Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden springs back to life
LA CHOPPE did a roaring trade when the Victorian Walled Kitchen Garden opened its doors to the public for the first time this year at the weekend at its ‘Spring Back to Life’ event.
Visitors were able to buy a variety of bedding plants, seeds, home-made cakes and refreshments, and take a look around the Guernsey Botanical Trust’s Saumarez Park premises.
Among them were Vanessa and Andy Wade, who had bought several plants.
‘We’re both keen gardeners and very interested in the walled garden and the Victorian greenhouse,’ said Mrs Wade.
Company director Philip Haynes said he had gone there for another reason.
‘My wife brought me down so I’m here to eat cake, drink tea and carry home the various plants she has bought,’ he said.
Visitors were also able to see how work on the gatehouse project, which began in January 2020, was progressing.
‘The gatehouse will be an opportunity for us to provide learning facilities about the benefits of gardening for people of all ages,’ said GBT director Andrew Thompson.
‘Gardening is good for people’s well-being and the charity will also be able to hire out the learning centre/heritage room.’
The toilets and other facilities within it would enable a public building licence to be approved.
The work is being done in phases.
The first, to get the building wind and watertight, is complete and the second, the fit-out phase, is under way.
Construction had exceeded its £400,000 budget, but not by much, said Mr Thompson, and it was hoped that work would be complete by the end of the year.
‘We have had to share the challenges that the building industry has faced over the past couple of years,’ he said.
‘At times we have had to wait for materials and prices have risen too.’
It costs about £22,000 per year to run the Victorian Walled Garden facility, of which about third is normally covered by income from La Choppe.
