A walled garden is an enclosed garden surrounded by high walls of brick or stone, traditionally attached to a country house or estate and used for growing fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs. The walls shelter plants from wind and frost, retain the warmth of the sun and allow tender fruit such as peaches, apricots, figs and pears to be trained flat against their faces.
Walled kitchen gardens reached their peak in Britain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when large households employed teams of gardeners to supply the house throughout the year. Many included glasshouses, vineries, potting sheds, bothies for the gardeners and occasionally heated walls with internal flues. After the First World War, falling staff numbers led many to be abandoned, although a large number have since been restored. Walled gardens remain an important setting for garden antiques, and dealers regularly handle items associated with them, including terracotta forcing pots, rhubarb forcers, cast iron benches, lead and stone planters, old wooden wheelbarrows, Victorian cloches, sundials and weathered garden tools. Genuine age, honest wear and a good natural surface give such pieces their appeal.
