The Estate was purchased in 1924 by Percy Harvey, the developer of a number of other high-class estates in Sussex and Surrey, to create an exceptional Estate set in a rural domain.
His aim was to retain the natural features of the area; the Spanish chestnuts, the ancient yew tree and 18th-century barns in Woodland Rise; the row of “Waterloo limes" in Wildernesse Avenue and the ancient oak tree in Parkfield as well as the heavily wooded area on the western part of the Estate. The Estate roads used the existing entrances to Wildernesse House. The old farm tracks in the case of Parkfield and the western end Woodland Rise were kept narrow with grass verges and hedges to preserve this rural idyll.
The Estate was divided into large building plots, which were then purchased either by other builders to develop, or by individuals. The owners included many professions, business people and families returning from working in British colonies (who generally preferred to build the smaller houses they were used to abroad).
To achieve the development of a high-quality residential estate, Percy Harvey sought the involvement of a number of prominent architects of the day. The most famous of these was the ‘Arts and Crafts’ architect M.H.Baillie Scott, who, together with other ‘Arts and Crafts’ architects of his acquaintance, designed a number of the earliest houses on the Estate. A minimum cost of construction was specified for each house on the Estate to prevent the type of bungalow development to be seen further north in Kent.
Up until 1994, Sevenoaks Council was only aware of 6 houses on the Estate designed by Baillie Scott, including Kent Cottage on the western side of Seal Hollow Road. Subsequent research has shown that there were many more Baillie Scott designed houses on the Estate and in the Sevenoaks area. Many of the houses on the Estate, including all the Baillie Scott houses, were built by the leading Kentish builders G.E.Wallis. They also bought a number of plots, and a member of the family, D.L.Wallis, married Baillie Scott's daughter.
Baillie Scott designed houses of a traditional English nature, but with spacious and well-planned interiors suitable for modern life. Many of his designs were taken from indigenous older houses in the area, having large chimneys, steeply pitched roofs with old peg tiles, local handmade bricks, inglenook fireplaces and a wealth of oak joinery, so familiar in Kentish farmhouses. He felt that much of the 1920s building style was of a “ready-made" nature with little regard for the occupants. He said:
“A study of all buildings, and especially the kind of all buildings one finds in our villages, suggests that it is not only better than any modern building, but has some essential differences from it which sets it as a thing apart. The difference largely consists in the character of the workmanship which, like hand writing, conveys personality, instead of being a lifeless mechanical formula."
There has recently been a renewed interest in the designs and ideals of the ‘Arts and Crafts’ movement and its proponents, including Baillie Scott. Many newspaper articles and books have been written about him, and his houses are now being restored and listed. These include Blackwell on Lake Windermere in Cumbria, which is open to the public and been featured on television, and Whyteladies in Wildernesse Avenue, which is Grade 2 listed.
In his book, M.H.Baillie Scott and the Arts and Crafts Movement, James D.Kornwolf stated:
“Most of the [Baillie Scott and his partner Beresford] houses were built within commuting distance of London, especially in the surrounding counties…. At Sevenoaks in Kent and Esher and Walton-on-Thames, there are several dozen houses, mainly small but nonetheless set in spacious, well landscaped, wooded and secluded sites in private estates. Whyteladies at Sevenoaks, built in 1928, is a fairly typical example of those in that district. Hedges and woodland hide the cottage from the road and its neighbours. (The estate) was developed with due regard to local conditions and traditions."