History, Magic and Mystery at Groombridge Place

Although they pre-date Miss Jekyll by 200 years, nowhere echoes her sentiments more than the formal gardens at Groombridge Place.

June is one of the most beautiful months in the sheltered gardens, which nestle inside the walls alongside the medieval moat. They were designed in 1674 by diarist and horticulturist John Evelyn and are still laid out in the same style today.

During the winter the gardens were extensively revitalised to ensure constant colour and scent throughout the summer. New plants have been added and colour-themed beds improved, particularly Paradise Walk, which has been planted with drifts of highly scented yellow lilies.

One of the stars of the show in June is what must be one of the tallest wisterias in the country. It clings to the wall alongside the moat and then clambers to the top of a Scots Pine, soaring 60ft into the sky. The perfume on a sunny day is breathtaking.

June is the month when the White Rose Garden is at its peak, with its tranquil and fragrant mix of white and silver plants.

June is the month when the White Rose Garden is at its peak, with its tranquil and fragrant mix of white and silver plants.

In complete contrast is the Oriental Garden, with its display of hot colours. Dahlias, Crocosmias, Salvias, Heleniums and Kniphophias crowd the beds, while brightly coloured roses and clematis climb the walls of the garden. In the centre is a small oriental fountain surrounded by ancient Japanese Acers, and a highly unusual grass fountain, based on the 17th-century design.

The Drunken Garden, with its crazily topiaried junipers, was a favourite of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used the estate as the setting for his 1915 Sherlock Holmes mystery The Valley of Fear, renaming it Birlstone Manor.

In the book he described the Drunken Garden as: “… the curious old-world garden which flanked the house. Rows of very ancient yew trees cut into strange designs girded it round. Inside was a beautiful stretch of lawn with an old sundial in the middle, the whole effect so soothing and restful that it was welcome to my somewhat jangled nerves.”

There is a fine example of a Knot Garden presided over by a pair of unusual ivy-covered wicker sculptures watching the moat flow past. At this time of year, the herbaceous borders are a tapestry of country garden flowers.

For those who like gardens with a difference, the nearby Enchanted Forest has a series of mystical and haunting woodland gardens. These include the Mystic Pool with glass and mirror fragments suspended from trees around a dark pool and the Serpents Lair with hidden (pretend) snakes and spiders.

The Drunken Garden, with its crazily topiaried junipers, was a favourite of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Set into the riverbank is the delightful Mossy Bottom, a magical fairytale collection of tiny houses, with doors, chimneys and windows - you can imagine characters from Wind in the Willows living there.

Tree Fern Valley was planted in 1998 with tree ferns imported from the alpine region of Australia – a very unusual sight in a quintessentially English garden.

The Blue Pool is so-called because of the colour illusion caused by the effect of sunlight on miniscule particles of clay suspended in the water. Designed by Myles Challis, it is guarded over by a statue of the Roman god Neptune, holding aloft a seashell from which the waters of an ancient spring cascade into the pool below. Spilling over a stone ford, the water creates a small stream which trickles down to the canal in the valley below, flanked by irises, lilies and water-loving plants.

To celebrate the beauty of the gardens in June, Groombridge Place is holding a trilogy of garden celebrations – Magic, History and Mystery.

The first of these, Magic, is a two day fairy festival - Mooch with the Fairies - which will take place on 7 and 8 June. The formal gardens and Enchanted Forest will be transformed in a fairytale land, with gentle music and fairy living statues. This will be a magical event for children, when they can make their own fairies from leaves and twigs from the forest floor, have their faces painted and dress up as fairies, pixies, wizards, goblins, princesses, knights and pirates.

Groombridge Place and its gardens have inspired many artists, writers and film makers over the years

There will also be children’s crafts, bouncy fairy castles, circus workshops and much more.

The History event is on 15 June, when the formal gardens will turn back the clock to the age of elegance and Jane Austen. Excerpts from Jane Austen’s novels, poetry and music will be performed by a theatre company and visitors can see the locations used in the recent Pride and Prejudice film which starred Keira Knightley, when the house and gardens were transformed into Longbourn, the Bennet’s home.

Mystery in the gardens takes place on 21 and 22 June, when a medieval murder mystery will be re-enacted.

Groombridge Place and its gardens have inspired many artists, writers and film makers over the years. Vita Sackville-West used them as the setting for her 1922 novel The Heir and Peter Greenaway set his acclaimed drama The Draughtsman's Contract at Groombridge.

Nigel Nicholson described the garden as being "....full of scent and birdsong" in Great Houses of Britain and in Country Houses of Kent, Arthur Oswald said of it: "Here one has the feeling of having come across a corner of an authentic England, that shadowy and illusive country of the mind."

Further information
Groombridge Place Gardens are open daily until 8 November from 10am to 5.30pm. There are many special events throughout the year.

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