Carol Klein visits Beth Chatto's Plants and Gardens

Great British Gardens with Carol Klein recently visited Beth Chatto’s Plants and Gardens in Elmstead Market.

Carol and her team intended to make four visits to the gardens, starting at the end of 2019, to film the show.

Lockdown meant the episodes were filmed, but the popular presenter was not on site for some of the sessions.

Mrs Chatto passed away in 2018 and granddaughter Julia Boulton has been running operations since then.

Julia said: “Carol Klein has visited the garden many times before. She was a friend of Beth’s, a patron of the Beth Chatto Education Trust and a great supporter of the garden.”

Despite Mrs Chatto’s death, the garden continues to do well.

In August 2018, it had a symposium at Essex University. Lecturers from around the world were invited to speak about horticulture for the Beth Chatto Education Trust.

In 2019, the garden was invited to Hampton Court flower show by the Royal Horticultural Society to honour Mrs Chatto as the horticultural icon of the year.

Julia said: “Business has carried on and we’ve had lots of visitors, then Covid hit, and it was a terrible time for everyone.

“Nursery businesses don’t have many visitors or sell many plants during winter and just as we were reaching spring, we had to shut.

“Thankfully, Beth started a mail order business for plants in the late 1970s and it became a huge help during Covid.”

Mrs Chatto planted different types of gardens. The famous gravel garden was planted in the 1990s and has not been watered since as the plants are drought resistant.

The woodland garden is also famous, as the existing woodland was not part of the garden, but the 1987 storms meant trees were blown down, allowing Mrs Chatto to extend into the woodlands.

Great British Gardens with Carol Klein is being broadcast on Thursday, November 25, at 7pm on Channel 5.