The Front Garden

Kipling avoided any embellishment of the Front Garden.  The ageing beauty of the house is echoed in the garden paths made of ‘Sussex Marble: sedimentary muds laid down millions of years ago under tropical seas and containing fossilised shells.

The ironstone slab by the front door is there ‘to keep the witches out’.  

On the lawn to the right sits a Manna Ash (Fraxinus ornus), and to the left of the house is a bed of the delicious pink Rosa ‘Maiden’s Blush’. 

Other plants of interest include several climbing roses: Rosa ‘Goldfinch’ and Rosa ‘Ena Harkness’, clematis and the climber Actinidia Kolomikta, originally from the mountains of the Far East, with leaves that turn white and pink in the sun and small flowers smelling of Lily of the Valley.

Also against the wall is an old pear tree thought to have been planted by Kipling. 

Standing by the small iron gate in the Front Garden, you can glimpse the Donkey Field and Quarry Garden, which can be accessed via the Entrance Drive or by taking a pleasant stroll from Park Mill along the lane which borders the garden.