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Chiswick House Kitchen Garden
Once sadly neglected, this now flourishing garden has been revived by a growing group of volunteers. This rediscovered garden has captured the imagination of many people.
As you walk around the perimeter of Chiswick House’s grounds you are instantly struck by the grand gateways, the great walls and the majestic building itself.
Then you discover the secret 17th century kitchen garden on the outskirts of the land. The garden is so hidden away it was actually locked up and forgotten about for many years until someone climbed over the wall to discover what lay behind.
Closed off to the public, the two-acre garden was in a sorry state – overgrown with brambles and deeply neglected.
After its rediscovery, a group of dedicated volunteers convinced the local council to allow them to use the land and to restore the kitchen garden to its former glory.
It now contains a delightful mix of flowering plants such as cosmos, verbena, and echinacea – all buzzing with bees and butterflies – alongside the more practical produce of a typical vegetable garden.
It is one of the few remaining working walled gardens in London, and it has been lovingly restored and cared for by the Chiswick House Kitchen Garden Association.
Past Times
The garden has a fascinating history. It dates all the way back to 1683, when it was originally the property of Sir Stephen Fox – Paymaster of the Army and Samuel Pepys’ boss. At the time of Fox’s death in 1716 records show that the garden contained “4 Ceader hedges, five Esplies of Pears, Eight Perimid Ceaders, and Twenty One standard Apples & Cherrys”. The account books also mention purchases of seeds and plants, such as strawberries, melons, peaches, raspberries, red roses and poppies, clove gillyflowers and double daisies.
Royal visitor
In 1725 Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, visited Fox’s House and described a satisfied King William wandering around the gardens, then planting himself on the terrace and announcing “This place is perfectly fine, I could live here for five days.” However, in 1812 the 6th Duke of Devonshire purchased the house only to then demolish it – the kitchen garden was then added to Chiswick House’s grounds. In addition to this, a 100m (300ft) conservatory for cultivating exotic fruit (a fashionable pastime in that era), later to house one of the earliest collections of camellias in the country, was built. The axis that stretches from Fox’s house, through the conservatory and to the gates of the Kitchen Garden is in perfect alignment and creates wonderful vistas.
Varied history
From 1892 Chiswick House was used as a lunatic asylum, and then in the 1980s to the 1990s the Kitchen Garden served as a nursery for Hounslow Council. At this time trees from the nursery were planted in straight lines at one end of the garden, until they were needed elsewhere. However, the council’s policy changed and the trees have remained there ever since – the area is now used as a picnic space for visiting children, with benches surrounding a mulberry tree that is rumoured to be 400 years old. In the 1990s the nursery was no longer needed and it was shut down – as was the Kitchen Garden – and it swiftly faded from public memory.
However, this all changed in 2005 when a local dog walker decided to climb over the old wall to find out what lay behind it. She discovered the much-neglected remains of the garden and was inspired to take action. In January 2005 Hounslow Council gave permission for an educational project in the gardens, and immediately local volunteers and children began clearing away the years of weeds and accumulated debris. Volunteers helped clear a path through the central axis and patched together some of the greenhouses. Gradually the garden went from just one bed to several stretching across the length of the walled area, in addition to three large greenhouses.
Volunteers
The main aims of the Chiswick House Kitchen Garden Association are to combine beauty with practicality, and historical accuracy with contemporary relevance. The volunteers studied the original plans and planting schemes, but decided not to follow them slavishly.
There is a wide range of fruit and vegetables grown in the garden, including garlic chives, Thai basil, the interesting looking ‘Black Russian’ tomatoes, pumpkin ‘Atlantic Giant’ and chard ‘Bright Lights’. Everywhere in the garden is the touch of the experimental designed to intrigue and teach children (and adults) about the garden. This year they have experimented with growing celery stalks in varying widths of tubes to find out which conditions they grow best in, and will find out the results later in the year. The tall lemon trees, placed in pots along the central pathway, were originally destined to go elsewhere in the grounds, but they were discovered dying of drought and scale in a greenhouse – they are now being nurtured back to full health.
Grand Opening
The gardens were opened to the public for the first time in many years in spring 2005. By the end of 2006 hundreds of children from nearly all the local primary schools, and several secondary schools, had visited the gardens – in these sessions the classes learn how to grow the food, and then at the end of the day they eat a picnic of the produce, taking any spare vegetables home. The Association welcomes new volunteers to work in the garden, help with school sessions, cook soup, sift seeds and to lend a hand with general administration. It is run as a charity, so that any money raised is then put straight back into the garden for buying seeds, equipment, and plants. Membership is by ‘three buckets of sweat’, (three sessions of hard work). At the moment there are approximately 50 volunteers, but the group is rapidly expanding, with a session arranged for almost every day of the week. These include school visits, people doing work for their Duke of Edinburgh awards, and adult drop-in sessions – work continues right through the winter.
Cutting garden
One of the most delightful areas of the plot is the Cutting Garden, which would have existed in the original 17th century plot too. It includes a startling array of vividly-coloured blooms such as Tagetes erecta ‘Simba’ with its orange blooms, asters, nasturtiums, lobelia, Paeonia lactiflora ‘Sarah Bernhardt’, and also echinacea. Cuttings are taken from many of the plants in the garden, and these are brought up in the greenhouses before being put back outside when needed. One of the most fantastic features is the pink cosmos, which is combined with gladiolus ‘White Prosperity’ for a startling contrast.
Clustered around the doors of the greenhouses there are wooden packing boxes filled with silver-edged sage, black basil, lobelia, petunias, and nasturtiums. There are similar quirky details throughout the garden: the labels still on the trees from when it was a nursery, and the three carved stones that sit by the path, originally from another stately home and now too heavy to move again.
The future
As the group of volunteers expands, there many more plans in the pipeline – the garden is set to expand further with more beds and also a grassed area for picnics. The plot will soon be back to the size it was in the 17th century – and it will remain a productive and thriving kitchen garden – and the volunteers couldn’t be more proud of what they have achieved.
Visiting
Chiswick House Kitchen Garden, Burlington Lane, London, W4 2RP
info@kitchengarden.org.uk
www.kitchengarden.org.uk
Open The garden is open to volunteers most days of the week, throughout the year, and to the public on special open days.
The view to the gates of the Kitchen Garden
Flowers to attract the bees
The cutting garden – a traditional part of a 16th century kitchen garden
Growing heritage plants
The herb maze with sage, lavender and rosemary
Marigolds were traditionally planted to safeguard crops as they are supposed to deter aphids and eelworms
