A visit to Kiftsgate Court

We have just spent a few days in the Cotswolds.  While we were there I went with Angela (owner of the recently featured beautiful garden ) to visit Kiftsgate Court Garden near Chipping Campden.

On a steeply sloping site, the garden is a real joy.  It has wonderful long borders, a more contemporary area that includes a water garden with sinister black water, and fantastic views out over the vale of Evesham to the hills beyond.   We were too late sadly to admire the extraordinary Kiftsgate Rose, which spreads for yards into adjacent trees, but were compensated by the wide variety of summer perennials, including some spectacular hydrangeas.   The planting schemes were quite daring; no refuge taken too many in soft pinks, blues and purples but a willingness to include quite hot tropical colours occasionally lifting more gloomy corners.

The house is rather wonderful too.  The neoclassical façade was imported from another house nearby and attached to a Victorian core.  It once was much larger, spreading back into the car park, and incorporating a huge ballroom.  The soft Cotswold stone gives the whole a golden glow.

The gardens date back to the 1930’s, and have been constantly evolving since then.  Three generations of lady gardeners have created this wonderful place, and we were lucky to meet the current incumbent.   It was interesting to talk to her about the challenges of maintaining the garden, and also to complement her on the quality of the small but very tasteful shopping opportunity in the porch of the house!  

Spectacular views from the lower garden