A FABULOUS RESTORED GARDEN IN SOMERSET TO OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC

 ROGER SAUL TO OPEN NEW LIFESTYLE DESTINATION, KILVER COURT IN SOMERSET IN CELEBRATION OF SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Roger Saul, founder of designer label Mulberry and owner of cult British food label Sharpham Park and boutique hotel Charlton House, is to unveil his latest venture – Kilver Court – in Somerset in July.Part of the restored Kilver Court Garden

The Gardens were first created by Ernest Jardine as a recreational space for factory workers of Kilver Court in the 1800s and were known as Jardine’s Park and Vegetable Gardens. In the 1960s they were restored and developed by the Showering family of Babycham fame, who commissioned Charles Whiteleg to recreate his Gold medal winning Chelsea Flower Showrockery garden within the setting. At the time the garden was a bold and modern design statement. Since then the Gardens have been a hidden secret for the past 25 years.

The Gardens feature a millpond and boating lake as well as rolling lawns, parterres and herbaceous borders. But probably the most staggering feature of this Secret garden is the backdrop - a vast Grade II listed viaduct built for the Somerset and Dorset railway in the 1800s and which now acts as a link to the rolling Somerset countryside beyond. In addition, following the success of the vegetable garden at Sharpham Park, Jardine’s concept of model fruit and vegetable cultivation will be reinstated with the establishment of a sustainable bio-dynamic system both for education and to supply organic produce to the Shop and Café.

The viaduct, rockery and pondFormerly the Mulberry Head Quarters, Roger Saul has developed Kilver Court in Shepton Mallet to present the very best Somerset has to offer. With breathtaking, historical gardens as the focal point, this stylish lifestyle destination will feature the Sharpham Park Shop, Harlequin Café and Wellness Consulting Rooms, all showcasing the best in organic and sustainable living.

The Sharpham Park Shop, situated in The Great House, will bring together the very best of local, seasonal organic food, health and beauty products from a 50-mile radius including a wide range of spelt food and beauty products sourced from the Sharpham Park organic estate. There will be a professional butcher ready to explain the origins of the meat available with advice on specific cuts and the best way to prepare them. The bakery counter will sell a wide range of Sharpham Park signature spelt products (suitable for those with wheat intolerances) with recipes enabling customers to make the most of them. All products offered will promote sustainability and environmental best practice.

Alongside the Sharpham Park Shop will be the Harlequin Café serving a menu inspired by the produce sold in the shop taking fresh and local ingredients to offer a constantly evolving bi monthly menu encompassing a mixture of colours tastes and textures drawing from nature’s seasonality.

The Wellness Consulting Rooms will provide an eclectic range of organic, complimentary treatments including osteopathy, reflexology, beauty acupuncture, Bach Flower remedies, Emotional Freedom Technique andNewly restored formal area at Kilver court in Shepton Mallet nutrition. There will also be a variety of exercise disciplines on offer from pilates, Chi Gung and meditation to salsa dance training.

Further developments at Kilver Court are planned for later in the year such as the Kilver Court Nursery - a stylish garden retail space selling plants found in the Gardens, together with garden accessories. There will also be the Jardine’s Ballroom - a new home for live performances, concerts, gigs, weddings and parties - and the Jardine’s Tea Rooms providing somewhere for visitors to the Gardens to rest and eat. In addition there will be a wide variety of meeting and conference spaces including the original Showerings Directors’ Suite.

As part of the educational remit of Kilver Court, there will be baking and cookery courses, garden design workshops, sustainability seminars and a Rare Breeds Centre linked to Sharpham Park developed on the adjacent farmland.

Kilver Court
Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 5NF
www.kilvercourt.com
Opens 4th July 2008

Garden Open
Tuesday – Sunday – 10am – 4pm
March 1st – October 31st

HISTORY OF KILVER COURT

Shepton Mallet grew clustered around mills along the River Sheppey. The ponds and weirs used to power the mills at Kilver Court are still used today as part of the landscaped gardens.

The ‘Great House’ was once home to the Whiting family, who were mill owners and woollen merchants. After many years woollen production ended at Kilver Court in 1830 and the factory was taken over by silk throwers, the Hardesty brothers.

The decline of the woollen industry in Shepton Mallet lead to job losses which provoked riots. Many mills were attacked and the Hardesty brothers factory was left a burnt out shell. It was later re-established as a model factory by Mr Ernest Jardine, MP for East Somerset. Jardine was the largest manufacturer of lace making machinery in Nottingham and also a social reformer.

Jardine’s Park was created using the millponds as a boating latke and the surrounds for workers’ recreation. Jardine also established gardens where fruit and vegetables were grown to provide a subsidised meal for the employees. This was a revolutionary approach to worker welfare and the factory continued in production until closed during the Great Depression.

Alongside the mills the Showering family had established a small brewery at the Ship Inn on Kilver Street. In 1947 Francis Showering first produced Babycham. His success prompted a massive expansion and the acquisition of the whole of Kilver Court by the end of the 1950s.

MULBERRY AT KILVER COURT

Roger Saul founded Mulberry in 1971 with a twenty-first birthday present of £500. From these tiny beginnings Mulberry became one of the most iconic British designer brands with shops and customers across the world.

Following the company’s rapid expansion in the early 1990s, Mulberry outgrew its factory site at Chilcompton and relocated to Kilver Court in 1996. The buildings were renovated, the offices re-fitted and the Great House made into the Mulberry Home Interiors Showroom. The gardens were restored and Roger Saul designed a new centrepiece with parterre and herbaceous borders.

The Mulberry Factory Shop was also relocated to its now famous home in the Old Schoolhouse at Kilver Court. This is now internationally renowned for bargain opportunities and the concept has been much replicated since

SHARPHAM PARK

In 2003, Roger Saul embarked on an ambitious restoration of Sharpham Park, a historic park once the property of Glastonbury Abbey. His vision has created an organic, working mixed economy farm, based on ancient principles of park management, but sympathetic to the environmental concerns associated with today’s agriculture.

Sharpham Park is now the country’s major producer of organic spelt. The Sharpham Park food label includes spelt flours, breads, mueslis, pasta, pizza, biscuits, pies and pearled spelt, in addition to organic rare breed lamb, beef and venison. These products are supplied to retail outlets, direct to the public via internet sales and to top hotels and restaurants around the country.

A serious, long-term approach has been adopted in order to make Sharpham Park a successful model for the development of ethical, organic food production.