To the northwest of Sevenoaks nestled on the southerly slopes of the Kent North Downs, sits the village and civil parish of Chevening in Kent. This rural locale is small and largely undeveloped; proliferated by rolling grasslands and the occasional large country manor-house. A majority of the local development stems from the grand country estate known as Chevening House, which dates back over 800 years! Known for its quaintness and diminutive size, the property market in Chevening is incredibly slim with limited developments.

Unlike many place-names of the region that stem from Anglo-Saxon words; Chevening’s origins are slightly different. The stem, ‘cevn’, actually comes from a primitive form of Welsh, meaning ‘ridge’! This is interesting as although Celtic was spokenly widely across England before the Saxons and the Normans - the proliferation of Celtic Welsh decreased substantially over a short period of time - so its unusual to have an English place name with a Welsh prefix!

Much of the developed history of Chevening comes from the 17th century Chevening House - a large country manor-house designed by famed architect Inigo Jones. It was built between 1613 and 1630, and is the ancestral home of the aristocratic Stanhope family. Although built in the 17th century, evidence suggests there was a property on the side dated back to 1119! The Stanhopes were known particularly for their patronage to architecture and arts throughout England. In 1983, the Chevening Scholarship was born - an international scholarship scheme funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, aimed at producing international leaders. It was named after Chevening House because of the Stanhope’s legacy of patronage to the arts and sciences!

Chevening is an incredibly small parish, being only 6.5 miles in length and 1 mile in width. Therefore, scope for development in the region is incredibly limited - limited also by the conservation belt that sits around the village. The Sevenoaks District Council has not alloted any provisions for the construction of either residential, commercial, or infrastructural development within the Chevening locale.