We are proud of our long relationship with the Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor providing year round maintenance of their beautiful riverside grounds.
So, were delighted when they approached us last December with an exciting new project to expand their kitchen garden to allow them to grow more produce to supply their restaurants.
‘’Here at Oakley Court we are looking to use as much of our home grown produce as possible in all of our restaurants to enhance our ‘pure’ eating philosophy. The Walled Garden project is phase 2 of making this happen but it’s just a part of our garden to plate journey with much more to come’’!
Sean Gleeson MIH, Managing Director at The Oakley Court Hotel
Thrilled to be a part of this sustainability project, work included installation of a large new greenhouse, extensive poly-tunnelling, bespoke veg beds, fruit cages and tree planting.
The project started in January this year. After 3 months of hard work through sunshine, showers, and the Covid-19 pandemic we completed at the end March. Just in time for planting this year’s crop of fruit and veg.
You can see what was involved in transforming the site into a working kitchen garden by taking a look through our project diary below.
December 2019
The site of the new kitchen garden is selected and we consulted with the Hotel Manager, Head Chef and Ron the veg man, to create a design that would cater for the needs of the restaurant whilst keeping in line with the style of existing gardens at The Oakley Court.
January 2020
By the 16th of January, the outline of the kitchen garden starts to shape up nicely as the main pathways are laid.
Our next task was to transform these muddy quadrants into vegetable beds for the kitchen garden.
Come the end of January, one of the vegetable beds was complete (only 7 more to go) and building the base for the greenhouse got underway.
February 2020
The vegetable beds have now taken shape and the base for greenhouse is complete.
March 2020
Huge progress in March as we pushed to complete the kitchen garden and install the greenhouse.
April 2020
The landscaping of this stunning sustainability project is complete and the garden is planted with fruit and veg.
We have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and can’t wait to sample some of the fantastic new recipes featuring this home grown produce.
Grow your own at home
While you might not have the same space as Oakley Court, that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying growing your own. Unused patches of your garden can easily be transformed into productive plots that will provide you with a bounty of fruit and veg. If you’d like help with creating your very own kitchen garden please feel free to get in touch by calling 01628 629720 or emailing ask@thamesvalleylandscapes.co.uk.
We have much experience working with schools, hotels and homes providing a garden landscape that is beautiful, bountiful and kind to wildlife.
