Christmas at Water Lane

Christmas at Water Lane

Bloom and Burn x Water Lane
5th, 6th, 7th and 8th December
10.30am-12.30pm
£85 per person

Enjoy these festive morning sessions creating your own Christmas wreath. Using dried flowers, seedheads and other fresh and foraged materials harvested from around Water Lane, you'll create a stunning, naturalistic wreath under the careful guidance of Graeme Corbett, floral stylist at Bloom and Burn, perfectly complemented with a luxury velvet ribbon. Graeme will guide you through the process and help you create your own unique design from the cornucopia of materials made available to you. Tickets include a festive drink and mince pie.

Water Lane Christmas Fair
Make a date for Water Lane’s Christmas Fair on Friday 29th November (evening only) Saturday 30th November and Sunday 1st December, from 10am to 4.30pm. All around the site, and in the glasshouses, will be stalls from craftspeople, makers, creators and artisan food producers. There will be festive food and hot mulled drinks, to keep the chill off, available throughout the day, and the Water Lane Christmas Pantry will be fully stocked in the shop, alongside gifts and potted indoor bulbs.

Festive dining
From 28th November - 22nd December, private events and parties from eight to fifty guests will be offered Water Lane’s new festive menus, to be shared by the table, available for lunch and Friday and Saturday night supper. Plates might include Radicchio, Graceburn, clementine and roast shallots; Sonny’s Smokehouse smoked salmon, horseradish and seeded loaf; Mushroom pithivier and creamed cavolo nero; Porchetta, stuffed with chestnuts and cranberries or Turbot, brown butter sprouts and lemon mayonnaise. Christmas dining at Water Lane.

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About Water Lane

Water Lane is a walled garden on what was once the Tongswood Estate in Hawkhurst, in the High Weald of Kent. A long-term restoration project, led by custodians Nick Selby and Ian James, there is a restaurant, a large and productive garden growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and cut flowers, a small shop of useful and beautiful pieces for the home and garden, select garden plants for sale and event spaces for workshops and private celebrations.

For more information about Water Lane, interview with Nick Selby and Ian James, high resolution images or to visit the walled garden, please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room on hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk | 07730 039361

New dinner service at Water Lane

Dinner is served at Water Lane on Friday and Saturday evenings (credit Becca Fawn)

Dinner is served at Water Lane

Water Lane, the walled garden, restaurant and events space near Hawkhurst in Kent will be serving dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings, starting from 2nd August. Come for a dusk walk and see Water Lane in the golden hour before supper in the Carnation House. Reservations are open now. Dishes from the a la carte menu include flatbread and sorrel gremolata, beetroot borani and paprika crisps, gazpacho, courgette straws and aioli while you wait, before starters of crab, chilli and cucumber salad, sardines in saor, or crispy polenta, burrata, confit garlic and tapenade before main courses of grilled aubergine, houmous and crispy carrots, lamb cutlets, tabbouleh and chermoula or butterflied mackerel, courgettes and broad beans. Puddings are summer in full swing with gooseberry fool, cherry and almond galette and Water Lane soft serve.

Tables can be reserved between 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

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About Water Lane

Water Lane is an idyllic walled garden with a restaurant, vinery and Victorian glasshouses on the Kent and Sussex borders. A long-term project over many years to come, the site is being sympathetically transformed into a productive walled garden, by custodians Nick Selby and Ian James, with the help of Garden and Landscape designer, Jo Thompson, with vegetable beds, cut flowers, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events. The Grade II Victorian glasshouses date back to the 1800s, including a Melon House, Cucumber House, Pelargonium House and Peach Case and a Vinery, on what was once the Tongswood Estate. There is a monthly food market on Saturdays, workshops and events and seasonal fairs in Spring, Autumn, and at Christmas.

For more information, please contact Hannah Blake on hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361

www.waterlane.net
Water Lane
Walled Garden, Water Lane
Hawkhurst 
Kent, TN18 5DH

Summer terrace restaurant opens at Water Lane

Clams with fregola, peas and coriander on the May menu at Water Lane

May menu on Water Lane’s restaurant terrace

The opening of the terrace restaurant heralds the start of summer at Water Lane. Opening the season on Wednesday 24th May, the terrace restaurant has a new menu from Head Chef Jed Wrobel, bringing sunshine and Mediterranean warmth to this corner of Kent.

On the menu is Sussex asparagus with ajo blanco and nasturtium capers; squeaky fresh radishes and their leaves and lovage butter; flatbreads cooked in the wood oven with peas, goats curd and mint; summery crab and sorrel salad; clams served over Sardinian pasta in a spiced light broth with peas; bavette with creamed chard and onion rings; punched potatoes with rosemary, thyme and garlic. While the soft berries and stone fruit from the walled garden are a little way off, there is Jed’s legendary tiramisu, plugging the seasonal gap, and a tart and fruity rhubarb and toasted almond fool.

The full menu:

- Asparagus, ajo blanco and nasturtium capers
- Pea, goats curd and mint flat bread
- Radish and lovage butter
- Chicken livers, rhubarb ketchup and thyme crumbs
- Crab and sorrel salad
- Clams, fregola, peas and coriander
- Farinata, golden beetroots, feta and chickpeas
- Bavette, creamed chard and onion rings
- Rhubarb fool
- Tiramisu

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Water Lane Menu Series Two - Simon Hopkinson

Marmalade sponge pudding and blood orange custard by Jed Wrobel

Water Lane Menu Series Two – Simon Hopkinson

www.waterlane.net

During the early months of 2023, Water Lane’s head chef Jed Wrobel is writing the Carnation House menus by drawing inspiration from some of his favourite cookery writers. The series launched with sunny warmth of Claudia Roden; for the second menu in this series, he looks to the honest, nostalgic and anecdotal words of Simon Hopkinson. ‘A classically trained chef with the heart of a home cook’, his writings transport the reader to the comforting and enlivening experience of food and flavours. Often hailed as the ‘food writer’s writer’, his critically acclaimed books include Roast Chicken and Other Stories and The Prawn Cocktail Years, which demonstrate his natural understanding of ingredients, his practical approach to cooking, and his love of good food. Seasonality is at the core of his recipes, and the Water Lane menu celebrates his influence alongside what the garden has to offer in March. Simple cooking with the best possible ingredients.

2 Courses £27 (starter & main or main & pudding)
3 courses £32 (starter, main & pudding)

To start
Beetroot soup with a horseradish dumpling
Eggs mayonnaise with anchovy and chive
Chicken livers, parsley salad with garlic dressing

Followed by
Risotto Milanese, grilled leeks and almonds
Smoked haddock fishcakes with sauce messine
Mutton shoulder with fennel dressed in plum and Pernod
Plat du jour – Whole plaice, winter greens and three-cornered leek butter (£6 supplement)

With
Carrot, raisin and parsley salad £4.50
Potatoes and Winnie’s Wheel £5.50
Garden leaves with garden herb dressing £4

To finish
Coffee granita with cream
Marmalade sponge with blood orange custard
Stilton, pickled pear and hazelnut crumble

About Water Lane
Water Lane is a walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses on the Kent and Sussex borders. A long-term project, the site is being sympathetically transformed into a working kitchen garden with vegetable beds, cut flowers, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events.

During the Winter months the restaurant is in the heated Carnation glasshouse. In the summer, it moves to the outside terrace, overlooking the vegetable and flower beds. The menu at Water Lane reflects its sense of place in the English countryside with a short and often-changing seasonal menu by head chef Jed Wrobel. Much of the restaurant produce is grown in Water Lane’s vegetable beds or sourced from organic and biodynamic farms. Meat is from pasture raised herds and day boat fish is from nearby Hastings and Rye. 

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Spring Fair at Water Lane

Spring Fair at Water Lane on 1st and 2nd April, Hawkhurst, Kent

Spring Fair at Water Lane

Saturday 1st April and Sunday 2nd April
10am - 4.30pm
Water Lane Walled Garden, Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH
Free entry on foot or bike, or £5 per car

Water Lane is hosting its first fair of 2023 on Saturday 1st April and Sunday 2nd April.  There will be great shopping from independent makers and producers, spring plants, ceramics and gardening accessories and takeaway food from the sea container or a light lunch in the Carnation House.

The fair will be spread across the whole Water Lane site. Underneath the open awning on the terrace of the walled garden, creatives and makers will set up stalls selling their original, handmade, and vintage items for the house and garden, that are both functional and beautiful. Elsewhere on site is the Water Lane shop in the Vinery, the Pelargonium House will be full of crafts, art and ceramics while Craft in the Field will be painting Easter eggs with children.

The fair has been co-curated with Sussex based Gina Portman, a former costume designer, who now runs workshops, produces homeware collections, and puts on art sales. Stall holders include Two Sticks Forge who make Japanese inspired knives from their studio in Ashdown Forest; organic natural skincare from Wilder Botanics, natural dyed fabrics and homewares by The Natural Dyeworks, everyday workwear clothing from Pajotten, traditional and contemporary willow baskets and designs from Sussex Willow and curated finds by Norse Vintage from visits to French Brocantes. Regular stallholders at the Water Lane food markets, Blackwood Cheese, Tillingham Wines and LAM, selling pasture raised meat and free- range eggs will also be at the Fair. There will be bunches of spring flowers from the Water Lane cutting garden, potted plants, garden accessories from Japanese brand Niwaki, and seasonal jams and preserves from the Water Lane Pantry.

Notes to editors

Water Lane is a productive garden, restaurant, shop and pantry within a Victorian walled garden in Hawkhurst on the Kent and East Sussex border.

It is an ongoing restoration project in the hands of custodians Nick Selby and Ian James who bring with them a wealth of food and horticultural passion. A long-term project over many years to come, Water Lane is being sympathetically transformed into a working kitchen garden with vegetable beds, cut flowers, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events.

Opening Hours: Wednesday - Saturdays 8am - 5pm | Sunday 10am – 4.30pm | Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

Meet the Makers at Water Lane Christmas Market

Meet the makers at the Water Lane Christmas Market

Saturday 3rd December and Sunday 4th December
10am - 4.30pm
Water Lane Walled Garden, Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH
Free entry on foot or bike, or £5 per car

@water.lane | www.waterlane.net

The Water Lane Christmas Market is on the first weekend of December and will showcase a diverse and eclectic range of items for the house, garden and kitchen that are original, handmade or vintage, including ceramics, clothing, jewellery, wooden and willow crafts, bread, cheese and wine. The stalls have been carefully curated valuing quality over quantity, function and beauty, with a slower paced and small production ethos.

In addition to the home and garden stalls are some of Water Lane’s favourite food producers selling artisan breads, cheese, eggs, charcuterie and handmade chocolates, natural wines and Water Lane’s own produce table laden with local vegetables, honey, jams, chutneys and preserves, olive oil and sauces, shrubs and cordials, apple juice, Pump Street Chocolate and Christmas puddings. Christmas trees from Hole Park will also be on sale at the Market, which go on sale from Saturday 26th November.

The stalls

Norse Vintage | Rae Lifestyle | Torsten van Elten | Jumping Mouse Goods | Bloom & Burn | Sughanda | Melanie Ostler | Bear and Born | Phoebe Connolly | Josephine Doolan |
Running Stitches | Glass House | Havelock Studios | Common Clay | Sussex Willow | Craft Basketry | Kitty Clogs | Evie May Adams

Food stalls

Tillingham | Blackwood Cheese | L.A.M | Indi Farmer
To the Rise Bakery | Rowdy and Fancy Chocolate

@water.lane | www.waterlane.net

Meet the makers

The Water Lane Christmas Market will showcase a diverse and eclectic range of items for the house and garden that are original, handmade or vintage. Visitors will be able to browse and buy from stalls offering ceramics, clothing, artisan food and wine and vintage homeware. Read on to find out more about some of the stall holders.

LAM Food & Fibre will be bringing their eggs, meat and sheep skin rugs to the Market. LAM is a project established by a farmer and fashion designer to create a regenerative food, fibre and fashion system on their small-scale, mixed farm in the AONB North Downs of Kent, rearing native breeds of cows, sheep, pigs and chickens. They are making the link between farming and fashion, utilising the whole animal to produce meat and eggs, as well as wool fibre for that is yarn dyed with flower pigments.

To the Rise Bakery is an artisan and European style bakery in Eastbourne. Founded by three sisters they specialise in 100% sourdough bread using carefully sourced, organic and local ingredients. Get to the market early because these baked goods, such as sourdough loaves, sausage rolls, focaccia, almond croissants, stollen and pear and frangipane tarts, will sell out fast!

Rowdy and Fancy handmade chocolates are our new favourite treat. Based in their Forest Row workshop, the team are passionate about top quality ingredients, unique and delicious flavours – and keeping our planet green. The chocolates are hand-tempered and hand-wrapped in Rowdy and Fancy’s unique Adam and Eve packaging.

Rae Lifestyle is a bricks and mortar store in our favourite town of Rye. Alexa has curated a beautiful collection of homewares sourced in the UK and Europe, for the home and daily life. At the heart of Rae’s collection are rustic vintage interior pieces, complemented by a selection of modern independent maker collections, as well as Rae's own in-house label. All brands are carefully selected with Rae’s focus on ethical and sustainable products as well as loving what they do. 

Jumping Mouse Goods is a maker of bespoke leather goods and will be coming all the way from Devon to the Market. Designed and made by Adam Kelsake these everyday use leather goods, such as satchels and day bags, are simple yet beautiful.

Running Stitches sells an extensive range of vintage kantha quilts and homewares. Based in mid-Wales, Tanya’s love of fabric started with training in textiles, before travel to India ignited a life-long love affair with Kantha. Each item is unique and responsibly and sustainably sourced, offering the very best in quality and craftsmanship.

Melanie Ostler is a Sussex based jewellery designer. After a career in commercial jewellery buying, Melanie is now settled in the South Downs, where she designs and makes her own pieces. Drawing inspiration from an eclectic mix of ancient jewellery, and textures found in nature and everyday objects, Melanie loves to work with silver and gold, often combining the two in the same piece along with precious and semi-precious stones to create simple yet beautiful jewellery.

Havelock Studios is the design practice in Kent of Jack Havelock Bailey, specialising in high quality furniture, products and objects rooted in concept and purpose. Jack believes that the enjoyment of life can be improved with simple, beautiful and functional design and uses both traditional and modern manufacturing techniques, embracing and developing manual crafts as well as digital. He will be bringing turned wooden pieces, such as bowls, plates, chopping and serving boards to the Market.

Discover Water Lane with Jo Thompson and Ian James

Dahlias and cosmos in the border designed by Jo Thompson at Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent (credit Maria Bell)

Discover Water Lane in Hawkhurst, Kent and spend a morning with Jo Thompson and Ian James

Saturday 5 November, 10am-12pm
Tickets are £10 and include a welcome drink and cookie
Book Tickets

On Saturday 5 November, garden and landscape designer Jo Thompson will be in conversation at Water Lane, in Hawkhurst, Kent. Listed by House and Garden and Country Life as one of the country’s top ten garden designers and plantswomen, Jo Thompson is one of the key partners working with the Water Lane team to develop the historic site into a garden for the 21st century.

Jo will be in conversation with Ian James, one of the custodians of Water Lane, as they explore Jo’s plans for the transformation of the two-acre walled garden. Their joint ambition is to create a garden for all, combining recreation, dining, experiences, and education. During the event on 5 November, Jo will share the approach she and her team have taken to the brief of ‘making the garden fit for the 21st century whilst respecting its history of being a productive garden’. She will also lead a tour of the garden, along with Ian James, to highlight how the changes to the garden will take effect over the coming years.

Ian James from Water Lane says, “We are thrilled to be working with Jo Thompson and her team. She brings a sympathetic and holistic vision that marries with our plans for Water Lane, slowly bringing back the garden to its original purpose of growing fruit and vegetables. Water Lane is not a pastiche of a Victorian walled garden. We are respecting its roots, but we want the garden to be accessible to all and have many different functions. Our aim is to create a democratic place where people can come and learn and where skilled teachers can share their knowledge around horticulture, floral design, any kind of artisan craft and food.”

Jo Thompson says, “The extensive and long-term restoration vision for Water Lane, led by Nick Selby and Ian James, is a garden designer’s absolute dream. I am excited to peel back the layers of this historic site and truly understand its history as a horticultural masterpiece.  This is not just any restored walled garden project but a chance to re-imagine Water Lane the ‘place’, respecting its past glory as well as making it an inspirational and welcoming garden for the 21st century and beyond.”

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Address: Water Lane Walled Garden, Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH
Instagram: @water.lane
www.waterlane.net

About Water Lane
Water Lane is a two-acre walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses. A long-term restoration project over many years to come, the site is being managed by custodians Nick Selby and Ian James, who previously created and ran Melrose and Morgan, a grocery store and kitchen in North-West London. The site of Water Lane is a historical horticultural masterpiece with 13 Grade II Victorian glasshouses dating back to the 1800s on what was once the Tongswood Estate. Working alongside Jo Thompson Garden Design and RX Architects, the whole site is being sympathetically transformed into a productive garden with 72 no-dig vegetable and cut flower beds for the restaurant and wholesale to local florists, stock and trial beds, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events.

The plans will progress in phases and will include a rose ‘orchard’ with bulb meadow; a quince tree avenue through the green gates of the pedestrian entrance; perennial and stock beds in the south quadrant; follies and wall borders, a fruit cage pergola; children’s natural play; a forest garden and sculpture trail, nuttery and educational spaces.

About Jo Thompson
Jo’s designs are wide ranging - from residential family gardens, historic landscapes, public spaces and country estates to restaurant roof gardens, rooftop terraces and urban boltholes. Other current projects include working with Iford Manor in Wiltshire and the restoration of Highgate Cemetery in London with Gustafson Porter + Bowman. Jo Thompson is a member of the RHS Gardens Committee and Garden Advisor for RHS Rosemoor, an RHS judge, as well as being a member of the RHS Show Gardens Selection Panel. She lectures both nationally and internationally and is a visiting tutor at the London College of Garden Design.

Water Lane x Jo Thompson Garden Design

Jo Thompson (credit Rachel Warne)

Water Lane is partnering with Jo Thompson Landscape & Garden Design for the next phase of the historic walled garden

Water Lane, a Victorian two-acre walled garden near Hawkhurst in the High Weald of Kent, is partnering with RHS award-winning Jo Thompson Landscape & Garden Design, to further develop the historic site into a garden for the 21st century, combining recreation, dining, experiences, and education. Jo Thompson has established a worldwide reputation for creating beautiful and sustainable landscapes. Listed by House and Garden and Country Life as one of the country’s top ten garden designers and plantswomen, Jo has won four Gold and five Silver Gilt medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and in 2017 she won the People’s Choice award at the first RHS Chatsworth Flower Show.

Water Lane is a walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses. A long-term restoration project over many years to come, the site is being managed by custodians Nick Selby and Ian James, who previously created and ran Melrose and Morgan, a grocery store and kitchen in North-West London. The site of Water Lane is a historical horticultural masterpiece with 13 Grade II Victorian glasshouses dating back to the 1800s on what was once the Tongswood Estate. Working alongside Jo Thompson Garden Design and RX Architects, the whole site is being sympathetically transformed into a productive garden with 72 no-dig vegetable and cut flower beds for the restaurant and wholesale to local florists, stock and trial beds, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events.

Ian James from Water Lane says, “We are thrilled to be working with Jo Thompson and her team. She brings a sympathetic and holistic vision that marries with our plans for Water Lane, slowly bringing back the garden to its original purpose of growing fruit and vegetables. Water Lane is not a pastiche of a Victorian walled garden. We are respecting its roots, but we want the garden to be accessible to all and have many different functions. Our aim is to create a democratic place where people can come and learn things and where skilled teachers can share their knowledge around horticulture, floral design, any kind of artisan craft and food.”

The plans for Water Lane will progress in phases and will include a rose ‘orchard’ with bulb meadow; a quince tree avenue through the green gates of the pedestrian entrance; perennial and stock beds in the south quadrant; follies and wall borders, a fruit cage pergola; children’s natural play; a forest garden and sculpture trail, nuttery and educational spaces. This summer’s planting palette includes soft purples, pinks, raspberry and apricot tones from plants such Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Apricot Lemonade’; Dahlia ‘Penhill Watermelon’; Phlox drummondii ‘Crème Brulee’; Gladiolus papilo ‘Ruby’; Althea cannabina; Erigeron karvinskianus and Ammi visnaga.

Jo Thompson says, “The extensive and long-term restoration vision for Water Lane, led by Nick Selby and Ian James, is a garden designer’s absolute dream. I am excited to peel back the layers of this historic site and truly understand its history as a horticultural masterpiece.  This is not just any restored walled garden project but a chance to re-imagine Water Lane the ‘place’, respecting its past glory as well as making it an inspirational and welcoming garden for the 21st century and beyond.”

Tongswoods Gardens
Water Lane was previously known as ‘Tongswood Gardens’. It belonged to the Tongswood estate, its name deriving from the Old English ‘Twang’ or ‘Tang’ meaning ‘fork of water’ in reference to the two streams of the river Rother which ran through the estate. Having passed through many families, the estate was bought by Mr Charles Gunther in 1903. In its heyday the two-acre walled garden employed nine gardeners who tended the 13 Victorian greenhouses, including a vinery, peach house, melon house, fern house, fruit house and carnation house. The garden produced beautiful flowers, fruit and vegetables providing ample for the main house, the house in London and even a van of surplus for the local hospital.

Jo Thompson
Jo’s designs are wide ranging - from residential family gardens, historic landscapes, public spaces and country estates to restaurant roof gardens, rooftop terraces and urban boltholes. Other current projects include working with Iford Manor in Wiltshire and the restoration of Highgate Cemetery in London with Gustafson Porter + Bowman. Jo Thompson is a member of the RHS Gardens Committee and Garden Advisor for RHS Rosemoor, an RHS judge, as well as being a member of the RHS Show Gardens Selection Panel. She lectures both nationally and internationally and is a visiting tutor at the London College of Garden Design.

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A weekend to celebrate the Spring Equinox at Water Lane, Kent

Poster designed by Silvana Leon @rent.a.name

Water Lane x SSAW Collective
Spring Equinox weekend 19th - 20th March

On 19th and 20th March, SSAW Collective, a community of florists, growers and chefs who create experiences that celebrate seasonality and advocate for positive change in the food and floral industries, is celebrating Spring Equinox with a weekend of events at Water Lane, Hawkhurst, in the High Weald of Kent.

Drawn to one another’s businesses by the same love for nature, craftsmanship and bringing people together, the event will welcome the onset of Spring with educational workshops led by inspiring growers Charlotte Heffernan and Chrissy Harrison, followed by a spring feasting lunch set in the Pelargonium glasshouse, by SSAW’s Head chef Lulu Cox and Water Lane’s Jed Wrobel.

Chrissy Harrison, founder of Keats Organics, an organic vegetable farm in South London, will focus on no-dig gardening techniques and soil health, while Charlotte Heffernan, head gardener at Naum House, will be demonstrating holistic cut flower growing practices and propagating. Everyone will have the opportunity to make an organic fertiliser to take home with them.

Lunch will be served to share with a menu that focuses on seasonal dishes with a produce and provenance led cooking style, created by Lulu Cox and Jed Wrobel. Guests can expect springtime dishes such as wild garlic focaccia and fava beans, nettle gnocchi, pickled pumpkin, goats curd and bitter leaves and rhubarb and custard Queen of Puddings for dessert.

The day will be a full circle celebration of Spring awakening and the garden practices that are so crucial at this time of year, as the earth starts to tilt more towards the sun, resulting in increased daylight hours and warmer temperatures. It is an important date in the growing calendar, as many plants respond with a surge of new growth. For many, it is the unofficial time to properly start gardening again, sowing seeds, adding amendments, and prepare for the season ahead. From curious beginners to seasoned growers, it is hoped there will be something for everyone, not least the opportunity to meet and share enthusiasm and set intentions for the year ahead.

Tickets cost £120 per person, including all events and lunch and are live on SSAW’s website now Shop | SSAW COLLECTIVE

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About Water Lane
www.waterlane.net | @water.lane
Walled Garden, Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH

Water Lane is a walled garden on the Kent/Sussex borders. Dating back to the 1800s, the site includes Grade II Victorian glasshouses, a Melon House, Cucumber House, Pelargonium House, Peach Case and a Vinery, on what was once the Tongswood Estate.

A long-term project over many years to come, the site is being sympathetically restored into a working kitchen garden with vegetable beds, cut flowers, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events. The restaurant is in the Carnation House during Winter and on the open terrace, overlooking the gardens, during Summer. There are select garden plants for sale and a small shop selling functional and beautiful objects for the house and garden.

Custodians Nick Selby and Ian James bring with them a wealth of food and horticultural passion from their previous business, Melrose and Morgan, a grocery store and kitchen with shops in London’s Primrose Hill and Hampstead. In collaboration with many partners, notably East Sussex based architectural company, RX Architects, the project has a ten-year timeline to restore the site to its full capacity as a productive walled garden with 13 Victorian glasshouses and 72 no-dig beds, measuring over 650 metres, growing vegetables, fruit, herbs to provide for the garden restaurant and cut flowers for sale, including Larkspur, Dahlias, Sweet Peas, Nigella, Honesty, Cosmos, Zinnia and Cerinthe.

November at Water Lane

The green gate into Water Lane (credit Maria Bell)

Winter dining in the Carnation House at Water Lane

With the clocks having gone back and an unequivocal change in the seasons, it is time to move the Water Lane restaurant from the garden terrace into the protection of the Carnation House. Now open, guests are welcomed into the Grade II listed glasshouse for breakfast, lunch and from 24th November onwards for Water Lane’s new Festive Feasting menus in the Pelargonium House. Decked with candles, lights and foraged foliage from the garden, the Carnation House looks beautiful for the festive season. The seasonal garden menus are heartier and the puddings stickier. Hug a bowl of thick Crown Prince soup with sage croutons, followed by duck leg with lentils and green sauce; bitter leaves, Kentish Blue, pear and walnut and for pudding, pear and prune crumble or chocolate and walnut tart.

Reserve your table for breakfast or lunch HERE.

Water Lane Christmas Market
Friday 3 December, 12.00 – 18.00
Saturday 4 December, 10.00 – 16.00

A date for your diary… the Water Lane Christmas Market is on Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th December. A group of creatives, producers and makers will be setting up stalls with their wares. Come for breakfast or lunch in the Carnation House before choosing a Christmas tree and wreath to take home and shop for beautiful and original gifts including cards, candles, baskets, skin care, mince pies and puddings, charcuterie, gin and cheese. There will be a children’s craft table, hot chocolate and marshmallows and hot chestnut soup and wood fired flat breads.

Water Lane’s Festive Feasting menus launch on 24th November. Available for groups of 9+ and by pre-ordering only, these menus are designed to be shared by the whole table with large dishes placed down the centre of the table. We can cater for pescatarian, vegetarian and vegan diners.

Enquire about Festive Feasting HERE.

Water Lane Workshops x Lucy Berridge on 26 November

Receiving hand-written personalised cards and gift tags is always such a joy, for both giver and receiver. In this Modern Calligraphy workshop on 26 November, led by Lucy Berridge, you'll be taught how to pen Christmas cards, gift tags and place names for your festive table.

In Lucy’s workshop you’ll be introduced to the equipment required, inks to use, a range of papers to try and under her careful guidance, led through a range of simple exercises that develop your skills. Designed for complete beginners, or those wanting to refresh their skills, this delightful experience of gentle focused learning costs £120 per person, including tea and coffee and a two-course lunch in the Carnation House.

Book tickets Workshops — Water Lane

For more information, images, interview with Nick Selby and Ian James, or to arrange a press visit please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room on hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

Bloom & Burn at Water Lane

Graeme Corbett from Bloom & Burn at Water Lane Walled Garden, Hawkhurst, Kent

Bloom & Burn floral workshops at Water Lane Walled Garden

Water Lane Walled Garden, Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH
www.waterlane.net | @water.lane

Water Lane Walled Garden in Hawkhurst, Kent has partnered with floral stylist Graeme Corbett from Bloom & Burn to create a series of floral styling workshops.

With dates running from the end of September to December, Gee will teach how to style seasonal British flowers, with flowers freshly cut from Water Lane’s cutting garden to make Hand-Tied Bouquets, Styling Flowers at Home, Dried Flower Centrepieces, Halloween Table Centrepieces and Christmas Wreath Making.

In each workshop you’ll learn a range of floristry top tips and tricks to arrange beautiful flowers at home. Led by Graeme, the workshop will start with a short, guided tour of Water Lane’s cutting garden, currently full of late summer blooms such as dahlias, sunflowers and rudbeckia, and will explain what flowers are in season and how Ian James at Water Lane grows and cuts flowers for floristry.

All stems will be cut and conditioned ready for use in the Carnation House and under Gee’s careful guidance you’ll be shown how to create floral arrangements using pin frogs and chicken wire for naturalistic, wild and beautiful displays, showing off the flower and foliage texture and form. Classes start from £70 including all tools, materials, refreshments and cake. Participants are also invited to book a table for lunch at Water Lane’s restaurant.

About Bloom & Burn
Bloom & Burn was launched by owner Graeme Corbett in January 2016 at the kitchen table of a flat in Archway, North London. After five years of creating floral designs for weddings, events, product launches and music videos in the capital Bloom & Burn has moved to Hawkhurst in the Kent countryside. From the workshop in a 19th century brick forge, Bloom and Burn focuses on floral styling, most recently for Jamie Oliver’s new cookbook ‘Together’ as well as teaching one to one workshops for florists and groups of flower lovers. Plans for a product range and a cutting garden are in the works. Graeme is a huge supporter of local growers sourcing British flowers for as long as the season allows and only using sustainable practices to create his designs. Instagram @bloomandburn

About Water Lane
Water Lane is an idyllic walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses in Hawkhurst, Kent and opened in July 2021. Previously known as The Walled Nursery, the site’s new custodians, Nick Selby and Ian James have taken on the long-term restoration project to sympathetically transform Water Lane into a working kitchen garden. There are 13 Victorian glasshouses, a peach case and vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events plus 650 metres of no-dig beds to grow vegetables, fruit, herbs to provide for the garden restaurant and cut flowers for sale. The restaurant serves a short and ever-changing menu by head chef Jed Wrobel who cooks simple and elegant dishes with a focus on vegetables, either grown on-site or from nearby organic and biodynamic farms. Sample menu highlights include overnight oats, apricots, cherry compote; bacon nap and brown sauce; banana and peanut butter and maple butter on the breakfast menu and for lunch, flat bread with tomato and goats curd; summer beans, hazelnut, ricotta and basil; caponata, romesco and crispy polenta and lamb and oregano meatballs with milk and chard and for pudding, plum and almond tart with crème fraiche. There are also select garden plants for sale and a small shop. www.waterlane.net | @water.lane

Opening Hours: Wednesday - Saturdays 8.30am - 5.30pm | Sunday 9.30am - 4pm | Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays

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Water Lane Walled Garden opens in Hawkhurst, Kent

Water Lane Walled Garden, Hawkhurst, Kent

Water Lane Walled Garden opens its gates on 2 July

www.waterlane.net | @water.lane

Water Lane is an idyllic walled garden with a vinery and Victorian glasshouses on the Kent and Sussex borders. A long-term project over many years to come, the site is being sympathetically transformed into a working kitchen garden with vegetable beds, cut flowers, restored vinery, outside spaces and a pavilion for dining and events. The restaurant at Water Lane opens on 2 July, alongside select garden plants for sale and a small shop.

Down a pretty, hedgerow-lined lane full of cow parsley, ox-eye daisies and buttercups and with long vistas across the High Weald of Kent, is Water Lane. Step through the large wooden gates to the hidden walled garden, an historical horticultural masterpiece with Grade II Victorian glasshouses dating back to the 1800s, including a Melon House, Cucumber House, Pelargonium House and Peach Case and a Vinery, on what was once the Tongswood Estate.

Water Lane is an ongoing restoration project in the hands of new custodians Nick Selby and Ian James who bring with them a wealth of food and horticultural passion from their previous business, Melrose and Morgan, a grocery store and kitchen with shops in London’s Primrose Hill and Hampstead. In collaboration with many partners, notably East Sussex based architectural company, RX Architects, the project has a ten-year timeline to restore the site to its full capacity as a productive walled garden with 13 Victorian glasshouses and 72 no-dig beds, measuring over 650 metres, growing vegetables, fruit, herbs to provide for the garden restaurant and cut flowers for sale, including Larkspur, Dahlias, Sweet Peas, Nigella, Honesty, Cosmos, Zinnia and Cerinthe.

The site of the old poly tunnel in the garden has been transformed into a beautiful terrace with tented stretch awning, open kitchen, wood-fired oven and tables and chairs from British company Very Good & Proper’s new outdoor sustainable furniture range. Every table has open views out on to the glasshouses, long flower borders and vegetable and cut flower beds.

When Nick and Ian set up Melrose and Morgan in 2004 their intent was to champion the local, the artisan and the small-scale. They were as passionate then as they are now and are delighted to be championing the diverse and brilliant food and drink producers in the High Weald and bringing their produce to the table.

The menu at Water Lane reflects its sense of place in the English countryside. The short and ever-changing menu by head chef Jed Wrobel is guided by the seasons with British produce-led cooking that is simple and elegant but prepared with imagination and care. The menu focuses primarily on vegetables either grown in The Walled Garden’s own no-dig beds or from nearby organic and biodynamic farms. The menu will also include small amounts of grass-fed meat and day boat fish from nearby Hastings and Rye. 

Sample menu highlights include overnight oats, apricots, cherry compote; kedgeree; melon, plum, cherry and mint on the breakfast menu and for lunch, flat bread with potato, cherry and Winnie’s Wheel; pearl barley stuffed peppers and green sauce; wood-fire baked plaice with fennel and olives; lamb and feta meatballs with milk and chard and for pudding, cherry and almond tart or poached peach with bay custard and crumbs.

The wine list is supplied by Keeling Andrew and Co, the merchant arm of Noble Rot, and includes wines from nearby Kent and East Sussex vineyards Tillingham and Westwell, amongst a list of classic options and more interesting and unusual wines. The aperitif menu will change with the seasons and will include the Water Lane Bicyclette, Elderflower Sour, local gin-based cocktails and Vermouths.

A productive garden

The Walled Garden at Water Lane is an on-going project and a labour of love and will take many years to fully restore. The Peach Case and Vinery will be restored while fruit trees, such as apples, pears, quince and fig will be planted and grown ‘espalier’ along the red brick walls. Four of the glasshouses have already been restored in 2017/2018, due to a generous benefactor, the granddaughter of the original head gardener, Ernest Hardcastle. The second and smallest of the four is the Cucumber House. It has raised brick beds and the remains of the original hot water pipes that heated them. For the last few years’, these beds have been boarded over, but now the team are uncovering them and planning their future use. Beneath the boards the team found 18 inches of compacted soil and underneath that a layer of ‘clinker’, a by-product of the boiler that heated the water for the garden and helped create a warm bed for the plants to flourish. The glasshouse is once again being used to grow cucumbers as well as tomatoes, aubergines and other salad crops that will suit the warm conditions.

The Walled Garden holds many aspects of note and will delight both amateur and serious gardeners. In the height of Summer, the focus of floral activity is the incredible Melon House Border that runs nearly 30m long and is 3m deep. The star of the show each Spring is the Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii, with its chartreuse-green heads that provides colour and structure throughout the bed and has also, delightfully, self-seeded around the rest of the garden. The acid-green of the Euphorbia is perfectly offset by the deep red and purple of Berberis thunbergii Rose Glow and Physocarpus Diablo with its tiny pink flowers, Aquilegia Ruby Port, Geum’s Totally Tangerine and Marmalade, and the swaying purple pom-pom colour pops from the Allium cristophii.

A programme of courses and events at Water Lane will be announced shortly.

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Water Lane Walled Garden
Water Lane, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 5DH
Instagram: @water.lane
www.waterlanet