Icon - Arrow LeftAn icon we use to indicate a rightwards action. Icon - Arrow RightAn icon we use to indicate a leftwards action. Icon - External LinkAn icon we use to indicate a button link is external. Icon - MessageThe icon we use to represent an email action. Icon - Down ChevronUsed to indicate a dropdown. Icon - CloseUsed to indicate a close action. Icon - Dropdown ArrowUsed to indicate a dropdown. Icon - Location PinUsed to showcase a location on a map. Icon - Zoom OutUsed to indicate a zoom out action on a map. Icon - Zoom InUsed to indicate a zoom in action on a map. Icon - SearchUsed to indicate a search action. Icon - EmailUsed to indicate an emai action. Icon - FacebookFacebooks brand mark for use in social sharing icons. flipboard Icon - InstagramInstagrams brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - PinterestPinterests brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - TwitterTwitters brand mark for use in social sharing icons. Icon - Check MarkA check mark for checkbox buttons.
You are reading

How to Restore a (Rather Large) Kitchen Garden

Search

How to Restore a (Rather Large) Kitchen Garden

July 31, 2012

The walls around the kitchen garden at Holkham Hall in Norfolk are big, and tall, and really very long. They enclose six and a half acres, once intensely productive but abandoned by the mid 20th century. The walls survived as the garden crumbled. Happily, a restoration project is underway.

Head gardeners these days require a lot of imagination and a new kind of energy. There is no call for homegrown asparagus in November, and a heated glasshouse for raising melons would be a kind of madness. Like many head gardeners, Tim Marshall at Holkham has a tiny staff and as many volunteers as he can get.

Photographs by Kendra Wilson.

Above: The vinery, or glasshouse, at Holkham Hall has been restored with the backing of English Heritage.

Above: Acres and acres of brick at Holkham Hall in Norfolk, a county littered with country estates.

Above: Peaches are trained against the warm whitewashed wall of the peach house, part of the vinery.

Above: Before. Part of the vinery, as was.

Above: The restored fig house, with delightful lead sink and typical metal grid floors for drainage.

Above: The vastness of the glasshouses, bisected by a door to the park. A vinery faced south or west and typically it leaned against one of the garden walls.

Above: Architectural details, underneath glass. It was a fantastically efficient system: ventilation was key, and panes of glass were fitted like roof tiles, for ease of replacement.

Above: The buildings in the walled kitchen garden are being restored to a new kind of glory, as opposed to their former glory. For a story about another unusual English garden, see “A Pop-Up Roof Garden in London.”

N.B.: See 426 more inspirational images of gardens and landscapes in our Gallery of rooms and spaces.

(Visited 103 times, 1 visits today)
You need to login or register to view and manage your bookmarks.

Have a Question or Comment About This Post?

Join the conversation

v5.0