Three generations of the same family – all of them women – have tended this garden
In June, the fragrance of old roses is almost overwhelming as you wander through the gardens of Kiftsgate Court. Roses in shades of pink, apricot and white scramble up the walls of the Victorian mansion, fill box-edged beds nearby, and bloom along the full length of the Rose Border, backed by the monster, eponymous, creamy-white rose, Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’. This enchanted scene is all the more remarkable given that many of these roses were originally planted almost a century ago. Since then, three generations of the same family – all of them women – have tended this garden, balancing tradition and evolution. “Gardening is a constant process,” says Kiftsgate’s current chatelaine, Anne Chambers, who is the granddaughter of the garden’s creator, Heather Muir.
Walking around the garden with, spotting that more cyclamens need to be added for spring and autumn in one area, and that shrubs should be cut back elsewhere. She and her husband, Johnny, never rest on their laurels: they have recently planted a hedge of variegated pittosporum to lighten a dark corner and have established a grove of azaleas and rhododendrons, choosing cultivars that tolerate Cotswold limestone. Any innovation, however, takes place within the distinctive structure and style of the planting laid down by Heather Muir.
