This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 4 sessions at a cost of £16 via the link here.

Due to a recent Apple decision to charge a 30% fee for paid online events unfortunately you may no longer be able to purchase this ticket from the Eventbrite iOS app. Please use a web browser on desktop or mobile to purchase. We are very sorry for the inconvenience.

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

Week 1. 5 January. The Gardens at Walmer Castle: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 2. 12 January. Restoration House, Rochester: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 3. 19 January. Memories of Sissinghurst: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

Week 4. 26 January. Balmoral Cottage, Benenden: Part of a series of 4 online lectures, £5 each or all 4 for £16.

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Week 3. 5th January. The Gardens at Walmer Castle with Philip Oostenbrink

There are over eight acres of park and gardens surrounding Walmer Castle, the Tudor Fort in Deal that is now the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Philip Oostenbrink will look at both the castle itself and the evolution of the gardens from the 16th century, noting in particular the contributions of the Lord Wardens. Key contributions have been made by the first Duke of Dorset between 1727 and 1765 who enclosed the captain’s kitchen garden and added ornamental flower beds; by William Pitt between 1802 and 1806 who planted extensively in the park surrounding the castle, adding a second walled garden, and an evergreen shrubbery. Pitt’s work was continued by Lord Hawkesbury who fashioned the gardens into the shape evident at Walmer today. When the 2nd Earl Granville became Lord Warden he revitalised Pitt’s tree planting and added the striking Boardwalk, and a serpentine walk around the bottom of the moat. From 1913 to 1931, the family of Earl Beauchamp made the castle a summer home and altered the planting style to reflect the then contemporary manner of Gertrude Jekyll. The last major alteration was made in 1997 when Penelope Hobhouse was commissioned to create an entirely new garden within Pitt’s walled garden to commemorate the 95th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Philip Oostenbrink became Head Gardener at Walmer in 2020. Born in the Netherlands he moved to the UK in 2008 to set up his own garden maintenance company. In 2011 he became Deputy Head Gardener at Hadlow College, then Head Gardener at Canterbury Cathedral in 2015. He has recently published a book The Jungle Garden. He nurtures four National Plant Collections.

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