Future Events

Click here to book any of our future events online using a credit or debit card. If you have any questions or comments about our events, please contact us.

Ruins, Reformation and Restoration – 28th June 2018 at 10:30

Location: Outside Quills cafe, 30 High Sreet, Rochester

Cost: £35.00, Members £30.00 (including a light lunch at Restoration House and a booklet on Restoration House)

Book online. There are currently 9 places available for this event.

A walking tour of some of the gardens of the City of Rochester

The City of Rochester is known for its cathedral and castle but few people realise it has a wealth of green spaces, many with a long history. Join us for a morning walk to see the public historic gardens Esplanade and Castle Grounds followed by a short guided tour of the Cathedral-owned Cloister Garth and King’s Orchard. From there we stroll through the Vines to Restoration House.

Restoration House is one of the jewels in Rochester’s crown. Dating substantially from the 16th and 17th centuries it is particularly remembered for Charles II staying the night there in 1660 on his way to London for his restoration to the throne. It has always been assumed that a Tudor garden existed at Restoration House. Little is known about the garden’s later development until the 1866 ordnance survey map showing a mature compartmentalised garden. Having fallen into decline in the 20th century the present owners have been restoring the gardens as well as the house. Each area of the enclosed walled garden reflects various stages of its history. The ambitious next stage is now in progress to incorporate a magnificent Renaissance-style water garden and an orchard.

We will have a full guided tour of the house by the owner followed by lunch and will then be free
to explore the garden.

KGT contact: Terri Zbyszewska - tzbyszewska@yahoo.co.uk

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Walmer Castle and Gardens – 5th July 2018 at 10:30

Location: Walmer Castle

Cost: £40.00, Members £35.00 (including tea and coffee on arrival and lunch. English Heritage members will receive a £10 discount - follow instructions when booking online)

Book online. There is currently 1 place available for this event.

Join us for a private guided tour of Walmer Castle gardens by the Head Gardener who will introduce us to the historic and beautiful mix of formal and informal planting and grand scale herbaceous borders which have developed following the evolution of the castle from a coastal fortress to a rural retreat and family home. Many of the gardens are the result of efforts by past Lord Wardens such as William Pitt and his niece, Lady Hester Stanhope. In the 1790s, the Broadwalk Garden with its 80 metre herbaceous border was created by Lord Granville and his wife in 1865 and, more recently, the Queen Mother Garden was created in her honour by Penelope Hobhouse and opened in 1997.

The kitchen garden with its extensive glasshouses has provided fruit and vegetables for the garrison and inhabitants of the castle since 1725. The gardens contain roses, an extensive yew cloud hedge, beautiful planting schemes and many specimen trees planted by past Lord Wardens including William Pitt, the Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mother.

After lunch, visit the castle at leisure. A fortress built by Henry VIII, the castle saw action only once in 1648 during the Civil War. By the end of the 17th century, it had became the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and is filled with paintings and furniture collected by each in turn. The Duke of Wellington died at Walmer in 1852 and is commemorated by a wonderful exhibition of extensive memorabilia.

KGT contact: Alison Philip - alison@thephilips.co.uk

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Colour in the Marshes – 19th July 2018 at 10:30

Location: Church Farm, Warehorne, TN26 2LP, then 2.30pm at Boldshaves, TN26 3RA

Cost: £30.00, Members £25.00 (including tea and coffee at Warehorne and tea at Boldshaves but exclusive of lunch - suggest either The Woolsack in Warehorne or the Six Bells in Woodchurch)

Book online. There are currently 6 places available for this event.

Church Farm, Warehorne and Boldshaves, Woodchurch

The garden at Church Farm is the creation of Elizabeth Doyle and her husband John, the distinguished artist. Seldom open to the public, this small and exquisite ‘painterly’ garden takes colour mixing and combinations to a new level, and far beyond the dreams of Gertrude Jekyll (admittedly she worked with a palette offering a far more restricted range of plants than we all have today)! It is a feast for the eyes. Incidentally, KGT organised a visit here in 2014 and we had a record numbers of delighted visitors.

In the afternoon we visit Boldshaves, with a garden largely created during the last 20 years by Peregrine Massey who will be showing us around. South facing and partly terraced, there is a walled garden featuring semi-hardy and southern hemisphere plants, a Camellia dell, a red border as well as a “flame” bed, an Italian garden, a vegetable garden, and herb gardens featuring both culinary and medicinal herbs. Ancient woodland surrounds the house and garden.

KGT contact: Richard Stileman - richstileman@btinternet.com

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Hidden Gardens of the City of London – 15th September 2018 at 10:30

Location: 10.30 outside the Museum of London, main entrance (coffee in the museum available from 10am). Nearest underground stations: St Paul's or Barbican

Cost: £55.00, Members £50.00 (including a meze lunch near St Paul's)

This event is fully booked, but you may register on the waiting list in case places become available.There are currently 2 people on the waiting list for this event.

When many of the narrow streets of the pre-war city were destroyed in the Blitz, The City Corporation decided to take the opportunity of creating “breathing spaces”. Now in the most unexpected places, nestling in old churchyards and between the glass edifices of the 21st century city are a range of small, but beautifully landscaped and planted gardens. Amongst those we will see are a physic garden dedicated to the Elizabethan herbalist John Gerard, a newly landscaped nectar-rich garden in a bombed out church and a wild-flower garden nestling in the ruins of the Roman city wall.

In the afternoon, we will start off by seeing a few of the new gardens around St Paul's, and then – hopefully – visit the Skygarden on the 35-38 floors of the infamous ‘walkie talkie’ building in Fenchurch Street. (Note - we can only obtain tickets – which are free - on the Monday before our visit so we cannot make a promise). If we are unsuccessful with getting entrance to the Skygarden, we will extend the afternoon tour with a visit to the new riverside plantings. The day will conclude at Monument.

Our guide throughout the day will be the inestimable blue badge guide, Diana Kelsey, who led some of
us on a marvellously revealing visit to the Olympic Park last year.

KGT contact: Richard Stileman - richstileman@btinternet.com

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Repton Study Day at Cobham Hall – 22nd October 2018 at 10:00

Location: Cobham Hall, Cobham, Gravesend, Kent DA12 3BL

Cost: £50.00, Members £45.00 (including coffee on arrival, lunch at the Gilt Hall, and tea. Sussex Gardens Trust members will receive the same discount as Kent Gardens Trust members - follow the instructions when booking online)

Book online. There are currently 68 places available for this event.

Humphry Repton was commissioned by the Earl of Darnley in 1790 to advise on improvements to the grounds of Cobham Hall and he continued to work there for 25 years. He was proud of his achievements at Cobham, writing “the house is no longer a huge pile standing naked in a vast grazing ground…. its walls are enriched with roses and jasmines on every side.… all around is neatness, elegance and comfort.”

The day features a keynote talk from Repton scholar Professor Stephen Daniels, author of Humphry Repton and the Art of Landscape, who will show that Repton believed landscape gardening was one of the arts: a new kind of art at the bright beginning of his career, and one of the lost arts at the end. He will survey the repertoire of Repton’s artistic vision in relation to the wider culture of the period, including that of theatre and architectural design. He will also look at other commissions in south-east England, as well as his work with John Nash and his son John Adey Repton.

Other speakers will include members of the Friends of Cobham Hall Heritage Trust, and individuals who have been involved with the restoration of the garden.

After lunch, there will be a guided tour of the grounds with the option of visiting the Mausoleum designed by James Wyatt in 1783-4.

KGT contact: Elizabeth Cairns - Elizabeth@knowlehillfarm.co.uk

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