insideKENT Magazine Issue 32 - November 2014 | Page 15

NEWS

HEVER CASTLE VOTED GARDEN OF THE YEAR
BY SOUTH AND SOUTH EAST IN BLOOM
The glorious gardens of historic Hever Castle in
Kent received a Gold Award and were voted
Garden of the Year 2014 by South and South
East in Bloom. The double accolade was
announced this autumn, with the gardens beating
off stiff competition in the Heritage Parks and
Gardens category.
The gardens received a glowing report from
the assessors, who praised head gardener, Neil
Miller, and his passionate team of nine
horticulturally trained gardeners for maintaining
the extensive gardens to such an immaculate
standard. It noted the ‘manicured lawns, closely
mown and home to some beautiful majestic trees
that occupy the skyline’, as well as admiring the
‘formal gardens where water features, colourful
bedding displays, Italian sculptures,
Mediterranean-style planting, carpet bedding,
topiary and over 4000 different roses, typical of
the quintessential English garden are found’.
It was felt that the opportunity to book
garden tours and the availability of gardeners
and volunteers to answer visitors’ questions was
a bonus. The judges also approved of the number
of ramps to enable access for less able-bodied
visitors to all areas of the gardens, and the
introduction of golf buggies to take disabled
visitors to various sites.

Hever Castle Gardens scored highly on the
environmental scale, and the report noted ‘the
use of chemicals is minimal with bedding grown
in peat-free compost, while water is obtained
either sourced from a bore hole or from the large
38-acre lake’.
Among new and ongoing pojects to enhance
r
the visitor experience is the reclaiming of Church
Gill Walk, an extension of Sunday Walk.
Additionally, exciting new vistas have been opened
up to delight visitors, along with pruning mature
yew hedges back into shape and the introduction
of new plantings covering all seasons, including
the development of a Winter Garden.
The report concluded that ‘Hever Castle’s
fascinating gardens were full of colour and interest,

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an enjoyable experience well worth more visits
in the future, guided expertly by an enthusiastic,
joyful character, Neil Miller, head gardener’.
On finding out the win, Neil said: “I was
absolutely thrilled with the award – my team really
deserved it.” This sentiment was echoed by chief
executive, Duncan Leslie, who added: “We are
delighted that the hard endeavours of the
gardening team have been recognised. Hopefully
this prestigious award will make more people
aware that we have one of the finest and most
important gardens in the Garden of England.”
www.hevercastle.co.uk