PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday 2 April 2025 - For immediate release
Hole Park announced as Garden of the Year Award finalist
Hole Park Gardens, near Rolvenden in Kent, has been announced as a finalist in this year's Historic Houses Garden of the Year Award (GOYA).
This is the first time that the beautiful 16-acre private gardens, which are located a short drive from both the historic market town of Tenterden and the pretty Wealden town of Cranbrook, have been shortlisted for this important national award which is run by Historic Houses.
The prestigious national award, presented annually since 1984 and sponsored by Christies, is designed to recognise the importance of some of the country's most spectacular gardens with outstanding horticultural and public appeal.
The final winner is decided through an online vote by members of the public who judge the gardens based on a variety of factors that contribute to their enjoyment as visitors.
Hole Park is up against seven other finalists on the 2025 nationwide shortlist, following initial assessment by a panel of judges.
Voting is open from now until the end of September at:
https://www.historichouses.org/vote-goya/ with the winner revealed in November.
The shortlist announcement comes as Hole Park re-opens to the public for the 2025 season, showcasing an array of Spring colour in its formal gardens, ponds, lawns, and woodland, with its renowned and magical Bluebell Spectacular fast approaching*.
Commenting on being shortlisted for the GOYA final, Hole Park's owner and custodian Edward Barham said:
"We - my wife Clare, myself, our family and the wonderful Hole Park team - are all thrilled to be shortlisted for this year's Garden of the Year Award. It is recognition of what we know, and our many visitors tell us, is a very special place: a horticultural gem which offers beauty, variety and rare tranquillity to all who come here.
"We look forward to welcoming back our regular visitors for this year's season which is already promising to be one of the best in recent times for abundant colour. And for those who haven't visited us before, we very much look forward to you discovering Hole Park's unique charms for yourselves."
Visitors will find exceptional variety wherever they look and at whatever time of year they arrive: from Spring delights of magnolia, bluebells, wild garlic and wisteria to Summer's exotic borders and wildflower displays, to Autumn's red, copper and gold leaf tones and Hole Park's very own variety of late-flowering giant blue agapanthus.
Nestled in the Weald of Kent National Landscape, there is both room to roam and plentiful seating in Hole Park's dog-friendly formal and informal spaces. The seating is carefully positioned for visitors to not only admire the gardens and spectacular views of the surrounding parkland but also to relax - reflecting the gardens' original purpose as a place for its creator, Colonel Arthur Barham, to find peace after the horrors and personal loss of the First World War.
Hole Park's gardens continue to evolve whilst remaining true to the Colonel's vision. Following on from the transformation of the old rose garden into the colourful Centenary Garden in 2023, the sunken Millenium Garden beside the house is currently undergoing its own transformation. The design has been created by one of Hole Park's formerWRAG Scheme (Work and Retrain As a Gardener Scheme)**apprentices Jane Eastwood, under the mentorship of Hole Park's Head Gardener Quentin Stark, to provide new planting interest and views.
Full visitor information, including details of garden opening times***, ticket prices and special events can be found atwww.holepark.com
-ends-
For further information please contact:
Press Office, Hole Park Estate, Benenden Road, Rolvenden, Kent TN17 4JA
Alison Miles
DL: 01580 241344 / M: 07900 691116
Notes to editors
*The progress of the bluebells towards their peak will be tracked by the Bluebell Barometer on the Hole Park website.
**The WRAG Scheme (Work and Retrain As a Gardener Scheme) was launched in 1993 to provide paid, part-time, practical horticultural training. The trainee works for 12-14 hours a week for the whole year, in a carefully sourced garden, under the instruction of the garden owner or head gardener.
*** Hole Park is open daily 11am to 6pm from Tuesday 1 April until Monday 30 June inclusive, moving to Wednesdays and Thursdays (11am-6pm) only during July, August and September. Sundays are added during October when the gardens close at 4pm (dusk). The gardens are completely closed from November to April every year.
About Hole Park
Set in 200 acres of classic English parkland,Hole Park is a hidden gem of the High Weald National Landscape. It has been owned by the Barham family for the past four generations, having been purchased as a family home by Edward Barham's Great Grandfather, Colonel Arthur Barham, in 1911. In the mid-1920s the Colonel made the bold decision to share the beauty of his recently-created gardens, by opening them to the public: a tradition that is maintained to the present day. Over the decades, each succeeding generation has improved and innovated the layout and planting in the gardens.
The current custodians, Edward and Clare Barham, moved into Hole Park with their three children and dogs in 2003. Since then, they have undertaken a comprehensive re-planting programme of the garden which reflects and enhances the Colonel's original plans from the 1920s. Edward and Clare both take an active role in managing the gardens. This includes public opening days, so they are often found selling tickets in front of the house, serving in the Tea Room or walking their dogs around the gardens.
Spring Highlights
Visitors to the gardens in early April will see swathes of crocuses, narcissi and daffodils. A pretty ‘Camelia Walk' with shade-loving hellebores takes walkers down a path flanked by flowering cherry trees. Before the bluebells take centre stage, the meadows and woodland floor are a sea of primroses and dainty blue scillas. Magnificent mature magnolia trees will also be flowering throughout the gardens and woodlands.
In May the gardens are full of tulips, roses and clematis and the vineyard garden has several impressive standard wisterias to admire. Rhododendrons and azaleas flower throughout the gardens and delicate wild orchids will start to flower in the meadows alongside the architectural spires and star-shaped flowers of ‘camassia'. The sundial garden provides an interesting view over the Wealden countryside through an oval shaped window in the topiary hedge.
Summer Highlights
Visitors to the gardens in the summer months can see the recently renovated long herbaceous borders. Half the border has been replanted in the original pink and blue planting scheme first used by the late Christopher Lloyd when he first designed the border at Hole Park. The remainder of the border was replanted using the original colour scheme of yellow and white. Visitors can also find a riot of colour in the Centenary Garden (formerly the Rose Garden) planted in 2023 to celebrate 100 years since the original completion of Hole Park's gardens by Col Arthur Barham.
Late Summer and Autumn Highlights
The late flowering agapanthus ‘Hole Park Blue'and colourful exotic border with its cannas and dahlias are an impressive sight in late summer before the reds, yellows and golds of autumn appear, bringing colour and interest to the gardens in October.