Moongate Gardens - do you know of more?

The moongate at Claydon Gardens in Buckinghamshire

Another rainy day in wintery Britain made me think and reflect on some of the more unusual garden features I've seen during the course of my "galloping" in the last couple of years and I realised that one such feature was the "Moongate" you occasionally encounter. Big thanks are due here to Diana of Elephants Eye who commented on a recent blog entry and told me the name of this  feature. I have to confess that prior to my enlightenment, I just thought of it as a hole in wall found in English gardens!

Latchetts, Sussex (open for NGS)

I've tried to research the origin of moongates, but come up with little more information than this feature having its origins in China, and that it's "a circular passageway found in Chinese, Japanese and Bermudian architecture". But it's obviously a landscape architecture feature of British gardening too.

Jan Johnsen also featured a moongate on her blog - Serenity in the Garden - last year, when writing about Naumkeag in Massachussets, and you can see what she has to say by clicking on the link. The only other reference I could find was to a silver gilt medal winner at the RHS Tatton Flower Show in July of 2004, where a moongate was featured in a Japanese  garden and another winning show garden - "Through the Moongate" designed by Lesley Bremness for Chelsea in 2007 - which won a bronze award.

Notable gardens in Britain that have moongates are Claydon House in Buckinghamshire (top), the magical gardens at West Green House; Great Comp in Kent; the Lake House in Hampshire (below) and Latchetts in West Sussex, which both open for the National Gardens Scheme in 2011. Check their website (listed in Notes to Fellow Bloggers on right) for details.

The moongate at Lake House Hampshire, open for the NGS in 2011

The really good news is that West Green House is re-opening its doors to the public this year on a regular basis throughout the season on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 23 April to 18 September. This is Marilyn Abbott's glorious garden - an absolute must see at any time during the season, but particularly spectacular when the tulips (15,000 bulbs planted annually) or alliums are in bloom. The moongate here gives a wonderful view over the garden in bloom, or the vista beyond, depending on which side of it you're standing.

West Green House garden's moongate - the garden re-opens three days a week in April 2011

One of the most unusual gardens in Britain is The World Garden at Lullingstone Castle in Kent - home of Tom Hart Dyke, modern-day plant hunter who was kidnapped by South American guerillas while searching for orchids in Panama in 2005. During his captivity, which lasted nearly nine months, he dreamed up the idea of an international garden, showcasing plants from all over the world and divided into continents. His vision became reality after his release and he has created an amazing garden within the former walled kitchen garden at his ancestral home in Kent.

Entrance to the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle in Kent

But moongates don't stop at ancient structures like most of those above. The owners of Austwick Hall in Yorkshire, have designed and built their own contemporary moongate in their astounding garden! I was so impressed by what they've done, that I've asked them to design and install a similar gate at my own garden in Sussex, so watch this space and you may well see my own moongate soon!

The contemporary moongate at Austwick Hall, Yorkshire

As I visit more gardens, I will continue to add to this list of moongates, but if you know of other gardens with these wonderful picture windows, please leave a comment.