Knole has been shown off to visitors for the past 500 years. Thirteen show rooms remain much as they were in the 18th century, when they were laid out to impress visitors with the Sackvilles' wealth. The birthplace and childhood home of Vita Sackville-West, who went on to create the gardens at Sissinghurst, Knole was also the setting for Virgina Woolf's novel Orlando. The house includes world-renowned Stuart furniture, important paintings and the prototype of the famous Knole settee. Knole is set at the heart of the only remaining medieval deer park in Kent (sika and fallow deer roam freely).