The Gertrude Jekyll garden

Arts and Crafts garden designer, writer and artist Gertrude Jekyll created this small walled garden in 1911 alongside Edwin Lutyens: it still creates wonderful colour and scent every year in July and August.

Gertrude's garden

Jekyll was a friend and frequent collaborator of Edwin Lutyens, who'd transformed the Castle into a holiday home: he called Jekyll 'Bumps'. Using the site of a vegetable patch which once provided the soldiers in the Castle with food, Jekyll designed a garden - with a dropped wall on the Castle side - that would flourish into a riot of colour in the summer for Edward Hudson's guests to admire from the Castle. The combination of hardy annuals, colourful perennials and heritage vegetables provide glorious sights and scents in the summer and a leafy, sheltered oasis all year round.
 
Learn more about Gertrude Jekyll
 
Gertrude Jekyll is commemorated in the garden she created
The Jekyll garden centenary plaque
Gertrude Jekyll is commemorated in the garden she created
 

What to look out for throughout the year

The original planting scheme by Gertrude Jekyll was restored by the Trust in 2003. With a geometric layout of paths and beds, the garden is always interesting to look round, but here are some things to look out for:

  • In July and August particularly, the garden is a riot of colour
  • Eight varieties of sweet pea which fill the garden with scent
  • Tall crimson hollyhock give height to the garden
  • Lavatera and chrysanthemum adorn the pathways, laid out by Lutyens
  • In September gladioli and sedum add to the spectacle
  • The annual plants are removed in October but the herbs and veg stay in all year as a habitat for insects
  • The garden is green, sustainable and wildlife friendly

Its a peaceful place to sit and admire the view, and listen to the bees buzzing from bloom to bloom.