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Top kitchen gardens

A family with small children walking through the walled kitchen garden at Beningbrough Hall in autumn
Visitors in the walled kitchen garden at Beningbrough Hall | © National Trust Images/Annapurna Mellor

The historic kitchen gardens in our care have fed people for centuries, with many still providing produce for use in selected cafés. Look out for rare breeds of chickens, period features and even some brickwork by Sir Winston Churchill in our pick of the best kitchen gardens.

The Walled Garden at Beningbrough, Yorkshire
As one of the first kitchen gardens in our care to be renovated back in 1995, the Walled Garden at Beningbrough is home to a large variety of produce. Look out for plants like liquorice, grapes, figs and more than 50 varieties of apple.Visit the Walled Garden at Beningbrough
The Walled Garden at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire
The main Walled Garden at Berrington is part of a design by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, a prolific 18th-century landscape architect. It features an orchard, plenty of flowers and large vegetable beds which supply the tea-room.Visit the Walled Garden at Berrington Hall
The Walled Garden at Blickling Estate, Norfolk
For more than four centuries, the Walled Garden at Blickling supplied enough produce to feed the many families that lived and worked on the 5,000-acre estate. The garden has now been restored to its 17th-century glory, and plenty of fruit, vegetables and herbs are once again growing here. Head to the café to see which seasonal ingredients have come from this part of the garden.Visit the Walled Garden at Blickling
The Kitchen Garden at Chartwell, Kent
Wander through beds full of seasonal fruit and veg in Chartwell's Kitchen Garden. You can even find a cut flower area full of colourful blooms and clucking chickens too. Keep an eye out for the wall that was built by Sir Winston Churchill himself.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Chartwell
The Kitchen Garden at Chirk Castle, Wrexham
Dating back to 1653, the gardens at Chirk Castle still include many historical features, such as a hawk house and a long curved border that was originally planted after the Second World War. Behind the squash court you'll find the Kitchen Garden, which has a small orchard along with vegetable plots. Head to the shop to see what seasonal produce you can buy.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Chirk Castle
The Walled Kitchen Garden at Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire
Steeped in history and spanning four acres, the 18th century productive Walled Kitchen Garden boasts the longest glasshouse in National Trust care and is home to two national collections: rhubarb and heritage apples.Visit the Walled Kitchen Garden at Clumber Park
Two people working in a vegetable plot
Garden volunteer harvesting leeks in the Walled Garden at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire | © National Trust Images/Mike Hodgson
The Walled Garden at Felbrigg Hall, Norfolk
Felbrigg's Walled Garden dates back to the 1700s. It might be an old garden, but it's got a modern twist, with Mediterranean planting schemes designed to be resilient to climate change. Breathe in the scent of sage and mint while spotting one of the few octagonal working dovecotes in the country.Visit the Walled Garden at Felbrigg Hall
The Kitchen Garden at Florence Court, County Fermanagh
The restored Kitchen Garden at Florence Court produces a wide range of common seasonal vegetables as well as more unusual ones, such as yacon. There are also many varieties of rhubarb and an assortment of soft fruits such as jostaberry and boysenberry. Look out for the herb circle growing culinary herbs, medicinal herbs and herbal teas.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Florence Court
The Kitchen Garden at Greys Court, Oxfordshire
Hear the buzz of pollinators in the Kitchen Garden at Greys Court. The gardeners use the Three Sisters method – an ancient sustainable gardening technique of companion planting. They plant sweetcorn and then climbing French beans, which use the sweetcorn for support. Underneath, gardeners plant courgettes for ground cover to keep the moisture in the soil. A fourth ‘sister’ in the same bed are sunflowers to attract bees and butterflies.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Greys Court
The Kitchen Garden at Hinton Ampner, Hampshire
This pretty and productive walled Kitchen Garden dating back to Tudor times is full of delights. Laid out with cruciform pathways there are thriving vegetable beds, colourful herbaceous borders and a vibrant cut-flower area. Look out for elegant heritage espalier apple and pear trees.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Hinton Ampner
The Walled Garden at Hughenden, Buckinghamshire
Hughenden's sheltered Walled Garden is ideal for growing apricots, figs, pears and an old traditional English damson plum – the Aylesbury prune. It's on a gentle incline, so even in cooler seasons the heat rises up the slope and creates a warmer climate, while a ‘frost gate’ in the bottom corner allows the cold air to escape.Visit the Walled Garden at Hughenden
The Kitchen Garden at Kingston Lacy, Dorset
Kingston Lacy's Kitchen Garden is being conserved to reflect the garden's Victorian roots. Stroll among the vines and peaches in the glasshouses, walk among the blooming orchards and look inside the buildings used by the garden team more than 100 years ago. There may even be a few seasonal products to take home, in exchange for a small donation.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Kingston Lacy
The Kitchen Garden at Knightshayes, Devon
There’s always plenty of fruit and vegetables growing in this turreted Kitchen Garden. It’s home to a vast collection of crops, including more than 100 varieties of heritage tomatoes. Despite its ornamental presentation, it’s a working kitchen garden and all the produce is harvested and used.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Knightshayes
The Walled Garden at Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion
Built in the late 18th century, the Walled Garden at Llanerchaeron has been producing fruit and vegetables for more than 200 years. You’ll find an old orchard with more than 50 varieties of apples, pears, plums and quinces, alongside over a hundred herb varieties some of which you might not have seen before.Visit the Walled Garden at Llanerchaeron
Two children carrying big orange pumpkins walk through a walled garden with colourful flower borders
Children carrying pumpkins in the walled garden in autumn at Knightshayes, Devon | © National Trust Images/Chris Lacey
The Kitchen Garden at Mottisfont, Hampshire
Reflect on Mottisfont's medieval history in the Kitchen Garden, which was restored in 2018. Everything planted here is culinary or medicinal – designed to educate and inspire. Raised beds are planted with a mix of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Mottisfont
The Kitchen Garden at Oxburgh Estate, Norfolk
Explore a wide variety of heritage vegetables in the Kitchen Garden at Oxburgh, many grown from seed. With produce regularly on sale, you can discover the taste of these forgotten varieties for yourself. There’s also a greenhouse with a semi-tropical display of plants and an old potting shed, now used as a second-hand bookshop.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Oxburgh Estate
The Vegetable Garden at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent
Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson created the world-famous garden at Sissinghurst Castle in the early 1930s, and the Vegetable Garden has been thriving since 2008. In 2023, it gained Organic accreditation from the Soil Association, thanks to the team's use of companion plants and cultural control in place of chemicals.Visit the Vegetable Garden at Sissinghurst
The Kitchen Garden at Sizergh, Lake District
Discover the Kitchen Garden at Sizergh, where self-sufficiency has always been important. The organic Kitchen Garden provides fresh produce daily to the café, with all plants grown from seed on site and planted in patterns mixed with flowers for a striking effect.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Sizergh
The Kitchen Garden at Trengwainton Garden, Cornwall
Trengwainton is home to five different walled gardens, including the Kitchen Garden with its unique sloping beds that make the most of the Cornish sunshine. It was reputedly built to the same dimensions as Noah's Ark, but you don't need a deluge to enjoy its mellow colours and produce.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Trengwainton
The Kitchen Garden at Tyntesfield, near Bristol
Since the 1860s, the Kitchen Garden at Tynesfield has provided fruit and vegetables for the estate. Sample the produce in fresh meals cooked in the Cow Barn Restaurant or take some home in exchange for a donation from the produce table.Visit the Kitchen Garden at Tyntesfield
The Walled Garden at Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire
With an impressive orchard full of apple, pear, plum and medlar trees, the Walled Garden at Wimpole has many rare varieties and period features. Look out for 50 types of tomatoes growing here, including Green Zebra and Banana Cream.Visit the Walled Garden at Wimpole
Man holding a child up in the air as they both smile, in the grounds at Powis Castle, Powys

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