We know this lecture is today, but if you sign up you may access it for a full week following. This lecture is organized by The Gardens Trust in partnership with Kent Gardens Trust and is the first of a four week series on Wednesdays. The price is £5 each or all 4 for £16. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards. Register through Eventbrite HERE.
Philip Oostenbrink will discuss The Gardens at Walmer Castle on January 5 from 1 – 2:30.
There are over eight acres of park and gardens surrounding Walmer Castle, the Tudor Fort in Deal that is now the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Philip Oostenbrink will look at both the castle itself and the evolution of the gardens from the 16th century, noting in particular the contributions of the Lord Wardens. Key contributions have been made by the first Duke of Dorset between 1727 and 1765 who enclosed the captain’s kitchen garden and added ornamental flower beds; by William Pitt between 1802 and 1806 who planted extensively in the park surrounding the castle, adding a second walled garden, and an evergreen shrubbery. Pitt’s work was continued by Lord Hawkesbury who fashioned the gardens into the shape evident at Walmer today. When the 2nd Earl Granville became Lord Warden he revitalised Pitt’s tree planting and added the striking Boardwalk, and a serpentine walk around the bottom of the moat. From 1913 to 1931, the family of Earl Beauchamp made the castle a summer home and altered the planting style to reflect the then contemporary manner of Gertrude Jekyll. The last major alteration was made in 1997 when Penelope Hobhouse was commissioned to create an entirely new garden within Pitt’s walled garden to commemorate the 95th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Philip Oostenbrink became Head Gardener at Walmer in 2020. Born in the Netherlands he moved to the UK in 2008 to set up his own garden maintenance company. In 2011 he became Deputy Head Gardener at Hadlow College, then Head Gardener at Canterbury Cathedral in 2015. He has recently published a book The Jungle Garden. He nurtures four National Plant Collections.
