Gardens to visit in Kent

It was in The Pickwick Papers that Dickens wrote the often quoted line: “Kent, sir. Everybody knows Kent – apples, cherries, hops, and women.” The county is still referred to as the Garden of England, even though the amount of fruit traditionally farmed there has declined over the decades. Perhaps it’s still used so widely because some of the country’s most celebrated properties and gardens are to be found in Kent.

Hole Park Gardens borders Kent and Sussex on the High Weald. This 15-acre property includes formal gardens, but many know it best for its topiary and generous summer borders. Not far from Sevenoaks is Great Comp, once owned by Frances Maxwell, a suffragette who was the chairman of the first English Women’s Cricket Association. But it was Eric and Joy Cameron who developed the seven-acre garden in the 1950s and first opened it to the public in 1968.

Chartwell was the home of Winston Churchill for more than 40 years, and the splendid 20-acre gardens that still exist today refl ect his influence, while Goodnestone Park was once the home of Jane Austen’s brother. The gardens feature a parterre and terraces, and walled and gravel gardens.

Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, ill-fated second wife of Henry VIII, and the gardens of this double-moated fortress are infused with romance, not least from a rose garden of 4,000 bushes. And who can resist the ultimate destination on a gardener’s pilgrimage: Sissinghurst Castle? This is the famous garden of Vita Sackville-West, and visitors flock to its White Garden. But its surrounds, including oast houses, are just as compelling.

The garden at 1 Brickwall Cottages opens by appointment for the National Garden Scheme. Although it’s less than a quarter of an acre,