Businessman Arthur Harper Bond (1853–1940) described how he had wished to "do something in the way of applying scientific principles to fruit-growing" and met a man who offered "his" property at Swanley as its base.
Bond bought it from Reed as "the only way to extricate myself from a difficult position and save my pet scheme from extinction".
The college's lecture theatre was the saloon designed by Reed for SS Bessemer, which had been built to swing on gimbals in an attempt to relieve sea-sickness at the request of Henry Bessemer: Reed had installed it as a billiards room adjacent to the main house.
The college was hit by Luftwaffe bombs on 1 March 1944, causing considerable damage to Hextable House.
[6] The college's botany laboratory building is now used as a local heritage centre,[7][8] and the gardens form a public park.