Doddington Place, Kent; a garden to discover

The venerable gardens of Doddington Place have supported the National Garden Scheme for over fifty years. It was the garden we used to start our Virtual Garden Visits campaign with the photo above by Clive Nichols and it was the very first garden in England to open again after the weeks of closure caused by the Coronavirus crisis. In recent years the garden’s Victorian and Edwardian framework has been brought to life with elegant modern designs and imaginative planting schemes. Our film shows the garden last summer…

A closer look

Perched on an eminence in the North Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, with panoramic views over the surrounding countryside, the garden is a voyage of discovery: yew hedges of a truly fantastical size frame some areas and with paths leading away from the garden around the Victorian house to the woodland garden, the folly walk and the marvellously authentic rock garden that was painstakingly restored in the early 2000’s. In midsummer the woodland garden is cool and shady with many choice flowering trees and shrubs and you will also come to the magnificent Wellingtonia Walk, where the trees were planted in the mid-19^th century, shortly after their first introduction to Britain from western United States.

Close to the house flower borders and the sunken garden are brimming with annuals, perennials, shrub and climbing roses, while the beds around the sunken garden’s central pool are a pure white sea of Cosmos ‘Purity’. At this time of year it provides a picture of quintessential country garden planting, full of lively and adventurous touches but blending softly into the garden’s older framework of low walls, balustraded terraces and yew hedges.