Enjoy mid summer with a trip to Kent to visit two fascinating gardens. We will start at the home of Andrew Salter whose garden stuffed full of interesting plants will be a treat for the plant enthusiast.  From there will be go on to Old Bladbean Stud, voted The Nation’s Favourite Garden in the South East by readers of The English Garden magazine.

Inspired by the mixed borders at Great Dixter, special effects artist Andy Salter has created a captivating plantsman’s paradise around his black-painted barn in Kent. His garden has been featured in Garden Illustrated and in Clare Foster and Andrew Montgomery’s beautiful book Pastoral Gardens. Rarely open to visitors, Andy’s atmospheric garden, surrounded by a wildflower meadow, has also appeared on BBC Gardeners’ World and Channel 4’s Garden of the Year. Join us for a special morning as Andy personally guides us through his remarkable garden.

Driven to find a new balance between a wild and cultivated environment that could bring artistry, sustainability and resilience onto the same page, Carol Bruce created her garden at Old Bladbean Stud on 3 acres of abandoned ground as a living experiment in harnessing natural processes rather than dominating them. Shaped by a combination of landscape-inspired design techniques and ecological maintenance and planting practices, the 23-year old garden is now a self-sustaining ornamental ecosystem where the gardener and nature work in harmony and the needs of both are met entirely within the constraints of the natural world.

‘In Nature’s Slipstream’ by Carol Bruce will be published in May 2026.

Coffee/Tea and refreshments will be provided at both gardens. Please bring a picnic lunch to enjoy at Old Bladbean Stud. Parking at The Barn is limited, so we will park in Chartham village, a 15-minute walk away.

10.30-12.00  The Barn, tea and cake

12.30-15.00  Old Bladbean Stud Talk and Tour, time for picnic lunch on arrival.

SORRY NO DOGS AT EITHER GARDEN

Book here