Explore the garden at Coventry Charterhouse
Come and enjoy the walled garden here at Coventry Charterhouse, with 1.7 acres of beautifully landscaped formal gardens to discover.
Sat behind the impressive building and enclosed by sandstone walls, sits the kitchen and ornamental garden here at Coventry Charterhouse.
The garden has been laid out to show various garden styles through the ages and visitors can enjoy a peaceful place to rest, take the opportunity to enjoy a pocket of nature within a bustling city and take in views back to the house.
History of the gardens
When the original monastery was built in the fourteenth century, each monk had a self-contained cell within the walled garden. The monastery was mostly self-sufficient and also contained an orchard, a mill, and fishponds. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, Charterhouse remained in private hands for centuries, and in the 1700s the grounds were leased by John Whittingham, who ran an extensive commercial garden nursery. It became one of the largest in the region, supplying trees and exotic plants to notable places, including Warwick Castle.
In the mid nineteenth century the Wyley family took over the horticultural operations at Charterhouse and lived here for nearly 100 years. The Wyley family were pharmacists in the city and it’s clear that medicinal plants were grown here.
In the 1960’s Margaret Rylatt MBE undertook the archaeological excavations on the cells and together with the local community planted six gardens, one for each century and these gardens still exist in some form today.
Recent work in the gardens
There are a small team of staff and volunteers who care for the gardens and are gradually breathing new life into the beds and borders of this once neglected space.
Step through the doorway in the old stone wall, stroll across the expanse of lawn and drifts of perennial plants, traditional herb beds, old apple trees and edibles in raised beds all wait to be discovered.
‘The seasons shift around the heart of the garden, and that heart is Charterhouse. Its solid presence is a reassuring and calming backdrop to the weekly hive of activity as we endeavour to create surroundings that befit such a historic place.’ - Garden Volunteer, Jo Roberts.
In 2022 around 150 bare root saplings including, hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn and rowan were planted to create hedgerows which have become a place where wildlife has thrived. The beautiful flowers have attracted birds, bees and butterflies during the spring and summer months.
Next to the children’s play area a circle of blossom trees were planted by Historic Coventry Trust, the National Trust and the local community to encourage people to come together and experience the natural world through the creation of green space.