New Earl's garden for Arundel Castle
5th February 2008
A new early 17th Century classical garden is being built adjacent to the old kitchen gardens in the grounds of Arundel Castle.
The garden is in memory of the Collector Earl, (Thomas the 14th Earl of Arundel) who was the first great English Collector of Art. He was the Patron of Inigo Jones and Van Dyke and he commissioned a garden at Arundel House off the Strand in London to show off his collection of Greek and Roman marbles, many of which are now at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Many of the features in his garden at Arundel House were designed by Inigo Jones.
Previously a kitchen garden and then a car park, the new 2 acre garden at Arundel has been designed by Julian and Isobel Bannerman who also designed the famous stumpery at Highgrove, the new Kitchen Garden at Houghton in Norfolk and many other gardens of note.
The structures in the new garden which look like stone are recreations of original 17th Century designs by Inigo Jones and made from green oak. As you walk in you are enclosed by a courtyard surrounded by a hornbeam hedge with a fountain in the centre, and a rill with water running into to a large pond flanked by terns spouting water. You then enter another courtyard with a green oak temple. To the south runs a pergola dividing the garden. Below that are steps leading to Oberon's Palace, named after a building designed for King James 1st by Inigo Jones.
The planting will be subtropical and exotic.
Most of the great treasures in Arundel Castle originate from the Collector Earl's time and the Castle Trustees are delighted to commission this new garden in his memory. They hope it will be enjoyed by visitors from both home and abroad and be a place of peace and inspiration to all who visit.
The new garden is currently under construction and the Trustees hope that all being well, it will be ready in summer 2008.