The kitchen garden at The Workhouse

A gardener at the left hand side of the photo holding a rake in the lavendar section of the kitchen garden in front of The Workhouse, Southwell, Nottinghamshire — A dedicated team of volunteers look after the kitchen garden at The Workhouse, Southwell, Nottinghamshire | © National Trust

The garden at The Workhouse was both a place of labour and a source of food. Visit the garden today and discover the wide variety of heritage and seasonal fruits and vegetables that are grown, recreating days of old.

The history of the garden

The vegetable garden was originally to the north of the house where crops were grown. Seeds such as leeks, peas, beans, parsley, potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, radishes and lettuce were ordered but the diet of the inmates was very basic – mainly potatoes and turnips. Male inmates, initially boys and men, but then just men, provided most of the labour using hand tools such as spades, hoes and rakes.

It is likely that a crop rotation system would have been used and soil enriched with ashes, night soil from the privies and manure from The Workhouse cows or pigs.

Standard apple trees, plum trees, cherry trees, gooseberries, currants and several raspberry plants were also ordered, which could have been used for sale or by the master. It is possible that the area to the south of the workhouse was used for these higher value crops.

The Infirmary garden would have been a more colourful place with bedding displays and was used in a more therapeutic way to help patients recover.

The garden today

The garden you can see today was recreated in 2004 on the site of the original vegetable garden, which provided food for the inmates, with any surplus being sold off to generate income. It is now a fruit and vegetable garden with lots of flavoursome and colourful heritage varieties.

Our skilled gardeners sow and harvest the vegetable crops, mulch the rhubarb and prune the apple trees – all available to buy when in season.

Herbs such as lavender, rosemary and feverfew line the beds attracting insect pollinators – a lovely place to enjoy the scents and sounds of nature in spring and summer.

The Bramley Apple

There are 15 apple trees including Bramley, Domino, Nottingham Pippin, Sissons Worksop Newton and Pilgrim 400 in the garden.

The Bramley apple trees are over 100 years old and have a special connection with the local area, with Southwell being the home of the Bramley apple. The original seedling was planted by a local girl over 200 years ago and the town still hosts an annual celebratory festival in October.  

Gardeners working in the recreated 19th century garden at The Workhouse, Southwell, Nottinghamshire — Gardeners working in the recreated 19th century garden at The Workhouse | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

Seasonal offerings 

The vegetable garden has something to offer each season from Victoria and Albert rhubarb in early spring to marrows and squashes which add a splash of colour in the autumn.

In 2019, the gardeners sowed British Queen potatoes, beetroot varieties in traditional red but also yellow and white.

Look out for Barabietola di Choggia beetroot, which has red and white rings. You can eat it raw when it is cut into thin slices. If the rabbits don’t get there first, we should be cropping the full range of coloured carrots this year.

Pauper pickings

Every Saturday during August, the volunteer gardeners don pauper costumes to tend the gardens (not that easy in heavy skirts and clogs) and help visitors pick vegetables to take home.

What’s happening in the garden this season?

This season finds the gardeners busy with winter pruning of the apples, gooseberries and blackcurrants. They will also be mulching the vegetable beds.

The team is planning for the season ahead with seed orders on the way. They are also putting a plan together to regenerate the Infirmary herbaceous border and are looking forward to this exciting project.