Do you have a child with a surprising and sudden passion for history? Helen Geraghty and daughters headed for Penshurst Place, where those terrible Tudors danced, ate and had a jolly good time.

The Kentish Weald was still back-to-back forest when Queen Elizabeth I was kicking up her heels at Penshurst Place. The home of the Sidney family – one-time supporters of Henry VIII – the grand country estate was always pleased to receive the Virgin Queen’s visits.

Sir Robert Sidney wrote of these happy times: “The women did dance before her highness, while the cornets did salute from the gallery, and she did vouchsafe to eat two morsels of rich comfit cake and drank a small cordial from a golden cup”.

Thanks to the national curriculum, Tudor times are now big news with your average nine-year-old, and the Penshurst Place of today is a handy and welcome way for Kent parents to drop their little ones slap bang into the middle of this time of aristocratic plenty and excess.

And while you may be more likely to be drinking leftover Fruit Shoot than a small cordial from a golden cup, you couldn’t be closer to some real Tudor history here.

My daughters, nine and 12, loved the painting in the grand state dining room which showed the twinkle toes of Elizabeth I twirling high in the air dancing her favourite dance, La Volta, with the Earl of Leicester. The picture, artist unknown, is thought to have possibly been painted in the room in which it now hangs.

Youngsters will also like the painting of Welsh heiress, Barbara Gamage, who married one of the Sidney family in 1582 and is pictured with her six children. All of them, even the boys, are dressed in skirts, as only the over-sevens would have worn breeches. One, young William, died in childhood, and the grief the family felt at the loss is painfully recorded in other paintings here too.

In Tudor times landowners were expected to hold a store or arms and armour ready to serve their monarch and highly-decorated examples of these can still be seen in the Nether Gallery. Look out and tremble to imagine the damage that could be done with a halberd, a type of pole with a spike on top and an axe head.

Just as heavy rain stopped, we stepped outside into the suddenly sunlit 11-acre walled gardens, which have records dating back to 1346 and are reckoned to be a superb example of formal Elizabethan garden design.

The wet late spring has done wonders for the roses here. There’s a blood red Dublin Bay rose on an ancient brick wall and a bright pink Queen Elizabeth rose, named after our own queen and first launched to mark her coronation.

But the host of yellow roses were our own favourites, with yellows from lemon to custard and all smelling of old ladies’ hand cream.

We found bright blue dragonflies, doing what dragonflies do in June, in a little pond with a statue.

And we marvelled at the precision of pink and white water lilies, as always, looking like they had been immaculately turned out in a water lily factory.

There’s an ambitious adventure playground here, with picnic tables and an ice cream kiosk. Close to the main house is a lovely large restaurant, with plenty of space, a good choice of nosh and some outstandingly sparky and fun staff that made lunch easy and cheerful.

On the way, out, Tiffany, nine, picked up a Tudor activity and game pack which I hadn’t realised was nearly £4, but later redeemed itself, by turning out to contain a reproduction Elizabeth I coin – she still thinks it’s real – a pink feather quill pen and a Tudor game with little glass stones and large colouring-in sheets of Tudor royals, which kept her going for three days.

While we’re talking about hard cash, its £9.80 for an adult to get in and £6.20 for a child, but cheaper if you’re not going into the house itself. There’s a £26 family ticket, again, cheaper if not going inside.

Value for money? It’s not an exact science, but yes, on balance I reckon it is. And most importantly, do be sure to take the children.

Don't miss...

Look out for the stunning new take on a double herbaceous border, designed by Chelsea gold medal winner George Carter and named the Jubilee Walk, to mark the 60th anniversary of the coronation.

Speaking as Royal Horticultural Society President Elizabeth Banks opened the Jubilee Walk earlier this month, the designer said: “By dividing the border up into colour themed sections and by adding more evergreen structure planting we hope we have given this long admired part of the garden a new lease of life.”

The project took head gardener Cory Furness and his dedicated team of five gardeners three years to pull together.

The double border is now divided into 10 distinct bays, each separated by a grassed area with a stone bench from which visitors can admire the view. Each bay will have a different colour scheme, graduating from red through to blue and progressing to cooler hues in the distance.

Viscount De L’Isle, owner of Penshurst Place said: “We believe this development will excite our visitors and brings more interest and colour throughout the season.”

Penshurst Place today

After Penshurst Place suffered damage during the Second World War, a direct descendant of the original Sidney family, William Sidney, who later became 1st Viscount De L’Isle, inherited and moved into Penshurst Place with his family in 1946 and brought the house and gardens back to their former glory.

Today, the current owner is his son, Philip Sidney, 2nd Viscount De L’Isle, who looks after the property with his wife Isobel and their two grown up children, Philip and Sophia.

Several well known films have been shot on location at Penshurst Place including The Other Boleyn Girl and The Princess Bride.

Penshurst Place and Gardens is at Penshurst, near Tonbridge, TN11 8DG. For more information see www.penshurstplace.com