The Kitchen Garden

An emerging, evolving garden that draws on inspirational local history to illustrate the connection between food and growing

Interesting facts...

  • A garden that keeps growing The Kitchen Garden is an evolving space and still actively being developed
  • Layout The intricate design is inspired by a network of underground waterways that start in Worsley 
  • Designers Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg are RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold medal-winning designers 
The layout of the garden draws influence from historic maps

Linking past and future

Chelsea Gold medal-winners Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg pay homage to local history and the site’s heritage for the Kitchen Garden’s design. They were inspired by maps and drawings of local underground waterways dating back to the Industrial Revolution. These were overlaid with an Ordnance Survey map of the area to create the layout of this spectacular new garden. The planting beds reflect the historic field network in the surrounding countryside during the 19th century.

A diverse and developing space

The Kitchen Garden has more than 100 planting beds containing 29,000 plants. It embraces four distinct planting styles – forest garden, herbal garden and formal vegetable garden, all linked by wall-trained fruit, which wrap around the walls. Designed to be equally ornamental and productive, the fruit and vegetables grown here are supplied to the Bridgewater Café.

A key principle of permaculture in a forest garden system is to mimic the ecosystem of a woodland, but include plants that are ‘useful’ whether for food, fuel or biodiversity in order to create a self-sustaining, holistic and bountiful space.

Watch our video...

Agroforestry in our Kitchen Garden

Sylvia Travers, former Team Leader of the Inner Walled Garden, chats to us about creating a layered woodland space that's naturally balanced

4:34

A space for tradition

A familiar sight in old walled gardens, formal rows of vegetables, herbs and flowers are grown together in mixed beds, edged with step-over fruit trees. There are practical as well as traditional techniques and ideas to inspire, from no-dig growing to succession sowing. Unusual cultivars feature too.

A herbal garden to the west contains a diverse range of plants used for dyeing, teas and tinctures, beauty and perfume as well as medicine. Some are familiar, such as rosemary and oregano while others are less so, such as safflower and chicory. This area provides herbs and edible flowers for the Bridgewater Café, and is an excellent resource for learning and education.

“RHS Garden Bridgewater is an incredible legacy for not just the RHS, but the whole of the North West region and we feel enormously honoured to be part of this project.”

Hugo Bugg, Garden Designer
Fruit trained in challenging shapes grows along the south-facing wall

Masterclass in training fruit

The arrangement of wall-trained fruit was designed by former RHS Team Leader, Dr Sylvia Travers and celebrates this traditional skill in all its splendour. Heritage pears, including ‘Beurré d’Amanlis’ and ‘Doyenné du Comice’ are starting to cover all four walls, alongside apples, apricots, plums and cherries. The wires, rarely orientated horizontally, present a variety of challenging shapes such as espalier, l’arcure lepage and candelabra. The wires also give a hint of the trained specimen the tree will form, while providing secure support for young branches.

“Stories and layers are important in this garden, and it is our hope that people will discover something meaningful, relevant and thought-provoking here, whether it is gardening and horticulture, or the rich historical background of the surrounding area.”

Charlotte Harris, Garden Designer
'Beurre d'Amanlis' and other heritage pears

A living collection

Twenty-three historic pear trees survived on the site when the RHS took ownership. They hadn’t been pruned for more than 100 years and sadly, restorative pruning was not an option for these trees, which had to be removed to allow for the restoration of the walls. The DNA of each was analysed and revealed there were 14 different cultivars, mostly French and Belgian and dating to the 1840s and 1850s.

Prior to removal, the trees were hard-pruned to stimulate growth. Propagation material was taken directly from new growth and then grafted on to new rootstocks. The resultant trees have now been returned to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden.

Plants in the Kitchen Garden

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Your gift will help us build this unique and important garden – for many future generations to explore. 

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.