Dreamy English Gardens

Sandra takes us on a gentle journey through the counties of Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Hampshire.

Oh, to be in England now that April’s there...” The famous lines from Robert Browning’s' Home-Thoughts' are well said. England in late spring is a fragrant floral fiesta. I experienced this first hand on a recent trip to the UK, eagerly exploring a new itinerary for Ross Tours.



My 'spring fling' started on the Opening Day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, followed by Winchester and Tunbridge Wells, two magnificent old cities. Winchester sits on the edge of the South Downs, a rolling chalk downland that stretches from Winchester in Hampshire across to Eastbourne in Sussex, with breathtaking ‘Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ on the doorstep.

Hinton Ampner

Just a fifteen-minute drive from Winchester in Hampshire, lies Hinton Ampner, an elegant country house with a fine garden set in the superb Hampshire countryside with vistas across parkland and the scenic South Downs.



Ralph Dutton, Lord of Sherborne, inherited the estate, designed the gardens and remodelled the house after a devastating fire in 1960. This masterpiece of 20th-century design with a five-hectare garden, unites a formal garden with its restored walled garden, pastel-coloured flower borders and reflection pond, to a sunken garden with clipped topiary and dell. The whole estate, all 1600-acre, is now in the care of the National Trust.

Wakehurst

This wild botanic garden in Sussex is owned by the National Trust, and managed by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. This is another 'Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty' on the High Weald of Sussex. The higher rainfall, moisture retentive soils and range of microclimates, complement the conditions at Kew Gardens in London, and allow the plant collections to be greatly enhanced. It’s a grand garden with colourful herbaceous borders, a series of water gardens, Asian Heath garden, and a fine collection of treesand rare plants.



The gardens are now home to the National Seed Bank which is conserving 10 percent of the world's plant species for the future.

Chartwell

Beautifully situated in the High Weald of Kent lies the much-loved home and garden of Winston Churchill and his wife Clementine, now owned and managed by The National Trust. The walled garden was their creation just after they moved in at the end of First World War. It supplied large quantities of fruit, vegetables and flowers. In 2004, the National Trust restored this garden that had been grassed over due to cost of maintenance, with inspiration from diaries of Winston and Clementine and head gardener Victor Vincent. Records show that Winston built the greater part of the walls himself. He could lay 90 bricks in one hour. Churchill’s son, Randolph gave his parents a collection of golden roses for their golden wedding anniversary. The Golden Rose Avenue was restored in 2016, just coming into flower at the time of my visit.



Vast amounts of earth were dug to create lakes which Winston stocked with rainbow trout. These lakes support a huge wildlife population including dragonflies and butterflies.



Clementine had the cluttered terrace cleared of glasshouses and potting sheds to open the terrace and the home, to the glorious panoramic view of the weald of Kent. Today this view is unchanged, the same vista that inspired Winston to buy Chartwell in 1924.

Hever Castle

Sheltered in the moist fertile valley of the River Eden, lie the castle, gardens and parkland of Hever Castle Estate. An early-20th century garden was conceived on a lavish scale by the first Lord Astor, around the restored and enlarged original Tudor Castle, once the home of Anne Boleyn. This rich history dates back more than 700 years, but much of what we see today is the remarkable effort of William Waldorf Astor, who used his fortune to restore and extend the castle in the early 20th century and build the adjoining Tudor Village (Astor Wing). He also built a magnificent series of gardens and lake between 1904 and 1908 turning marsh land into spectacular gardens. The Italian Garden was designed to display his collection of sculptures.



There is a walled rose garden, herbaceous border, yew maze, water maze, pergola walk, Pompeiian Walled Mediterranean Garden, and Tudor herb garden. The gardens are set in a wider landscape of park and agricultural land of 272-hectares with lakes, grottoes, walks and pond.