Kitchen Garden

This is one of the oldest parts of The Abbey. The walls of The Kitchen Garden date back to Monastic times. The Monks used this area to grow vegetables using the manure from the farmyard that stood between The Kitchen Garden and The Abbey.  Three out of the four walls are Monastic and a Mr. Miles, during his short tenure of The Abbey during the 19thcentury built the South facing fourth wall. Mr. Miles made a significant contribution to the Kitchen Garden by building the Victorian glass houses which today house the grape vines that date from the same era.

The Kitchen Garden is predominantly used for growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers to supply The House and The Coffee Shop. 60 tonnes of well rotten manure from The Abbey’s goat and dairy farm is used to cover half the area every year to cultivate, just like the Monks used to hundreds of years.

There is a peach house that dates to the mid-20thcentury where a range of peaches, apricots and nectarines are grown for The House.

Several varieties of sweet peas are grown today on wigwams for our popular ‘Sweet pea month’. The periphery of The Kitchen Garden is planted with ornamental shrubs, bamboos, and herbaceous perennials for year-round interest.

More gardens at Forde Abbey