Whilst The Bishop’s Palace Gardens, Wells, is well known, not many people know about the one in Chichester. It is tucked away off South Street, behind the cathedral, surrounded by the City Walls. I have included a couple of short videos in this post, if you have the time please don’t give them a miss, they will give you much more of a flavor of this treasure.
Like Wells, there is a raised grassy walk around the ramparts which gives a very different perspective to the garden you would see from ground level. Although looked after by Chichester District Council, this garden certainly does not fall into the ‘Parks and Gardens’ category.
There are two entrances, the one I prefer when introducing friends to the garden is via a door in the wall just behind the Bishop’s Palace. Here, you find a tranquil, sheltered, formal walled garden.
Above is a short video I took on Monday. The birds were loudly chirping away and it makes you feel life is really beautiful, even if you are not religious, gardens such as this have a spiritual air about them.
I was really taken aback and somewhat envious to see the Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ in full bloom, especially when mine is just beginning to make an appearance this year and no where near to flowering.
The foxgloves were stunning – I adore the speckled inside of their flowers.
Just beyond the Courtyard garden is the Wild Garden and here we found a magnificent iris display.
Just before the Wild Garden, on your left you pass a well kept allotment. It is not included within the garden, but I assume it provides food for the the Clergy.
When you leave the Walled Garden, before you there is a much larger garden with parallel herbaceous beds planted with warm colours towards the east becoming cooler towards the west.
The above plant is Phlomis Tuberosa ‘Amazone’ (Jerusalem Sage). My friend, who is a gardener, was impressed to see this plant in a park garden – in fact he was totally impressed with the garden, full stop.
This is another short video of the herbaceous garden, with the pergola and climbing roses, Clematis and honeysuckle. It was amazing to see how many of the roses were in bloom.
The garden is full of fabulous iris, and this dark burgundy, almost brown, variety really stood out.
Just a few more of the flowers that were out in the middle of May.
As you make your way up the slope to the ramparts by the other entrance from Avenue de Chartres, there is the alpine garden.
We saw the above notice as we left the garden and extended a heart felt thanks to the volunteers who clearly work very hard and give a lot of love to the Bishop’s Palace Garden.
When I was looking for a bit more information before writing this post I discovered on the Chichester Cathedral website events page, there is going to be a Vintage Afternoon Tea with a jazz band to be held in the gardens from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday 17th July, tickets are £18.95 a head – I guess I might well be booking tickets!
