Labour of Love

Incredibly the Kilver Court gardens have been cared for by the same two gardeners for over twenty five years, which makes both garden and gardeners well seasoned.

The mature rockery was planted over half a century ago and many plants have been replaced several times. With their depth of experience the gardeners have been able to improve many species to ones that thrive in the cool Mendip climate or fit better into the general scheme.

Chris Bath and Chris Inchley have weeded the rock garden every few weeks for all these years, making sure that perennial weeds did not take hold. It is an enormous task; and there’s an extra 7.5 hours of lawn mowing per week during the summer months using traditional hand pushed mowers.

The Rock Garden is linked by streams and a waterfall, using water pumped from the Sheppey River and the old mill pond, these also need constant surveillance as pond weeds threaten to invade.

Nurturing a garden for all those years is a vocation, and you can see why the moment you walk into the garden.