SECRET GARDEN

Gothic stonework surrounds this newly created garden, blending modern planting with elements that hark back to medieval times

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Secret gardens never seem to lose their romantic appeal. Fiona Cadwallader and Patrick Heren were touched by that timeless thrill when they caught the first glimpse of the walled enclave, framed by a Gothic-style doorway, belonging to their new home. ‘With the ancient walls and riverside setting, the garden has a slightly monastic feel. From the village street, you would never guess it is here,’ says Fiona. The half-acre garden is fully enclosed within time-worn walls built from Caen stone, Kentish rag and flint. On the far side, a gate opens out onto the River Stour which, from Saxon times, was part of the port of Sandwich and held by St Augustine’s Abbey. ‘The garden has been cultivated for some 800 years,’ says Fiona.

She spent the first year observing the garden in different seasons, noting what plants emerged. ‘Despite being a northfacing garden, it had distinct promise – the bones were good, but it was very shrubby with lots of evergreens, and the terrace was far too close to the back of the house,’ she says. From the outset, Fiona envisaged a garden that reflected a variety of different moods and styles – a spring garden, a formal terrace, a shady woodland, a small potager and a secret garden. ‘I wanted to create a country house garden in miniature,’ she says. This was a tall order in a plot that is wider than it is deep. ‘Being enclosed, the garden doesn’t benefit from any borrowed landscape, so a sense of intrigue and interest can only come from within,’ she says.