Jo Thompson (credit Rachel Warne)
Water Lane is partnering with Jo Thompson Landscape & Garden Design for the next phase of the historic walled garden
Water Lane, a Victorian two-acre walled garden near Hawkhurst in the High Weald of Kent, is partnering with RHS award-winning Jo Thompson Landscape & Garden Design, to further develop the historic site into a garden for the 21st century, combining recreation, dining, experiences, and education. Jo Thompson has established a worldwide reputation for creating beautiful and sustainable landscapes. Listed by House and Garden and Country Life as one of the country’s top ten garden designers and plantswomen, Jo has won four Gold and five Silver Gilt medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and in 2017 she won the People’s Choice award at the first RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.
Water Lane is a walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses. A long-term restoration project over many years to come, the site is being managed by custodians Nick Selby and Ian James, who previously created and ran Melrose and Morgan, a grocery store and kitchen in North-West London. The site of Water Lane is a historical horticultural masterpiece with 13 Grade II Victorian glasshouses dating back to the 1800s on what was once the Tongswood Estate. Working alongside Jo Thompson Garden Design and RX Architects, the whole site is being sympathetically transformed into a productive garden with 72 no-dig vegetable and cut flower beds for the restaurant and wholesale to local florists, stock and trial beds, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events.
Ian James from Water Lane says, “We are thrilled to be working with Jo Thompson and her team. She brings a sympathetic and holistic vision that marries with our plans for Water Lane, slowly bringing back the garden to its original purpose of growing fruit and vegetables. Water Lane is not a pastiche of a Victorian walled garden. We are respecting its roots, but we want the garden to be accessible to all and have many different functions. Our aim is to create a democratic place where people can come and learn things and where skilled teachers can share their knowledge around horticulture, floral design, any kind of artisan craft and food.”
The plans for Water Lane will progress in phases and will include a rose ‘orchard’ with bulb meadow; a quince tree avenue through the green gates of the pedestrian entrance; perennial and stock beds in the south quadrant; follies and wall borders, a fruit cage pergola; children’s natural play; a forest garden and sculpture trail, nuttery and educational spaces. This summer’s planting palette includes soft purples, pinks, raspberry and apricot tones from plants such Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Apricot Lemonade’; Dahlia ‘Penhill Watermelon’; Phlox drummondii ‘Crème Brulee’; Gladiolus papilo ‘Ruby’; Althea cannabina; Erigeron karvinskianus and Ammi visnaga.
Jo Thompson says, “The extensive and long-term restoration vision for Water Lane, led by Nick Selby and Ian James, is a garden designer’s absolute dream. I am excited to peel back the layers of this historic site and truly understand its history as a horticultural masterpiece. This is not just any restored walled garden project but a chance to re-imagine Water Lane the ‘place’, respecting its past glory as well as making it an inspirational and welcoming garden for the 21st century and beyond.”
Tongswoods Gardens
Water Lane was previously known as ‘Tongswood Gardens’. It belonged to the Tongswood estate, its name deriving from the Old English ‘Twang’ or ‘Tang’ meaning ‘fork of water’ in reference to the two streams of the river Rother which ran through the estate. Having passed through many families, the estate was bought by Mr Charles Gunther in 1903. In its heyday the two-acre walled garden employed nine gardeners who tended the 13 Victorian greenhouses, including a vinery, peach house, melon house, fern house, fruit house and carnation house. The garden produced beautiful flowers, fruit and vegetables providing ample for the main house, the house in London and even a van of surplus for the local hospital.
Jo Thompson
Jo’s designs are wide ranging - from residential family gardens, historic landscapes, public spaces and country estates to restaurant roof gardens, rooftop terraces and urban boltholes. Other current projects include working with Iford Manor in Wiltshire and the restoration of Highgate Cemetery in London with Gustafson Porter + Bowman. Jo Thompson is a member of the RHS Gardens Committee and Garden Advisor for RHS Rosemoor, an RHS judge, as well as being a member of the RHS Show Gardens Selection Panel. She lectures both nationally and internationally and is a visiting tutor at the London College of Garden Design.
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