Beech Court Gardens

The location of the Beech Court Gardens is a pocket of acidic clay on the edge of the North Downs, some 600 feet above sea level.

The gardens were first laid out in the 1930s using the natural contours of the previously farmed land. The pond was originally dug as a drinking trough for horses. The nearby dell was probably quarried for chalk although legend tells of its use for cockfighting. The discovery of Roman swords and artefacts hints at an ancient heritage.

The garden was originally designed to be at its best in spring, with a collection of over 80 varieties of maple, along with numerous firs, pines and oaks, which reflected the designer’s admiration for Scotland’s famous Inverewe Garden. It has since been enhanced by the addition of island beds, climbing roses and many varieties of hydrangea, making a garden for all seasons.

Many unusual trees grow here. There is the tallest Eucryphia in Kent, which is covered in white flowers in August; the handsome and rare autumn flowering Kalopanax septemlobus, which resembles the sycamore; Sequoia sempervirens, the coast redwood from the coastal fog belt of California and Oregon, that can live for up to 2,000 years, and Metasequoia glyptostroboides, the dawn redwood, a living fossil found in the 1940s in central China.

Beech Court Gardens