brokers clerk, and his wife, Harriett. She was baptized at St Peter's Church, Dulwich, on 18 J ...

"she recently did a couple of small niches in a house for Sir Philip Sassoon. She prefers to do her work on the spot, rather than in the modern way of making the mosaic in cement and then putting it into position". Mosaics remain in the two niches either side of the two front doors, in Philip's bathroom on the ground floor and in two of the upstairs bathrooms. Her work can also be seen in Belfast Cathedral, the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

and in

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

. *

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

Howard Coster Howard Sydney Musgrave Coster (27 April 1885 – 17 November 1959) was a British photographer, opening a London studio in 1926. He was a self-styled 'Photographer of Men'. Collections After a childhood in the Isle of Wight, he was introduced t ...

a British photographer.

Visitors to the house

August was the month for entertaining. Visitors to the house included the actors

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 – 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...

. Royalty Edward, Prince of Wales and

Mrs Simpson Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (born Bessie Wallis Warfield, later Simpson; June 19, 1896 – April 24, 1986), was an American socialite and wife of the former King Edward VIII. Their intention to marry and her status as a divorcée caused a ...

, the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

Lord Louis Mountbatten Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

Lord Rocksavage George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley (; 19 May 1883 – 16 September 1968), styled Earl of Rocksavage from birth until 1923, was a British peer. He was the Lord Great Chamberlain of England in 1936 and also between ...

, who was married to

Sybil Sassoon Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley (born Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile Sassoon; 30 January 1894 – 26 December 1989), styled Countess of Rocksavage from 1913 to 1923, was a British socialite, patron of the arts, ...

, Philip's sister and a Romanian aristocrat, Princess

Marthe Bibesco Princess Martha Bibescu (Martha Lucia; ''née'' Lahovary; 28 January 1886 – 28 November 1973) also known outside of Romania as Marthe Bibesco, was a celebrated Romanian-French writer, socialite, style icon and political hostess. She spent her c ...

, a prolific author of novels and memoirs; another novelist, Alice Dudeney;

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, and

Osbert Sitwell Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and li ...

Giles Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...

, a British writer and critic; Sir

Harold Nicolson Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, diplomat, historian, biographer, diarist, novelist, lecturer, journalist, broadcaster, and gardener. His wife was the writer Vita Sackville-West. Early lif ...

KCVO CMG, an English diplomat, author, diarist and politician along with the writers

Vita Sackville-West Victoria Mary, Lady Nicolson, CH (née Sackville-West; 9 March 1892 – 2 June 1962), usually known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and garden designer. Sackville-West was a successful novelist, poet and journalist, as wel ...

;

Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes Marie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes (née Belloc; 5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), who wrote as Marie Belloc Lowndes, was a prolific English novelist, and sister of author Hilaire Belloc. Active from 1898 until her death, she had a li ...

and

Maurice Baring Maurice Baring (27 April 1874 – 14 December 1945) was an English man of letters, known as a dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist, and also as a travel writer and war correspondent, with particular knowledge of Russia. During Wo ...

. Politicians included

Sir Douglas Haig Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (; 19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War, he commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front from late 1915 until ...

Sir Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

and his wife

Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...

Prime Minister Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

and

Alexandre Millerand Alexandre Millerand (; – ) was a French politician. He was Prime Minister of France from 20 January to 23 September 1920 and President of France from 23 September 1920 to 11 June 1924. His participation in Waldeck-Rousseau's cabinet at the sta ...

; Then there were sports personalities which included

Georges Carpentier Georges Carpentier (; 12 January 1894 – 28 October 1975) was a French boxer, actor and World War I pilot. He fought mainly as a light heavyweight and heavyweight in a career lasting from 1908 to 1926. Nicknamed the "Orchid Man", he stood and hi ...

, a French boxer and the composer

Ethel Smyth Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended t ...

, Philip's old teacher from

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

Other owners/ occupiers of the mansion

* On the death of Sir

the mansion passed to his cousin Hannah Gubbay. * In 1942 the house was commandeered by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, the Free Czech Troops "wreaked havoc on that fastidious connoisseur's 'Rothschild-Levantine' decorations and totally destroyed the famous elephant paintings by Sert in the drawing room which were the finest example of 1920s Parisian decorative art in England" installed by Philip Sassoon. * In 1946 the mansion was purchased by Colonel Waite and Mrs Waite. *

John Aspinall (zoo owner) John Victor Aspinall (11 June 1926 – 29 June 2000) was an English zoo and casino owner. From upper class beginnings he used gambling to move to the centre of British high society in the 1960s. He was born in Delhi during the British Raj, and ...

saw Port Lympne Mansion on a cold morning in 1973. "I fell under its strange spell. Here was a house, a park and a garden that had 'died' suddenly at the outbreak of war in 1939. For thirty-five years the estate had fallen into limbo. Since the end of the war no one had lived in the mansion and the once famous gardens which used to employ fourteen full-time gardeners were in the sole care of a part-time OAP. Fortunately about half of the interiors of the house had survived the wartime influx of Czech pilots and the 'alterations of subsequent owners. We embarked on a 10-year program to restore the house and gardens, and have nearly completed this. In an age that rejects quality and style we intend to guard both – always bearing in mind the taste and discernment of Port Lympne's progenitor Sir

. We would rather work slowly and well, using skilled craftsmen and artisans, than complete in a hurry just to attract large numbers of visitors prematurely".Port Lympne pamphlet * The Aspinall Foundation has sympathetically, and with the consent of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

, converted the

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building (only 5.5% of listed buildings are Grade II*) Mansion into a hotel to help raise funds for the conservation and preservation of wild animals which takes place within Port Lympne Reserve and its sister park

Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) in the parish of Bekesbourne, near Canterbury in Kent, was established as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall. In 1962, the House known as Howletts was being restored. A small cottage ...

. The hotel opened on 13 June 2014, with all of the four bedrooms and two suites named after the visitors to the mansion, those who created it and of course Sir

Other properties

Philip Sassoon's other homes included

and 25 Park Lane (London) and for many years he was the

Speyside Speyside can refer to: * Speyside, Ontario, a settlement in Ontario * Strathspey, Scotland, the famous whisky producing region by the River Spey ** Speyside single malts, the type of whisky produced in Strathspey * Speyside, Trinidad and Tobago ...

tenant of the Seafield Estates.

Notes

Bibliography

* Stansky, Peter. Sassoon. The worlds of Philip and Sybil. PUBLISHER: Yalebooks. . * Clive Aslet. The Last Country Houses (1982) PUBLISHER: Yale University Press New Haven and London * Norah Lindsay: the life and art of a garden designer PUBLISHER: Francis Lincoln * The Lost Mansions of Mayfair by Oliver Bradbury. PUBLISHER: Historical Publications * Churchill & Chartwell: The Untold Story of Churchill's Houses and Gardens (Google eBook) * Lush and Luxurious: The Life and Work of Philip Tilden 1887–1956 by James Bettley. PUBLISHER: Royal Institute of British Architects * The Laughter and the Urn: The Life of Rex Whistler by Laurence Whistler. PUBLISHER: Weidenfeld Paperbacks * Ettie: The Intimate Life And Dauntless Spirit Of Lady Desborough by Richard Davenport-Hines *''Country Life'', 53 (19 May 1923), pp 678–84; 66 (19 October 1929), pp 513–17; 72 (10 September 1932), pp 285–7; 79 (14 March 1936), pp 276–82 * The Sassoons by Standley Jackson William. PUBLISHER: Heinemann Ltd * In Search of Rex Whistler: His Life and His Work by Mirabel Cecil and Hugh Cecil. PUBLISHER: Francis Lincoln * Tony's war:the life and times of a WW2 Typhoon pilot, by Britta von Zweigbergk. pp 164 9781843862918. PUBLISHER: Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie (2007) {{coord, 51.07565, N, 0.99958, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Country houses in Kent Grade II* listed houses Grade II* listed buildings in Kent Herbert Baker buildings and structures Philip Tilden buildings