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About The Dower House
The Dower House Garden in Melbourne has a breathtaking view south over the borrowed landscape of Melbourne Pool, seen from a balustraded terrace running the length of the house (built 1829 and extended by Adam Architecture in 2015). Paths and steps descend either side of this terrace down a large bank covered in various shrubs and roses to the lower lawn. An herbaceous border, at its best through summer and autumn, runs down one side of the main lawn whilst opposite is a bed which in spring is full of tulips or narcissus and in summer is a hot vibrant bed of reds and yellows at its peak from July to October. The garden has numerous paths to different areas, each providing a variety of planting opportunities. There is to be explored a bog garden, dry banks, grass borders, wide lawns, the dappled shade of the glade, an orchard and shrubbery, a small rockery and little woodland with many island beds. There are areas of dark and light, vibrancy and calm, intimacy and openness. Early in the year there are snowdrops and many scented plants including a huge Daphne bholua Jacqueline Postill with other winter delights, the rhododendrons follow in late spring when the Davidia involucrata ‘Sonoma’ is covered with its white ‘handkerchief’ bracts and so much fresh colour abounds throughout the garden; in summer the garden is filled with the scent of hundreds of roses whilst many unusual trees are at their best (including the rare Poliothrysis sinensis and Picrasma quassioides). The garden is full of autumn colour from September to November and between December and January the garden rests awhile. In the kitchen garden, accessible from the front courtyard, sweet peas climb through obelisks and roses cover the surrounding stable and cottage walls. A small and quiet adjacent courtyard is full of container planting.
Children can search for a bronze crocodile (at its most visible in winter), a stone pig, a metal bug and a strange bird. They might also see a bronze girl doing cartwheels, two sleeping dragons and find a lion’s face in a fountain.
There are many seats around the garden where visitors may pause to enjoy the views. The paths and steps to the lower level are unsuitable for wheelchairs, but the terrace, woodland, rockery, herb garden, rose garden and kitchen garden can all be reached avoiding any steps. The view from the terrace never fails to please, whatever the time of year and whatever the weather.
There is normally parking in nearby Castle Square, Church Square or Penn Lane. The house is next to one of the finest Norman Churches in England, enjoying its 900th centenary in 2025.
Griselda Kerr is author of The Apprehensive Gardener published by Pimpernel Press in 2019, now into its second edition. The book helps the gardener with the care of most plants to be found in an English garden – what to do when and how.
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