Bateman's Garden

A seventeenth century house with a twentieth century garden made by Rudyard Kipling, who lived here 1902-36. One might expect the design to recall his love of India. But it is an Old English Arts and Crafts garden of the type one dreams of when sipping gin and tonic by the Irrawaddy River, to fend off malaria. The garden has a tunnel made of pear trees, yew hedges, stone paths, a rose garden, pond, wild garden and herb garden.

Kipling was inspired to write The Glory of the Garden

Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye. ...
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away !