The weather was showing the friendly face on an English summer as a group of 20 members was introduced to Misako, the Head Gardener in front of the main house at Riverhill. Misako laid out the history of the estate, first established by John Rogers in 1840 and whose family continues to own it through 6 following generations.
The West End – the family’s private garden – is not usually open to visitors, but Misako had kindly agreed with the owner that we might visit…but no photos, please. Easy to spot was a magnificent Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), the oldest tree on the estate, planted in the early 1800’s and which was recorded in 2015 as a County Champion at 27m height and 7.27m girth – impressive! The second tree highlighted was a California Bay Umbellularia Californica, which shares many characteristics with the Laurel Bay, and is equally used for culinary purposes; this tree is the sole species of the Umbellularia genus. We were looking at another Kent champion.
The gardens at Underhill had been allowed to decay over many years, until in 2010 the site was featured in the BBC series “Country House Rescue”, which started a process of regeneration and redefinition that continues today. The large, walled, kitchen garden is sloping and has been terraced to mimic the hillside farming terraces in the Himalaya, but is no longer a productive kitchen garden but more a space to enjoy the surroundings and view out over the valley beyond. A few apple trees and decorative flowering vegetables echo the original purpose of the space.
Our route from the kitchen garden passed through an open area, with a wonderful view of another splendid Cedar of Lebanon and a Giant Redwood (Sequioadendron giganteum – a Kent Champion) , both around 160 years old. Misako commented that the Redwoods in this country would grow more rapidly than those in the USA, due to our climate, so the tree in Kent was larger than a tree of similar age in USA! In this area our group noticed a very fine Chequer Tree (Sorbus torminalis). Some of us ventured from the path to admire a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glystrostroboides) looking very fine indeed!
Our formal tour finished in the Rock Garden, and area that had originally been established for alpine planting. As a result of a lack of maintenance, a large number of native trees had self-seeded, rendering this area useless for alpines unless major tree removal were undertaken. Pragmatically the team agreed to adjust the purpose of the area to become a ferm garden and there are now over 100 species of fern growing very happily there.
We parted from Misako having shown our appreciation and the group split up to enjoy other aspects of the gardens, including a climb to the highest point with a lovely panoramic viewpoint.
Most of the group then made their way to visit Juliet Simpson in her garden for refreshments kindly offered there.