Tonbridge School Garden Tour 2025

Blue skies and sunshine graced our visit to Tonbridge School Gardens on the afternoon of Thursday 29th May. Even on arrival at the Quad, the immaculate lawns and playing fields impressed us, a reminder that we were at one of the country’s leading boys’ boarding schools, founded in 1553.

 

We gathered in the Smythe Library Garden, an abundance of cat mint and roses, to meet our guide, Head Gardener, Stephen Harmer. Stephen joined the school in 2018, having lectured at Hadlow College for many years, and was tasked with renovating tired flowerbeds and health-checking several thousand trees on site.  Since then, he and his team of nine gardeners have replanted borders with perennials, shrubs and bulbs to dazzling effect, bringing colour and form throughout the seasons but especially in spring and summer when weddings and special events are held to raise funds for the school. Everything must look tip-top on Skinner’s Day in early July, when parents and boys celebrate the end of the school year.

 

Answering questions on the hoof, Stephen led us to the Garden of Remembrance below the imposing Chapel, bigger than many parish churches and the venue for three public choral concerts at Christmas. Here, Old Tonbridgians lost in the Great War are honoured, and an immense ribbon of lavender, creeping thymes and sages felt both tranquil and life-affirming. Next year, a leaking ornamental pool that is part of the scheme will become a sunken garden for contemplation, and the yew hedge beside it cut back – evidently, yews are the only conifer that can grow afresh from old wood, unlike leylandii. Beside the Chapel was another innovation, an avenue of cherry and apple trees, punctuated by giant terracotta pots of bright annuals and bulbs that change with the seasons to soften the building’s exterior.

 

Next stop was the medicinal garden by the Barton Science Centre, awash with useful herbs such as rosemary and angelica. The star plant was the mandrake, as seen in the Harry Potter films. According to Stephen, when uprooted they really do look like little people with legs and “dangly bits”!  Nearby, three rare and expensive Ginkgo biloba trees leant unhappily in a windy corner, awaiting transplantation to a more sheltered spot. It was reassuring to discover that Head Gardeners sometimes make mistakes too.

 

The tour finished at the front of the school, a peaceful area of striped lawns and flowerbeds, and home to a huge cherry tree, reputed to be the oldest in town. In the winter, sweet box scents the air, while a large myrtle stays aromatic year-round – just a sprig or two in a vase will perfume a room we discover. Stephen proudly showed off long flowerbeds planted with a mix of white and red dahlias that will grow tall and strong thanks to a weekly feed of diluted liquid seaweed. Inspired in lots of different ways, we returned to the Smythe Library Garden for home-baked lemon drizzle and carrot cake, served with mugs of tea and coffee. What a treat, and what a great afternoon.

Caroline & Phil, Matfield