The Sunken Garden, West Dean

Nestled at the foot of the South Downs, West Deans Gardens are filled with historic features including a Victorian walled kitchen garden, apple store house, a 300 foot long Edwardian pergola and some flint bridges, crossing the streams dotted around the garden. Head Gardener, Tom Brown, has recently started to bring some of the planting into the present, thinking ahead on how the gardens are going to be able to cope with climate change, especially wet winters followed by long spells of drought. This is the case for the sunken garden which is located on the eastern end of the Harold Peto designed Pergola, with roses and clematis entwined around its stone pillars. Offering great vistas towards the wider landscape and originally built in the late 19th century, the sunken garden was renovated in 2024, with a complete overhaul of the planting. Tom and his team laid a 10cm layer of sandstone before planting many drought tolerant plants, various Salvias including S. 'Caradonna' and S. sclarea var. turkestanica, Achillea 'Moonshine' contrasting with the blue irises and the crimson hues of Circuit rivulare 'Atropurpureum' mixed with aromatic plants including fennel and sage. Further along, Tom has also carved out a new dry meadow, using recycled locally sourced crushed concrete and planted a tapestry of climate-resilient plants.