THE 2023 FAMILY QUIZ

Congratulations on completing our tricky little quiz! We hope you enjoyed learning more about our Gardens. It’s time to see how well you did….Answers are below in bold.

Good luck!

Where in the Gardens would you find a …….

 Angel.     Wood Garden (sculpture)

 Weather vane. On top of the cafe

 Very large and very smooth white pebble viewpoint

 Garden spade belonging to JT Rogers

In the potager (vegetable) beds on the top level of the Walled Garden. John Thornton Rogers was the first generation of Rogers children to grow up at Riverhill. He lived here in the late 1800’s and fought in the Crimea. He returned with an acorn which he planted in the Old Orchard, resulting in the lovely Turkey Oak which is still standing today.

 12 Stone urns in a row The Tennis Lawn

The Walled Garden

The Himalayan Hut at the top of the Walled Garden is made from a cedar tree that fell in the Gardens in the storm of 1987 and traditional Kentish hop poles. What are hops traditionally used to make?

Beer

 What ancient Walled Garden Tree takes its name from a sideways walking crustatean and a popular fruit snack?

 Crab apple tree

Neyop is an anagram of what beautiful flower that grows in the bottom border of the Walled Garden?

 Peony

Complete this quote from Charles Darwin ‘……

 A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life’.

The first John Rogers, who purchased Riverhill in 1840 was a friend of Charles Darwin and a keen botanist and horticulturalist, he was one of the first members of the Royal Horticultural Society.

 Add the number of Silver Birch Trees to the number of Apple Trees in the Walled Garden. What do you have?

14 (8 silver birch and 6 apple trees)

 The Rose Walk

 At one end of the Rose Walk there is an ancient fruit tree, it is over 170 years old and is still bearing fruit. Look closely at the growing fruit (please don’t pick any!) and tell us what it is.

 Fig Tree. The fruits ripen in Autumn. Figs are technically ‘false fruits’ because their flowers are contained within the fruit itself, these tiny flowers eventually become seeds (the crunchy bits when you eat a dried fig)

 Riddle me this: A sundial has the least moving parts of any time piece. Which has the most?

 An hour glass (millions of grains of sand inside)

One of our Roses is named after a very rare occurrence. What is it called?

 Blue Moon

How many tortoises can you spot along the tortoise walk?

 4

The Rock Garden

 The Rock Garden was first created in 1907. How many tons of stone do you estimate were moved here?

 A)200 tons  b) 5 tons   c) 70 tons

The stone was moved from Penshurst using a horse and cart over a period of 3 months – no easy undertaking!

 What plant species are the British Pteridological Society interested in?

 Ferns. We are very lucky to have had the support and advice of this great society, they have even given us rare fern specimens for the Rock Garden.

Old Orchard

 ‘Raced’ is an anagram of which tree in the Old Orchard?

 Cedar

 Our Wellingtonia in the Old Orchard has nothing on examples found in America, the oldest known tree is 3,500 years old and 94.8m tall. But what do Americans call this type of tree?

 Sequoia or Washingtonia

Terraces and Summer House

 We now use this lawn for marquee weddings. It has previously been used for Pekinese dog racing but what more traditional sport was in originally used for? 

Tennis (and croquet). It is the only flat lawn at Riverhill.

Which plants form the main hedge below the lawn?

Yew. This hedge was allowed to grow so high that it obscured the view from the house. In 2009 it was cut back to hedge height as the symbolic start of the plan of action suggested by Ruth Watson in Country House Rescue, the TV program that started the rejuvenation of Riverhill and the Gardens that you see today.

Woodland Walk, Viewpoint & Maze

 There are ‘residents’ in the NE corner of the viewpoint field.  What are they?

Bees. They are looked after by Thomas, our Beekeeper. We very much hope that we will have our own Riverhill Honey for sale in our shop this season. The bees only arrived last year but they are thriving, and Thomas has had to split their colonies already to make them more space.

 Our viewpoint is called Little Everest. You would find the real Everest in the Himalayas. Can you list the 5 countries that border the mountain range?

 China, Tibet, Pakistan, Butan, India

As you walk through our Chestnut Woods you will see 8 different wooden creatures along the pathways. Can you list them all?

 Dog, yeti, owl, mouse, hedgehog, rabbit, badger, squirrel

 Riddle me this: The more of it there is in a forest the less you can see. What is it?

Darkness

 We have our own resident yeti here. What is another name for a yeti?

The Abominable Snowman