Discover Prospect House Gardens With Cathy Kitchingman – In Her Own Words
Prospect House is home to a private garden full of luxurious plantings, shady borders and ancient trees.
The almost one-acre private garden is also used by the owner of the house, Cathy Kitchingman, with her business partner Georgina Bordewich, to run garden workshops throughout the year via A Bright Prospect.
Watch the video below for a full garden tour or read on to discover the garden in Cathy’s own words.
Prospect House
“I have lived at Prospect House since 1999, but I have only recently become much more passionate about gardening,” shares Cathy.
“The house itself originally dates from the 1750s, so it’s a Georgian house. The garden was re-landscaped in 2003, and since then I’ve probably changed every border as my passion for plants has developed.
“Each border has a theme as every area of the garden has different needs and requirements for the planting.”
The Beautiful Borders
“This is the pink border and in it we’ve got some beautiful Chaerophyllum which is a really lovely wispy plant that looks beautiful with the alliums,” Cathy continues.
“In the shade of a beautiful walnut tree, the Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ seems to work well, so I’ve added some other cultivars such as ‘Red Dragon’, which looks rather nice with it.
“We’ve left the Dogwood in this season because I like the foliage and the variegated leaf. We do thin them a little, but they flower as well, so I think it’s rather nice to just leave those.
“Further down the path we have got the wisteria coming out from the pergola. It’s a very old, well-established wisteria that was planted in 2003.
“There are three of those in total.”
Cathy’s Favourite Plants For Shade
“Some of the borders on one side of the garden are much more shaded because we’ve got these very old Scots Pine trees and a huge Beech tree,” Cathy explains.
“We’ve had to adapt the planting and work out what actually survives here, so we’ve planted Rosa rugosa, which are really vigorous Roses.
“I believe it is one of the only Roses that grows in such shade. We’ve also got ferns and sweet woodruff as a ground cover, which looks nice with the white of the Rose.
“We have lots of edging plants in the form of Heuchera and Geraniums.
“The star of the show is the Tree Peony, which is a really old plant. It is short-lived, but absolutely gorgeous.”
Visiting The Garden
“I personally find the garden very peaceful,” says Cathy.
“I wish more people would come into gardening to find that solace. That’s probably why I do it really. I have a passion for the plants and the quiet offered in a garden.”
To visit the garden at Prospect House, head over to the National Garden Scheme’s website.
