For one hundred years, Heather Muir, her daughter Diany Binny and her daughter Anne Chambers, have gardened at Kiftsgate. None were writers or prone to self-promotion. Each gardened as a personal passion building upon the legacy of the previous generation. The result is one of England’s finest country house gardens. Kiftsgate Court Gardens: Three Generations of Women Gardeners tells their story.
Heather Muir and her daughter, Diany Binny
A garden of “many moods and many aspects,” Kiftsgate was laid out in the 1920s and 1930s by Heather, described as a woman who lacked horticultural training but was “gifted with rare imagination and an intuitive feeling for plants.”
The Yellow Border, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
In this, the golden era of English gardening, she befriended and corresponded with many of the gardening greats, not the least of which was her famous next-door neighbor, Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote Manor.
Lilium ‘Scheherazade’ – oriental trumpet lily
Within this rarified circle of gardeners, Helen’s talents as a plantswoman were widely admired. Vita Sackville-West, who visited Kiftsgate several times, was entranced by the garden and sought Helen’s advice. The rosarian Graham Stuart Thomas praised the garden’s “magnificent artistry” above that of Sissinghurst. In a 1953 article in Country Life, eminent horticulturalist A.G.L. Heller described Kiftsgate as one of the loveliest rose gardens in England.
Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ and Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’, The Rose Border, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
In 1954, Diany assumed responsibility of Kiftsgate. Like Helen, she was a passionate and intuitive plantswoman, despite her lack of formal horticultural training. Eschewing books and unimpressed by television gardening programs, Diany believed the best way to learn about gardening was by doing it.
The White Sunk Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
The White Sunk Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
At Kiftsgate she tackled a daunting catalogue of projects including the redesign of her mother’s White Sunk Garden, the planting of the North Border, and the creation of a half-moon swimming pool on the lawn of the lower garden.
The Pool, The Banks and Lower Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
As a privately-owned estate garden, Kiftsgate was not immune to social change. Heather had first opened the garden in 1938 through the National Gardening Scheme. Diany, despite her belief that gardening was both a personal and private endeavor, began to consider schemes to enhance revenue. These included selling plants propagated at the garden to the public, converting the walled kitchen garden for that use, and adding a car park in part of the forecourt. By 1980, the garden was being used as a film location and featured on Gardener’s World, despite Diany’s aforementioned disdain for televised gardening shows.
Anne and Johnny Chambers
Kiftsgate’s current owners, Anne and Johnny Chambers, continue to balance the realities of maintaining a private country house garden, both respecting its historical pedigree and adding their own imprint on the landscape.
The Water Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
A water garden, the heart of Kiftsgate, has replaced Heather’s 1930s tennis court with a distinctive design that is simple, elegant and an “other-worldly” reminder of the timeless continuum through which the garden has evolved.
Kiftsgate Court Gardens – aerial view
An avenue of tulip trees, designed to highlight a dramatic leaf-shaped filigree sculpture has been added, to provide a vantage point from which to view the structure of the garden.
Kiftsgate Court Gardens – aerial view with snow
Using family archives and recollections of its current owners, Kiftsgate Court Gardens: Three Generations of Women Gardeners is both a social history of an era and the story of a garden. Both narratives provide insight into the motivations of the women who gardened here and their creative processes. Individual chapters are devoted to each, followed by a tour of fifteen garden spaces.
Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’
A chapter is devoted to the white rose ‘Kiftsgate’, the symbol of the garden. Described by Jane Owen in the recent Financial Times piece, “Jungle Warfare”, as the aggressor of the rose world and by Robin Lane Fox as a monster, it is also, by dint of its volume and beauty, a key feature of the garden. Signage and promotional literature promote the garden as ‘Home of the Rosa Kiftsgate’ and grafts of this namesake plant are popular purchases at Kiftsgate’s plant stand.
The Banks & Lower Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
The Banks & Lower Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
Diany’s motto proclaims, “The art of gardening is to notice.” And notice they did, boldly, yet reservedly charting their own course. “We have never been followers of fashion throughout this garden” Anne told host Rosemary Verrey in the 1995 BBC series, The English Country Garden. Fashionable or not, Kiftsgate, described as the ultimate Englishwoman’s Garden, remains.
The Wide Border – Kiftsgate Court Gardens
This is the first book about Kiftsgate. As such, it provides entrée into the world of one of England’s great private gardens. If overlooked in the past, Kiftsgate is now firmly established as a must visit garden destination. Just turn left at the top of the hill leading from the village of Mickleton.
The Wild Garden, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
The exhibit “Kiftsgate Court Gardens: 100 Years of Women Gardeners” is on display at The Garden Museum in London through June 9th. A visit to Kiftsgate and Rockcliffe House is planned for June 7th.
The Four Squares and Terrace, Kiftsgate Court Gardens
Kiftsgate Court Gardens: Three Generations of Women Gardeners by Vanessa Berridge. Photography by Sabina Rüber. Foreword by Robin Lane Fox. Merrell Press, 2019.
Photos used with permission of Merrell Press.
For additional information about visiting Kiftsgate Gardens visit: http://www.kiftsgate.co.uk/.
This review appeared in Leaflet: A Massachusetts Horticultural Society Publication, May 2019.
Copyright © 2019 Patrice Todisco — All Rights Reserved
