Facilities: 

Contact: Godinton House Preservation Trust   Telephone: 01233 643854

Postcode: TN23 3BP
Location: 1½m W of Ashford.  M20 J9 to Ashford. Take A20 towards Charing and Lenham, then follow brown tourist signs
click here for a map

Opening dates and times: Suns 14, 28 Mar (2-5.30); Fri 25 June (11-8).

Admission: House & garden £7, chd free. Garden only £4, chd free

Website: www.godinton-house-gardens.co.uk

Description: 13 acres designed in 1900 by Reginald Blomfield to complement the magnificent Jacobean house. Famous for its vast, enclosing yew hedge with views over ancient parkland. Terraced lawns lead through herbaceous borders, rose garden and formal lily pond to intimate Italian Garden and large walled garden with delphiniums, fruit, vegetables, cut flowers and new iris border. Early in the yr, the Wild Garden is a mass of daffodils, fritillaries, other spring flowers
June 25 NGS day during Delphinium Festival Week

Further details:Godinton House dates back to 1390 and the gardens reflect the long history and changing tastes of its owners. The yew hedge (said to be the longest in the country) was planted as part of Reginald Blomfield's first garden commission in 1900. The hedge is cut to match the gables on the house and encloses formal lawns elegant topiary ponds and terraces of Blomfield's design. This has later been softened by the planting of the herbaceous borders by the last owner Mr Alan Wyndham Green. The balustrade gives views across the parkland to Great Chart church. Beyond the formal lawns is the wild garden. In the spring this is a mass of daffodils, fritillaries with patches of cyclamen crocus and other spring flowers. Here the pond is surrounded by bulrushes, there are water lilies and in late summer a mass of dragonflies. There are some fine trees at Godinton, notably a huge tulip tree, the two largest Ti Haku cherries in the country and good specimens of exotic trees throughout the gardens and parkland. The extensive walled garden is the backdrop for an unusual long wavy-edged border with contrasting trees with remarkable foliage effects. The bright gold of rubinia against the pale grey of willow mixed with birch and snake bark maple. Entering the walled garden there is the Delphinium Societies' border showing a rang of cultivars. One quarter of the garden is a wild flower meadow and the greenhouse built in 2000 will be open. There are some old fruit trees and wall trailing fruit and in time these will be supplemented by new planting. A further area of the garden is being developed as a cutting garden to provide flowers for the house. Nestling beside the walled garden is the Italian Garden, an architectural gem with its formal cruciform pond and fountain and terrace beds planted with Mediterranean style plants that thrive in the sheltered spot. On Godinton's walls can be found over twenty varieties of clematis montana. Close to the house the rose garden will be redesigned in this style of Blomfield's original plans. The beech hedges around the rose garden and the formal pond were planted by Mr Wyndham Green and the tapestry effect around the rose garden is a feature he was particularly proud of. There is a memorial to Mr Wyndham Green in the wild garden, a simple stone with an oak tree.