When I was first consulted, at SUNDRIDGE PARK, by Mr. Lind, the former possessor, the house, which has since been pulled down, stood on the south side of the valley; and those who knew the spot despaired of finding a situation for a house, on the opposite side of the valley, that the rooms might have a southern aspect, as the bank was too steep to admit of any building. My much respected friend, the present possessor, was aware of this circumstance, and by art we have produced a situation which nature denied. The earth was lowered thirty feet perpendicularly, at the spot on which the house was built, and so disposed at the foot of the hill that no trace of artificial management is now to be discovered*.
*[The house, and the hill on which it stands, are exactly in due proportion to each other; and the former is so fitted to the situation and views which it commands, that I regret having shared with another the reputation of designing and adapting this very singular house to circumstances which cannot well be explained but upon the spot; having given a drawing and description of the scene to Mr. Angus, in justice to his work, I will not insert any view of this house; but its distance is so short from the capital, that, like many others, my best reference will be to the place itself. In thus referring to places improved under my direction, it is not to be supposed that they are at all times accessible to idle curiosity; but the same good taste, and the same liberality of sentiment, which induce a proprietor to consult the professor of an art, will naturally operate in favour of scientific inquiry.]
[Repton was employed on the grounds and John Nash on the architecture. Sir Claude Scott purchased the Sundridge Park Estate in 1796 from Edward George Lind. Sundridge is one mile North East of Bromley Town Centre and is now surrounded by Sundridge golf course. Rosemary Verey replanted the Mansion's grounds in the mid 1980s and it was offered for sale in 2007 for £8.5m. TT]
