Great Maytham Hall December 2003 the Country Houses Association announced that it was closing down its residential business and selling the eight Grade I and II listed buildings it owned. The walled garden of Great Maytham Hall provided the inspiration for one of the most famous of all books for children, "The Secret Garden". Its author, Frances Hodgson Burnett, lived at Great Maytham Hall from 1898 to 1907, where she found the old walled garden dating from 1721 sadly overgrown and neglected. Aided by a robin, Burnett discovered the door hidden amongst the ivy, and began the restoration of the garden, which she
Frances Hodgson Burnett incorporated into British copyright law in 1911. In response to a second incident of pirating her material into a dramatic piece, she wrote "The Real Little Lord Fauntleroy", which was produced on stage in London and on Broadway. The play went on to make her as much money as the book. In 1887 Burnett traveled to England for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, which became the first of yearly transatlantic trips from the United States to England. Accompanied by her sons, she visited tourist attractions such as Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London. In her rented rooms she continued the Tuesday