Wild deer herd at Knole

Please don't feed the deer

Deer will eat whatever food they are offered by park visitors (including fruit and vegetables). This is not part of their natural diet and will be harmful to them. They will associate humans with food and pester visitors. The deer are wild and powerful animals. They become aggressive when pestering for food. 

The natural plant life at Knole provides more than enough nutrients for the deer, and as well as grazing on acorns, conkers and sweet chestnuts during winter months, their natural diet is supplemented.

Take litter home

It is equally important to pick up your litter so that the deer do not chew or ingest it, which may fatally harm them. An increase in visitors and picnics has led to a rise in litter being left around the park. Please take your litter home for disposal.

What to do if a deer approaches you

Sometimes it’s hard to avoid contact as many of the deer will happily approach people in the hope of food, but this is chiefly as a result of becoming used to humans getting too close to them. If a deer does approach you, ignore it and move away from the area. So, to all you deer lovers out there, please, please do not feed these beautiful creatures. 

Safety advice for dog walkers

Please keep your dog on a lead at all times whilst in the park. Just like a herd of cows, the deer in the park are wild, unpredictable animals that roam freely and can feel threatened by dogs. Unfortunately, the deer have been fatally attacked by dogs off lead in the park. 

Tick bites and Lyme disease

All woodlands and parks can attract ticks. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans by infected ticks, which feed on the blood of birds and mammals, including humans. If you touch or feed the deer you could increase your chances of being bitten by a tick.

To familiarise yourself with symptoms and things you can do to prevent tick bites, visit the NHS website

About the deer

Did you know there have been deer at Knole for over 500 years? Knole’s medieval deer park is the last of its kind in Kent. The park was created in 1456 when Archbishop Bourchier first enclosed the area with a fence to make a park for deer hunting. Fallow deer have freely roamed the parkland ever since. 

If you want to learn about the herd, come along to a deer keeping session or guided walk that take place regularly throughout the year. There are plenty of opportunities to get involved and ask questions. Please visit the ‘what’s on’ section on our home page for full details.  

The deer in autumn

Autumn has arrived and the deer rut has started.

Knole Estate's deer keeper, Dom, explains: 'This is the time of year when the deer start rutting and competing for the does in the herd. The strongest visual sign that the rut is about to start is when the bucks make and hold their rutting stands. This involves scraping a small area of ground which they will then mark as their own by urinating in it and rolling around to release their scent.' The biggest bucks will hold a hareem of 20 to 30 does and other bucks will try to steal does from another hareem - this is when the fighting happens.

When the deer are holding their stands they don’t want people near them. Please remember to always view the deer from a distance. This is especially important during the rut.