The garden at Quebec House

View from the east lawn across the rear lawn to the Church (not National Trust) at Quebec House, Westerham, Kent — View from the east lawn across the rear lawn to the Church at Quebec House | © National Trust Images/Andrew Butler

The small, intimate garden is a source of pride to the gardeners who look after it. You’ll find lots of colours packed into the compact borders, creating wonderful sights and delicious smells. Although considerably smaller than the original plot the house occupied, the gardens present a pleasing mix of annuals, perennials, roses and shrubs.

Links to the 18th century

There's little information about the garden when the young James Wolfe lived at Quebec House with his family. Instead, the garden team have been using typical Georgian planting schemes as a reference point. For example, pleached limes have been planted and you'll also find a rose border with similar blooms to those found during the 1700s.

Herb garden

The herb border runs alongside the Coach House and is planted with all sorts of different herbs, from lavender to lungwort, to reflect the style and vegetation of an 18th-century garden. Look out for the signs to help you identify the different plants. Read all about the history of the different varieties and how some of them would have been used medicinally as well as in cooking.

Early spring

Visit in early spring as the garden begins to re-awaken, with an array of colours bringing new life to Quebec House. Spring and early summer sees plenty of bulbs around the garden. Tulips are in abundance in front of the house entrance. Other colourful blooms popping up include daffodils, seasonal primrose and dainty barrenwort.

The tulips planted in the borders outside the front of the house are a spectacle of red flowers. Don’t forget to look out for the blossom on the apple trees on the lawn at the back of the house as they come into season too.

Late spring

As the months pass through spring, the garden changes rapidly with reds, blues and yellows all scattered around the outside of the house. Alliums begin to emerge, as well as the very elegant Aquilegia, otherwise known as ‘Granny's Bonnet’.

Out the front of the house, see if you can spot the wisteria winding its way up the bricks and around the windows of the house, and look out for the wild garlic plants with their distinctive smell.

The herb garden at Quebec House, Westerham, Kent — The herb garden at Quebec House | © National Trust Images/Andrew Butler

Summer

Blooms grown in the flower borders are used for fresh displays in the house. Look out for the interesting sequence of long blooming flowers that hold their own throughout the summer, including honeywort, sweet pea, marigolds and mallow.

Autumn colour

Autumn is a time for bright and bold colours in the garden and surrounding trees, with the light shining through the branches turning green leaves to warm shades of red. Anemones remain bright and strong while the rest of the vegetation begins its journey to dormancy.