This estate was the property of the Tyrwhitt-Drake family, the only son Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake inherited the Cobtree estate after his father passed away in the early nineteen hundreds.

Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake, a well-travelled and colourful character, was 12 times Mayor of Maidstone. He established a small zoo in the grounds, and achieved importance as a circus and zoo proprietor. He was also known for his business enterprises and public works. He was an excentric man and it is believed that he had a fascination for the Zebra. He therefore painted black and white stripes on a donkey so he could admire it from his manor.

Older locals can still remember the grounds from the 1940s and 50s, and some of its buildings can still be found in Cobtree Manor Park, on the far side of the motorway. Sandling Farm once boasted a sand pit, a riverside wharf and a loam pit, which was let to the nearby Aylesford Pottery.

The Cobtree Estate was set up as a charitable trust in 1951. After Sir Garrard Tyrwhitt-Drake sadly died in 1964, childless, his estate was bequeathed to the people of Maidstone. In 1983 Maidstone Borough Council and Kent County Council decided to develop the 28 acres that were once Sandling farm as a Museum, which opened to the public on the 6th July 1985. The once 461 acre estate now comprises of a Museum, a country park and a golf course. The Museum of Kent Life is a working heritage farm which encompasses everything once Kentish. It's buildings depict a wealth of history and changes throughout the centuries of Kent life.