Pat Holt discovers the splendour of the Victorian era in a garden in Chichester

IF YOU know your onions and treasure your tomatoes, you will feel thoroughly at home in the vegetable plots and glasshouses of West Dean Gardens.

The kitchen gardens are the showpiece of this huge estate near Chichester, which is open to the public daily until the end of October.

Most visitors make a bee-line for the walled gardens, where you can see exactly how fruit, vegetables, cut flowers and pot plants were grown 100 years ago to supply the household at West Dean House.

Near-perfect cabbages, carrots, beans and lettuces can be seen growing in orderly rows, while the brick walls of the gardens are covered with superb fan-trained fruit trees, laden with apples, pears and plums.

All the Victorian cold frames and glasshouses have been authentically restored and this month they are bursting at the seams with cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, figs, peaches, nectarines, grapes and many other mouthwatering goodies.

Gorgeous flowers and plants are also grown under glass - Victorian style - with tropical and temperate displays, orchid houses and a fernery.

It's all very different from the scene which greeted gardens manager Jim Buckland when he arrived in 1991.

"The main gardens had been cared for," he said, "but the walled gardens were semi-derelict. The glasshouses looked as if they might be beyond repair. Most of them had little or no glass left and the main timber structures hadn't had a coat of paint for years. It was all overgrown with ivy and trees sprouting up through the glasshouse roofs."

It certainly was quite a challenge, but gradually all the glasshouses were paintstakingly restored and the kitchen garden was replanted in a classic Victorian design, divided into four quarters, with flower borders in the centre.

Now Jim and his wife Sarah Wain, the gardens supervisor, can look around with the same sort of pride and joy as the head gardeners of yesteryear.

The glasshouses have the same elaborate cast iron stage, heating grilles, brass door handles and all the other details that would have been seen in Victorian times.

Much of the work remains the same too. Tasks such as weeding, pricking out seedlings and training fruit trees are essentially the same as ever. Each day, one person is fully occupied for six hours just watering, damping down and feeding the plants.

Every year, the gardeners spend two months hand cleaning, scrubbing and disinfecting the glasshouses, to ensure that they retain their wonderful pristine appearance and period atmosphere.

As far as possible, the walled gardens have been restored to the design of the 1900s, a well-documented period when the estate was at its peak in the ownership of William James.

Many of his creations can be seen elsewhere in the grounds, including the superb 300ft pergola on the north lawn, which at this time of year is covered in roses and other other flowering plants.

It was Edward James, William's son, who made it possible for us all to see West Dean Gardens in all their glory today.

He wanted to preserve the estate for posterity, transforming the family house into a centre for craft, design and visual arts, known today as West Dean College.

The Edward James Foundation, an educational charitable trust, was formed in 1964, when he donated some 6,000 acres of land, plus the house with its collection of furniture and paintings.

Today the gardens are open to visitors and also serve as a resource for the college. Jim Buckland explained: "The college offers a range of courses, with subjects from gardening to painting and photography. From time to time the gardens are full of people painting landscapes, creating botanical illustrations or taking photographs. We are also pleased that the grounds make such a positive contribution to the ambience of the college."

How to get there:

West Dean Gardens are six miles north of Chichester on the A286.

Opening times:

Open daily until the end of October. Summer opening hours are 10.30am to 5pm.

Admission: £4 for adults, £3.50 for senior citizens and £2 for children. Refreshments are available.

The college is not open to visitors. For further details, call 01243 818210.

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