Classic Gardening Magazine

Belmont Gardens

Belmont is on the North Downs in Kent, six miles south of Faversham. You feel like you’ve pitched up for a rather elegant house party once you’ve coasted down the winding lanes and scrunched to a halt on the stately gravel.

Belmont Gardens is relaxed, informal and a great place to wander. Best of all, it is clearly a real working garden serving a family home -albeit rather a grand one. So here's how it shapes up in the Great garden, great pub, and maybe a garden centre too stakes...

Great Garden
A rhododendron-lined drive leads up to the front of the elegant, sandy-coloured Georgian mansion, but the best of the gardens are behind the house.

There you find the walled garden with its magnificent herbaceous border, newt-filled pond and spectacular wisteria covering one long wall. Alongside it is a pinetum, with Blue Atlas Cedar, Mexican White Pine, Monterey pine, Morinda spruce, Brewer Spruce, Coast Redwood plus a shell grotto studded with hefty ammonites.

Across the way is the extensive kitchen garden - a Victorian original renovated in 2001. It’s clear this garden works to serve the house. In the greenhouses are trays of vegetable seedlings and rows of tomato plants, plus a vine.

Within the kitchen garden’s walls are rose and hop arbours, espalier pears defining beds filled with lavender, cherry trees, nectarine, plum and apricot. There are extensive vegetable and herb beds as well as herbaceous borders and cut-flower beds.

A long path squeezed between high hedges - Coronation Walk - leads right to the horizon where there is a folly - The Prospect Tower - now rented as holiday accommodation by the Landmark Trust.

Just to one side is the charming pet cemetery, with Edwardian memorials to a much loved pony, a greyhound and other pets.

Tucked in behind the kitchen garden is a mandela, a formal area said to be based on a Hindu design that reflects Belmont’s owners' links with India. General George Harris bought the house in 1801 with the prize money from his successful military career in the sub-continent.

Belmont played a major part in the development of cricket.

To quote the guide: “A superb batsman and fielder, the 4^th Lord Harris captained the Kent team for many years and received them at Belmont. In 1878 he captained the England team and took them to Australia for a test match that instigated the Ashes test series.”

The ground is in pristine condition – you might even catch a game.

Great pub

The Read Lion in Badlesmere has the slight disadvantage of being on the main A251 road between Faversham and Ashford, but don’t let first impressions put you off.

This is a lively free-house local with great food and beers. Timothy Taylor’s Landord, Shepherd Neame’s Spitfire and Master Brew – plus a real cider -- were on when we visited. The food is good and home cooked. The thick-cut ham was very good when we visited.

And maybe a garden centre?

Plants and produce fromBelmont Gardens are sold as available and head gardener Graeme Watts is often available to give gardening advice.