HIGHAM PARK OPENING TIMES Page 2 of 2
family home from which to educate and bring up her son, was sadly short—lived.
The Countess, having suffered ill health throughout her life, died in the same
year that she moved to Higham. Count Louis Vorrow Zborowski, at just 16 years of
age inherited great wealth and burning ambition — to follow his late father's
great passion as a racing car driver. During the 1920's, Higham became the
unlikely venue from where the world's most ambitious racing cars were both
conceived and built. The world's first aero—engined racing cars, later
immortalised by Fleming's fantasy film 'Chitty—Chitty—Bang—Bang', were the brain-
child of Count Louis. His well chronicled racing exploits, then typical of the
amateur status of drivers during the early part of this century, were undoubtedly
responsible for attracting the aristocracy to the sport in later years. Count
Louis‘ ‘Racing Green‘, for example, is now universally accepted as the standard
livery for classic British racing cars. The Count died at just 28 years of age,
racing for Mercedes Benz at Monza in Italy. The latest creation from his
workshops, the Higham Special, was passed on to his friend Parry Thomas, who
later took it to the Pendine sands in South Wales where it broke the World speed
record. The car, renamed 'Babs', now has its own museum at Pendine. The Count's
virtually unlimited resources and intrigue for all things mechanical meant that
he could also exercise his passion for speed in other directions. The now famous
Hythe and Dymchurch Narrow Gauge Miniature Railway was originally born at Higham
and originally circled the landscape gardens. With his friend, Captain Howie, the
Green Goddess engine would pull its carriages to such a speed that it would
regularly topple off its track. The Higham Park estate was sold to Sir Walter
Wigham,, a merchant banker and governor of the Bank of England, in 1928. Sir
Walter was married to a French Countess from the Saligoncic Fenelon family. They
changed the name of the estate to Highland Court during the 1930's. It continued
under this name while under the control of the War Office during the Second World
War (1939 — 1945) and during its tenure as part of the Kent and Canterbury
Hospital (1951). This section of the Hospital was closed in 1981. The estate
subsequently fell into disrepair. Under new ownership since 1995 and having
resumed its original name, a painstaking and comprehensive restoration began in
the autumn of that year and continues today.
http://WwW.higham-park.c0.uk/sx()10001.htm 24/()2/2003
~
I