Gardens for all Seasons - West Dean

When you get a beautiful, clear autumn day like yesterday, there's no better way of lifting the spirits than visiting a garden, so I headed for West Dean near Chichester in Sussex. I've been there in the middle of winter and in the summer, but never before in the autumn. So did it make the grade for "Gardens of all Seasons"? And the answer is a resounding "Yes"! In the winter months, you get wonderful views over the South Downs; in spring you get the bulbs; in summer you get the flowers and in autumn you get the fruit and vegetable displays.

The manor that once stood on the site nearly 1,000 years ago is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but the property that houses West Dean College today is a Gothic mansion designed by James Wyatt at the start of the 19th century. The grounds extend to some 90 acres and include undulating parkland inhabited by sheep; some of the finest Victorian greenhouses (above) surviving in Britain and a spectacular pergola (top) designed by Harold Peto of Iford Manor and Buscot Park fame.

The estate was acquired by an American - William James - in 1892, and it was his son Edward, who was particularly interested in the arts, who created the Foundation that bears his name today. which offers some of the finest courses in Arts and Crafts anywhere in the country. The James family employed both Harold Peto and Gertrude Jekyll to design the gardens. Jekyll's contribution was to make a wild water garden to the west of the house.

But it is the restored Victorian kitchen garden that draws so many visitors to West Dean throughout the year - it is a magnificent showcase of immaculately tended fruit and vegetables that will make even the most addicted carnivore want to change their ways! There are rows of healthy vegetables growing in the sheltered garden; the glasshouses are filled with all sorts of exotic fruits, vegetables and flowers; and the fruit on the trees looks like something out of a healthy eating advertisement, so shiny are the apples. It also has an impressive double herbaceous border, designed to be at its best during the late summer.

And then there's the magnificent stone pergola (top), with its impressive timber beams, which extends to 300 feet in length and looks good at any time of year. (For a previous Pergola Post, click here). There are also four 19th century "rustic" summer houses (above) scattered around the grounds.  Each is slightly different, but you will always find artists at work nearby, catching them on paint or canvas.

One of the mysteries of West Dean is the River Lavant that sometimes flows through the garden - it wasn't there this week, but I have seen it in full flow in the winter (above). The reason for its intermittent existence is that it's a "winterbourne" - a stream that dries up in the summer. A real case of now you see it, now you don't! West Dean is open throughout the year, but closed during January - and if 2011 is anything like this year, that's probably just as well, because it would be hard to get there on the icy roads.