When it comes to self sufficiency, we’re leading the way at many of our kitchen gardens. From keeping rare breed chickens to growing organic Georgian prickly cucumbers, the fully working kitchen gardens on our estates are great places to witness the ‘plot to plate’ revolution. What’s more, some of the sustainable and seasonal produce grown in our kitchen gardens is used in the delicious dishes made fresh in our cafés every day.
Based on planting found in the Victorian period, the walled garden features fruit trees, vegetable plots and herbaceous borders. There are three active vegetable beds and one resting bed to allow for crop rotation.
Our small cherry orchard features seven trees and our more extensive apple orchards include 47 varieties of old English apples. In autumn, the trees droop under the weight of the fruit and our garden team is kept busy supporting the heaviest branches with wooden stakes. In winter the trees are pruned to keep their shape and help with production, so you might want to read the pole saw reviews in 2020.
The shelter from the walls creates the perfect microclimate that allows our gardeners to grow soft fruit successfully. Trained against the sunniest wall are apricot and fig and in a sheltered corner are pear trees, a quince and an old traditional English damson plum, the Aylesbury prune.